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Fort Lauderdale Newspaper report this morning
One dead as hurricane-force winds hit Broward in worst storm in half a century
By Scott Wyman
Sun-Sentinel
Posted October 24 2005, 8:46 AM EDT
Wind gusts began reaching hurricane strength in Broward around 6 a.m. today. The county's emergency management director said Hurricane Wilma may be the worst storm to hit the area in half a century.
One person was reported dead in Coral Springs when a tree fell on him. No other details were available due to the storm.
The hurricane is expected to peak in Broward around 9:30 a.m. as a strong Category 2 storm, officials at the emergency operations center said. Sustained hurricane force winds will continue till noon, and sustained tropical force winds will continue to 3 or 4 p.m.
A gust of 92 miles per hour was recorded 8:05 a.m. at the downtown Fort Lauderdale courthouse. A gust of 94 miles per hour was recorded at the same time in Dania Beach.
As of 8 a.m., the number of 168,000 customers in Broward County were without power. Part of the airport has lost power but is operating on generators
A gust of 70 mph was recorded at 6 a.m. at the Emergency Operations Center in Plantation, while gusts in the upper 60s have been recorded between 6 and 6:30 in downtown Fort Lauderdale, Cooper City and Port Everglades. Those winds came hours before the expected arrival of the brunt of Wilma, a Category 3 storm.
Some unconfirmed reports of damage were coming in around Broward to police departments that were powerless to respond.
Roofs reportedly came off several houses in Fort Lauderdale, and a tree crashed into the roof of a home in Pembroke Park. Windows blew out in a Fort Lauderdale apartment on State Road 84, and residents were hiding in a bathroom.
A large construction crane was reported to have blown over on Hendricks Isle in eastern Fort Lauderdale.
Early reports were that at least 168,000 homes and businesses had lost electricity around Broward.
Tony Carper, the county emergency management director, now compares the destructive force of Wilma to that of Hurricane King, a Category 3 storm that swept through Broward in October 1950. He previously had predicted it would be the worst storm since Cleo in 1964.
Like Wilma, King was a late-season storm and developed in the western Caribbean. It brought extensive destruction to Miami, Davie, Hollywood and Fort Lauderdale with winds of 120 mph.
The outer bands of Hurricane Wilma began whipping across Broward early Monday morning as emergency management officials braced for the hardest hit from a storm in more than 40 years.
Carper said he expects up to seven hours of severe weather, with the worst conditions occurring between 9 and 10 a.m.
"It will be seven hours of really bad weather and high winds, but it will all clear by tonight," he said.
Because Wilma's eye is so wide, neighborhoods across Broward will feel strong effects from the storm. Although he knew of no major power outages before dawn, Carper said he expected that to change as Wilma passes by.
Conditions will be ripe for strong tornadoes to form and bring more damage, but Wilma is moving so fast that little flooding is expected. Forecasts are for two to five inches of rain in Broward.
"For Broward County, this is a much stronger storm than Katrina and Rita earlier this year or Frances and Jeanne last year," Carper said. "None of the storms this year or last year had sustained hurricane-force winds, and I think a lot of people will be unpleasantly surprised by what is in store for us."
Although South Florida is not known for tornadoes, it is a major concern with Wilma because the storm will collide with a cold front as it crosses Florida. That will create a dangerous mix of moist and cool air in a turbulent atmosphere.
Emergency managers compare the possibility to a spring storm that struck central Florida in 1998 and resulted in a dozen major tornadoes and the destruction of a mobile home park in Kissimmee. The last time a major tornado spawned from a hurricane in Broward was during Isabel, another storm that struck the area in 1964.
More than 35,000 residents who live in mobile homes in Broward were ordered to evacuate. Deputies went door to door in mobile home parks urging people to heed the order and handing out identification bracelets to those who didn't.
About 1,500 people are housed in Broward's shelters. That includes about 100 people in the four homeless shelters. Broward's pet-friendly shelter at Millennium Middle School in Tamarac is home to 30 dogs, 10 cats, a hamster and a parrot.
Officials are warning residents to pay close attention to television and radio for tornado advisories. If one is approaching, residents should move away from windows and doors and take cover in the strongest, interior point of their home or under heavy furniture.
No hurricane warnings had been issued by 5 a.m. in Broward although warnings had been posted elsewhere in the state. A warning is an advisory that a tornado has been sited in the vicinity.
Port Everglades and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport are closed. Bus service ceased at midnight, and all bridges are locked down.
County government offices, including the library system, are closed Monday. School is canceled for today and Tuesday. There will be no garbage pick-up.
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