Page 6 - aruba-today-20190831

A6 U.S. NEWS
Saturday 31 auguSt 2019
Dorian gains fury but could spare Florida a direct hit

By ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON 6 to 12 inches (15 to 30
and ELLIS RUA centimeters) of rain, with
Associated Press 18 inches (46 centimeters)
MIAMI (AP) — Hurricane in some places, trigger-
Dorian powered toward ing life-threatening flash
Florida with increasing floods, the hurricane cen-
fury Friday — but also in- ter said. FEMA official Jeff
dications that it might just Byard said Dorian is likely to
skirt the U.S. coastline and "create a lot of havoc" for
spare it from the devastat- roads, power and other in-
ing direct hit that forecast- frastructure.
ers have been fearing for Also imperiled were the
days. Bahamas , where canned
Forecasters warned that no food and bottled water
one is out of danger and were disappearing quickly
Dorian could still wallop the and the sound of ham-
state with "extremely dan- mering echoed across the
gerous" 140 mph (225 kph) islands as people boarded
winds and torrential rains up their homes. Dorian was
late Monday or early Tues- expected to hit by Sunday
day, with millions of people with the potential for life-
in the crosshairs along with threatening storm surge
Walt Disney World and that could raise water lev-
President Donald Trump's els 15 feet above normal.
Mar-a-Lago resort. "Do not be foolish and try
But some of the more re- to brave out this hurricane,"
liable computer models Prime Minister Hubert Min-
predicted a turn northward nis said. "The price you may
that would have Dorian pay for not evacuating is
hug the coast, delivering a your life."
glancing blow, the Nation- Florida's governor urged
al Hurricane Center said. nursing homes to take pre-
"We could still be talking cautions to prevent trage-
about a notable loss but dies like the one during Hur-
nothing remotely close to ricane Irma two years ago,
if we had a direct hit," said when the storm knocked
meteorologist Steve Bow- out the air conditioning at a
en, global head of catas- facility in Hollywood and 12
trophe insights for the rein- patients died in the swelter-
surance firm Aon. Workers cover stained glass windows with plywood sections at the Santa Maria del Mar Catholic ing heat. Four employees
Weather Underground me- Church in preparation for Hurricane Dorian, Friday, Aug. 30, 2019, in Flagler Beach, Fla. of the home were charged
teorology director Jeff Mas- Associated Press with manslaughter earlier
ters said: "There is hope." this week.
The faint, encouraging Agency to coordinate di- ed to take shelter at her would begin escorting fuel DeSantis said the timely
signs came at the end saster-relief efforts. mother's hurricane-resis- trucks to help them get message from those arrests
of a day in which Dorian "This is big and is growing tant house in Miami with past the lines of waiting is: "It's your responsibility to
seemed to get scarier with and it still has some time to its kitchen full of nonperish- motorists and replenish gas make sure you have a plan
each forecast update. It get worse," Julio Vasquez able foods. stations. in place to protect those
strengthened into a Cat- said at a Miami fast-food "It felt like it was better to be At a Publix supermarket in folks."
egory 3 hurricane in the joint next to a gas station safe than sorry, so we can- Cocoa Beach, Ed Ciecir- At NASA's Kennedy Space
afternoon, and there were that had run out of fuel. "No celed our plans," she said. ski of the customer service Center in Cape Canaveral,
fears it could prove to be one knows what can really Still, with Dorian days away department said the phar- NASA moved a 380-foot-
the most powerful hurri- happen. This is serious." and its track uncertain, Dis- macy was extra busy with high mobile launch plat-
cane to hit Florida's east As Dorian closed in, it ney and other major resorts people rushing to fill pre- form to the safety of the
coast in nearly 30 years. played havoc with people's held off announcing any scriptions. The grocery was colossal Vehicle Assembly
Late Friday, the National Labor Day weekend plans. closings, and Florida au- rationing bottled water Building, built to withstand
Hurricane Center's pro- Major airlines began al- thorities ordered no imme- and had run out of dry ice. 125 mph (200 kph) wind.
jected new track showed lowing travelers to change diate mass evacuations. "It's hairy," he said. The launcher is for the
Dorian hitting near Fort their reservations without "Sometimes if you evacu- As of 5 p.m. EDT, Dorian mega rocket that NASA is
Pierce, some 70 miles north a fee. The big cruise lines ate too soon, you may was centered about 595 developing to take astro-
of Mar-a-Lago , then run- began rerouting their ships. evacuate into the path miles (960 kilometers) east nauts to the moon.
ning along the coastline Disney World and the other of the storm if it changes," of West Palm Beach with The hurricane season typi-
as it moved north. But fore- resorts in Orlando found Gov. Ron DeSantis said. winds of 115 mph (185 kph). cally peaks between mid-
casters cautioned that the themselves in the storm's Homeowners and busi- It was moving northwest at August and late October.
storm's track was still highly projected path. nesses rushed to cover their an ever-slower 9 mph (15 One of the most powerful
uncertain and even a small Jessica Armesto and her windows with plywood. Su- kph). Forecasters warned storms ever to hit the U.S.
deviation could put Dorian 1-year-old daughter, Mila, permarkets ran out of bot- that its slow movement was on Labor Day 1935.
offshore or well inland. had planned to have tled water, and long lines could subject the state to The unnamed Category 5
Trump declared a state of breakfast with Minnie formed at gas stations, with a prolonged and destruc- hurricane crashed ashore
emergency in Florida and Mouse, Donald Duck and fuel shortages reported in tive pummeling from wind, along Florida's Gulf Coast
authorized the Federal Goofy at Disney World. places. The governor said storm surge and heavy rain. on Sept. 2. It was blamed
Emergency Management Instead, Armesto decid- the Florida Highway Patrol Coastal areas could get for over 400 deaths.q