Poll last thing on minds of people in hurricane state

ALL eyes will be on Florida next month when America goes to the polls.

State officials are desperate to avoid the scenes of 2000, when a disputed result led to a chaotic month of recounts, eventually ending up in the Supreme Court.

But for many people in this state, the election is the last thing on their minds.

Millions are still recovering from the most catastrophic hurricane season in living memory. Four massive storms battered Florida in the past few weeks.

Some polling stations have been destroyed. Some entire electoral districts have been levelled or flooded by hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne.

Nowhere has the impact of the storms been felt more heavily than in the coastal community of Punta Gorda, in the south-west of the state.

Charley killed several people, flattened entire mobile home parks and caused widespread flooding.

Locals have been told it will take up to a year to repair their homes - if they have not been condemned.

“Who cares about the election,” said Lynda Zybas, a 50-year-old flight attendant out for her morning power walk along the town’s harbour.

“We are still trying to get our lives back to normal. People have all their usual worries, and now the hurricanes. Voting is the last thing on my mind.”