Hurricane Jeanne batters sunshine state

Jeanne, Florida’s fourth hurricane in six weeks, piled on destruction in already ravaged areas, slicing across the state with howling wind that rocketed debris from earlier storms and torrents of rain that turned streets into rivers.

At least six people died yesterday in the storm, which was a cruel rerun for many still trying to recover from earlier hurricanes. Jeanne came ashore in the same area hit three weeks ago by Hurricane Frances and was heading for the Texas Panhandle, where 70,000 homes and businesses remained without power because of Hurricane Ivan 10 days earlier.

Earlier, Jeanne tore across the Bahamas, leaving some neighbourhoods under six feet of water. The storm caused flooding in Haiti that killed more than 1,500 people.

The storm peeled the roofs off buildings; toppled light poles, destroyed a deserted community centre in Jensen Beach and flooded some bridges from the mainland to the Atlantic coast’s barrier islands. Utilities estimated more than 1.3 million homes and businesses were without power.

“The last three weeks have been horrific,” said Joe Stawara, owner of a Vero Beach mobile home park where about half the 232 trailers were damaged. “And just when we start to turn the corner, this happens.”

Until this weekend, no US state had suffered a four-hurricane pounding in one season since Texas in 1886. And the hurricane season still has two months to go.

Rain blew sideways in wind that reached 120mph when Hurricane Jeanne’s eye hit land late Saturday night.

The storm unleashed several inches of rain in many areas. Official Sunday-night totals included 5.8 inches in Melbourne, 5.35 inches in Orlando and 2.69 inches at Palm Beach International Airport, but meteorologists said the actual totals were probably were much higher because heavy winds could make rain gauges inaccurate.

President George Bush declared a major disaster area in Florida. The hurricanes have prompted the largest relief effort in the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s history, eclipsing responses for the 1994 earthquake in Northridge, California, and the 2001 terrorist attacks, director Michael Brown said.

Frances was larger, while Charley and Ivan were more powerful. But Jeanne was bad enough, once again sending the Sunshine State into a state of emergency.

Jeanne made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane just before midnight on Saturday at Hutchinson Island, 35 miles north of West Palm Beach. Frances struck in almost the same spot.

Once inland, Jeanne’s 400-mile diameter system trudged across the state, passing north east of Tampa. It then headed toward the Panhandle, which was still recovering from Ivan.

Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Centre in Miami, described the similar paths of Jeanne and Frances as perhaps unprecedented.

The toll from the latest storm extended as far north as Daytona Beach, where the famous beach was ravaged by erosion, and south to Miami, where one person was electrocuted after touching a downed power line.

Two people died when the sport utility vehicle they were driving plunged into a lake beside the Sawgrass Expressway south of Boca Raton. In Clay County south west of Jacksonville, a 15-year-old boy died after being pinned by a falling tree.

In Brevard County, a man was found dead in a ditch in Palm Bay in what police called an apparent drowning. In nearby Micco, a 60-year-old man was found dead after a hurricane party at a home. He was found lying in water after the house had flooded. Police said the death might be alcohol-related or the man may have drowned.

Jeanne’s predecessors killed at least 70 people in Florida and caused billions of dollars in damage.

More than 3,000 National Guard troops were deployed to aid relief efforts.

Among the areas left without power were much of Palm Beach County, population 1.1 million, and – for the second time in three weeks – all of Vero Beach.

With Jeanne dumping heavy rain, there was fear of flooding in the days to come from swollen rivers in east and central Florida, already saturated by two previous hurricanes.

State officials said 59,000 people, many with homes already damaged by Frances, rode out Jeanne in shelters.

Jeanne followed Charley, which struck on August 13 and devastated south-west Florida. Frances, which struck on September 6 and Ivan, which ravaged the western Panhandle when it made landfall in Alabama on September 16.