Hurricane Frances

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This article is about the Atlantic hurricane of 2004; for other storms of the same name, see Hurricane Frances (disambiguation).

Hurricane Frances was the sixth named storm, the fourth hurricane, and the third major hurricane of the 2004 Atlantic hurricane season. The storm's maximum sustained wind speeds were 145 mph (230 km/h), giving it a strength of category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. The eye passed over San Salvador Island and very close to Cat Island in the Bahamas, and its outer bands also affected Puerto Rico and the British Virgin Islands.[link] Frances then passed over the central sections of the state of Florida in the U.S., moved briefly over the Gulf of Mexico on the other side of Florida, and made a second landfall at the Florida Panhandle.

Frances affected the central regions of Florida just three weeks after Hurricane Charley, which was the United States's second costliest hurricane (before 2005) with about $14 billion in damage. The storm then moved northward into Georgia where it weakened to a tropical depression.

Contents

1 Storm history
2 Preparations
3 Impact

3.1 Retirement

4 Humanity in the Landfall Zone

4.1 Timeline

5 See also
6 External links

Storm history

A strong tropical wave developed into a tropical depression late on August 24, 2004 (EDT). It was then 870 miles (1,400 km) west-southwest of Cape Verde, and about 1,650 miles (2,700 km) east of the Windward Islands. The next day it was upgraded and named Tropical Storm Frances, the eighth Atlantic storm of that name, bringing Frances level with Arlene as the name applied to the largest number of different Atlantic storms. The storm was upgraded to a hurricane and named Hurricane Frances on August 26.

Hurricane Frances on September 1, 2004 (03:15 UTC).

Frances strengthened rapidly, reaching Category 3 intensity 24 hours later on the 27th and Category 4 the next day. Initially forecast to turn north and potentially threaten Bermuda, conditions changed and Frances's predicted track shifted westward toward the Bahamas. Frances's intensity fluctuated as it travelled west over the next several days, dropping back to a Category 3 storm before restrengthening. This drop and subsequent restrengthening was likely caused by an eyewall replacement cycle, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC).

Over the next several days, Frances passed just north of the Antilles, with only its outer rain bands affecting the British Virgin Islands and the Dominican Republic. On the evening of September 1, Frances passed to the north of Grand Turk in the Turks and Caicos Islands. Although Frances did not strike the island directly, hurricane force winds were reported there.

On September 2, Frances struck the Bahamas directly, passing directly over San Salvador Island and very near to Cat Island, and passing over Eleuthera on September 3. Reports from Long Island said that parts of the island remained underwater after the storm had passed, with numerous homes and other structures damaged. On Saturday, September 4, the airport at Freeport, Grand Bahama was reported to be under 6 to 8 feet of water. One drowning death was reported in Freeport, Grand Bahama. In Nassau an eighteen year old man was reportedly electrocuted when trying to refuel a generator. Nassau, reportedly had seriously devastating winds but a lot less rain than the other islands. A big problem was salt being blown through the air which stung any living thing in its path. Many trees were left with dead leaves from the force of the blown salt. As one islander put it, "If you ever see an 80 ft [24 m] tree bend down touch the ground then sway back to an upright position -- you will know there is a God in heaven. "[link][link] One death and looting were reported in some areas. [link]

This photo of Hurricane Frances was taken by Astronaut Mike Fincke aboard the International Space Station as he flew 230 miles above the storm at about 10 a.m. EDT Friday, August 27, 2004. At the time, Frances was about 820 miles east of the Lesser Antilles in the Atlantic Ocean, moving west-northwest at 10 miles an hour, with maximum sustained winds of 105 miles an hour.

On September 3, Frances weakened slightly as it passed into the vicinity of Abaco Island and directly over Grand Bahama. The storm weakened from a Category 3 to 2 prior to passing over Grand Bahama and also lessened in forward speed. Parts of South Florida began to be affected by squalls and the outer rainbands of the hurricane at this time. Gusts from 40 mph (60 km/h) to as high as 87 mph (140 km/h) were reported from Jupiter Inlet to Miami.

At 7:26 AM EDT, September 5, 2004, Hurricane Frances was over eastern Florida. According to the National Hurricane Center, at 11:00 AM winds were 80 knots with gusts to 100 knots, and movement was west-northwest at 8 knots. High-resolution image courtesy of NOAA.

Frances moved extremely slowly, from 5 to 10 mi/h (8 to 16 km/h), as it crossed the warm Gulf Stream between the Bahamas and Florida, leading to fears it could rapidly restrengthen. It remained stable at category 2 with 105 mph (170 km/h) maximum sustained winds, though, and battered the east coast of Florida, especially between Fort Pierce and West Palm Beach, for most of September 4. At 11pm, the western edge of Frances's eyewall began moving onshore. Because of Frances's large eye of roughly 80 miles (130 km) across and slow motion, the center of circulation remained offshore for several more hours. At 1 am EDT on September 5 (0500 UTC), the center of the broad eye of Frances finally was over Florida, near Sewall's Point, Port Saint Lucie, Stuart, Jensen Beach and Port Salerno, Florida.

Late on September 5, it picked up speed and crossed the Florida Peninsula, emerging over the Gulf of Mexico near Tampa as a tropical storm. After a short trip over water, Frances again struck land near St. Marks, Florida. Frances headed inland, weakening to a tropical depression and causing heavy rainfall over the southern US. Tropical Depression Frances continued north, maintaining its circulation longer than expected. US forecasters at the Hydrometeorological Prediction Center continued issuing advisories on the remnants of Frances until the system crossed the Canadian border into Quebec, where heavy rainfall continued.

Preparations

The insurance industry warned of the potential for catastrophic damage along Florida's heavily-populated east coast. According to a Reuters story, "Investment bank UBS AG warned this latest storm could 'exceed the insured losses of Hurricane Andrew.'" Hurricane Andrew was the second most damaging United States hurricane, with insured losses tagged at $15.5 billion and total losses at $26.5 billion. However, these damage estimates were in anticipation that Frances would strike Florida as a strong Category Four hurricane.

Preparations for the storm were stepped up in Florida on September 1. Governor Jeb Bush declared a state of emergency, Kennedy Space Center closed down, and evacuations of 500,000 people were initially ordered. Eventually 41 counties received evacuation orders, covering 2.8 million residents, the largest evacuation in Florida's history.

The state education system also responded to the pending crisis. Many universities across Florida canceled classes. Both the University of Central Florida and the University of North Florida told all students to leave their dorms. Evacuation at the University of South Florida was performed on a dorm-by-dorm basis. Florida Atlantic University was closed for a week and a half.

Most schools were shut down from southern Miami-Dade County to just south of Melbourne two days before the hurricane.

Impact

Storm total Rainfall from Frances

President George W. Bush helps deliver water at a relief center in Ft. Pierce, Florida.

One death in the Bahamas, one in Ohio, and five in Florida were directly attributed to the storm. 42 more deaths - 32 in Florida, eight in Georgia, one in the Bahamas and one in Ohio, are indirectly attributed to Frances.

In the Bahamas, insurers and reinsurers estimated industry insured losses at about $300 million.[link] Like with other hurricane-induced damage, to get the total damage in the area, the insured damage is multiplied by a factor of 2, which comes out to $600 million.

The total civilian damage from Frances was determined to be approximately $8,830,000,000. Add in the estimated $100 million damage done to space and military facilities at Cape Canaveral, Florida and the total damage was estimated to be about $9 billion, making it the fourth costliest hurricane in U.S. history before 2005 (not including damage in the other regions affected), behind Hurricane Andrew of 1992 and Hurricanes Charley and Ivan of 2004. Adjusted for inflation, it is tied for the 10th costliest hurricane in US history. Some areas of Florida received over 13 inches of rain during the slow onslaught. Much like Hurricane Charley earlier in the month, the Florida citrus crops took large amounts of damage.

After the storm was downgraded to a tropical depression, it still dropped inches of rain on Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and North and South Carolina. Several tornadoes were also spawned by the dying storm. Flooding was reported even in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast states, particularly along the Appalachian Mountains and to the east of Lake Ontario, as well as in parts of southeastern Canada, where more than $45 million in insured damage was reported in Ontario alone.

Power outages affected up to six million people. Over 20 airports closed during the storm. Orlando, Florida's theme parks closed Sunday—only the third time Walt Disney World closed for a hurricane, but the second time in a month. In the aftermath of the storm, many colleges and school districts remained closed.

Xenon lights illuminate the 525 ft. (160 m) tall Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center, Florida where workers make repairs on September 30, 2004.

President George W. Bush declared all of Florida a federal disaster area.

The passage of tropical depression Frances into Georgia dumped up to 5 inches of rain onto the state and caused the closings of schools in 56 counties. [link]

Frances also spawned 123 tornados from Florida to as far north as Virginia. This amount beats the record number of tornadoes for a hurricane, which was 115 for Hurricane Beulah in 1967.

Frances caused heavy damage to the large Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center, ripping off over a thousand 4-by-10 foot aluminum panels used to clad the building. While Charley caused $700,000 damage, Frances caused much more. Two external fuel tanks for the space shuttle were in the building but seem undamaged. The Space Shuttle Discovery's hangar was without power. [link] The total damage to space and military facilities around Cape Canaveral, Florida was reported at about $100 million.

The economic effect was felt early, as the storm struck during Labor Day weekend, traditionally the final summer vacation weekend in the United States. Many hotel reservations from South Carolina to Florida were cancelled as people, seeing the destruction caused weeks earlier by Hurricane Charley, decided to avoid the coastal areas for safety.

On September 25, Hurricane Jeanne made landfall, at Category 3 strength, only about two miles (3 km) from the location at which Hurricane Frances made her initial landfall on the Florida Atlantic coast three weeks earlier.

As an extratropical storm, Frances passed through southern Ontario. The storm dropped moderate rainfall across the province, peaking at 5 inches (135 mm) in Ottawa and in Kingston, Ontario smashing all-time rainfall records in a 24-hour period (most of the rain fell in a 6 to 8 hour-period. Elsewhere in Canada, the storm dropped more rainfall, washing out roads and causing localized flooding in Quebec, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland. Damage in Canada totaled to over $35 million (2004 USD) [link]

Retirement

Because of its effects in the United States, the name Frances was retired in the spring of 2005 by the World Meteorological Organization and will never again be used for an Atlantic hurricane. It was replaced with Fiona for the 2010 season. Initially, the WMO planned to retire the name after the 2004 season anyway, following a request from France during the WMO meeting in spring 2003 [link], but the destruction caused by Frances alone was cause enough for retirement.

Humanity in the Landfall Zone

The following is partially informative data and remembrance of a personal experience in Palm City, Florida, 5 miles from the landfall point:

It was known quite early that the area where the hurricane was most likely to hit was in fact Martin County, Florida. A week before landfall most supermarkets such as Publix were full of people buying every last bottle of water, canned food item, and battery in the store. The ubiquitous AA batteries could be found nowhere. Within a few days, finding gasoline used more gasoline than a person was going to buy on the east coast of Florida. People would actually wait most of a day for a gasoline tanker to arrive so they could obtain whatever amount of gas was allotted to them by the station - sometimes only 3 gallons. Many stranded vehicles could be found across the eastern coast of Florida.

Most people in the landfall area were already boarded up or shuttered because of the scare from Hurricane Charley, which had been forecast to head into the general area. Some people took down one or two boards to open up their houses.

Timeline

September 2 - Schools closed from Sebastian to Boca Raton
September 3 - Interstate 95 and the Florida Turnpike were backed up bumper-to-bumper in the largest traffic jam in Florida's history. Flight options were limited as most of the airlines had left the area and with 2.8 million evacuating, the chances of purchasing a ticket wasn't even worth trying. US 1, a major route from Miami, Florida to Maine, was relatively open, but it is full of intersections and traffic signals.
September 4, 1pm EDT - Dew forms on many objects due to the massive amounts of water in the air and low pressure.
September 4, 4pm EDT - Driving safely on roads is highly improbable, due to slick roads and 50 mph gusts.
September 4, 9pm EDT - Most of the storm's force is being felt by the east coast. Most of Florida's power is out due to line losses at and around the St. Lucie Nuclear Power Plant
September 5, 1am EDT - The eye passes over the landfall point. Many people go outdoors in a silent, eerie, cold, fine mist.
September 6 - Red Cross begins action in the area providing warm meals twice a day for a week as well as water and other needs. National Guard begins providing MREs, water, ice, and occasionally tarps.
September 8 - Every street within 20 miles has mounds of fallen ceiling tiles, insulation, ruined furniture, trees, debris, and more.
September 13 - Roughly 60% of the area's power has been restored.

External links

Tropical cyclones of the 2004 Atlantic hurricane season |stormname=Alex |strength=Category 3 |linkname=Hurricane_Alex_(2004) |storminitial=A }} |stormname=Bonnie |strength=Tropical Storm |linkname=Tropical Storm Bonnie (2004) |storminitial=B }} |stormname=Charley |strength=Category 4 |linkname=Hurricane_Charley |storminitial=C }} |stormname=Danielle |strength=Category 2 |linkname=Hurricane Danielle (2004) |storminitial=D }} |stormname=Earl |strength=Tropical Storm |linkname=Tropical Storm Earl (2004) |storminitial=E }} |stormname=Frances |strength=Category 4 |linkname=Hurricane_Frances |storminitial=F }} |stormname=Gaston |strength=Category 1 |linkname=Hurricane_Gaston_(2004) |storminitial=G }} |stormname=Hermine |strength=Tropical Storm |linkname=Tropical Storm Hermine (2004) |storminitial=H }} |stormname=Ivan |strength=Category 5 |linkname=Hurricane_Ivan |storminitial=I }} |stormname=Ten |strength=Tropical Depression |linkname=2004_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Tropical_Depression_Ten |storminitial=10 }} |stormname=Jeanne |strength=Category 3 |linkname=Hurricane_Jeanne |storminitial=J }} |stormname=Karl |strength=Category 4 |linkname=2004_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Karl |storminitial=K }} |stormname=Lisa |strength=Category 1 |linkname=2004_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Lisa |storminitial=L }} |stormname=Matthew |strength=Tropical Storm |linkname=Tropical_Storm_Matthew_(2004) |storminitial=M }} |stormname=Nicole |strength=Tropical Storm |linkname=2004_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Subtropical_Storm_Nicole |storminitial=N }} |stormname=Otto |strength=Tropical Storm |linkname=2004_Atlantic_hurricane_season#Tropical_Storm_Otto |storminitial=O }}

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