The link was a little jumbled...here's the article.
Sep 5, 12:29 PM (ET)
By TIM REYNOLDS
STUART, Fla. (AP) - Hurricane Frances pounded Florida with high wind and heavy rain Sunday after it smashed across the state's east coast, knocking out power to 4 million people, shredding roofs and uprooting trees.
Some evacuees had to flee a second time when a school's roof was partially blown off. Some 86,000 people remained in shelters as Gov. Jeb Bush warned them against venturing out to see the damage until officials say it's OK.
The storm weakened Sunday morning, crawling westward with maximum sustained wind near 90 mph, making it a Category 1 hurricane, but forecasters warned that its path would take the center of the hurricane over the warm water of the northeastern Gulf of Mexico. They said it was possible Frances would regain intensity by Monday evening.
"This is affecting the entire peninsula today, either tropical storm-force or hurricane-force winds. And then tomorrow it will be up in the panhandle, and then moving up into Georgia and Alabama after that," National Hurricane Center director Max Mayfield said Sunday on CBS'"Face the Nation."
The eye of the storm blew ashore at Sewall's Point, just east of Stuart, around 1 a.m., and by 11 a.m. it was centered about 80 miles southeast of Tampa. Frances was expected to remain over the state for most of the day, dumping 8 to 12 inches of rain, with up to 20 inches in some areas.
"I wish somebody'd get out there and push it - get it over with," said 72-year-old Nedra Smith, who waited out the storm in the lobby of a Palm Bay hotel.
Frances was so big that virtually the entire state feared damage just weeks after Hurricane Charley tore through, killing 27 people and causing billions of dollars in damage. About 230 miles of coastline - from the Deerfield Beach area northward to Flagler Beach - remained under a hurricane warning Sunday morning. A similar-sized part of the Panhandle from the mouth of the Suwannee River to Destin on the Gulf of Mexico were also under the warning.
The storm forced the largest evacuation in state history, with 2.8 million residents ordered inland and 86,000 of them in shelters. Miami-Dade County told about 320,000 people they could return home Sunday, but the storm had shut down much of Florida, including airports and amusement parks, during the usually busy Labor Day weekend. Airports in Miami and Fort Lauderdale reopened Sunday, but Orlando remained closed.
President Bush declared a major disaster in the counties affected by Frances, meaning residents will be eligible for federal aid.
Four people were hospitalized in Boynton Beach after breathing carbon monoxide from a generator that was running in a house. There were reports of injuries in St. Lucie County, but sheriff's spokesman Mark Weinberg said he had no details.
At least two deaths were blamed on the storm in the Bahamas, where thousands were forced from their homes.
In Jensen Beach, sections of Indian River Drive washed into the river, leaving holes about 8 feet deep. Roads, streets and beaches elsewhere in the state were littered with debris. Businesses were shuttered, trees were bent and light posts wobbled in the howling gusts.
"I've never seen anything like this, and no one in my family has," said Darlene Munson, who was riding out the storm with family members at her restaurant in Melbourne, where the wind-blown rain looked like a giant fire hosing going at full blast.
Looting had become a problem. Police in the Orlando area said 10 thieves used a stolen car to smash into a store and steal about $10,000 worth of clothing, and two men were arrested as they tried to steal an ATM machine with a chain saw. At least 10 other people were arrested for looting in Indian River County, Palm Beach County and Brevard County.
Water on the streets of Fort Pierce stood as high as the top of tires on sport utility vehicles. Downtown, a steel railroad crossing signal was twisted like a corkscrew, but buildings seemed mostly intact. In Stuart, a store facade collapsed.
At the entrance to Kennedy Space Center, a replica of the Mercury-Redstone rocket that Alan Shepard flew in to become the first American in space was knocked onto its side.
Florida Power & Light pulled crews off the streets because of the wind, leaving 4 million customers without power, spokesman Bill Swank said. Nearly all of Vero Beach, 30 miles north of Stuart, was blackened, the city's utility said.
In Martin County, where Stuart is located, 630 people taking shelter at a school had to move to another shelter when part of the roof blew off, flooding 16 rooms. More than 300 people were able to remain in the school.
Alex Pantoja stood with his wife on a Holiday Inn balcony Sunday looking down on their home in a mobile home park in Stuart.
"I feel pretty lucky so far. I've only lost my porch. I can handle that," he said. Other homes in the area had lost carports and fences.
As far north as New Jersey, swimmers were warned of rip currents as Frances mixed with a high pressure system moving in from Canada during the Labor Day weekend.
Many of the thousands of Floridians who spent the night in shelters were growing weary.
"It's just a matter of patience," said Bishop G.A. White, 77, pastor of the Fort Pierce Church of the Living God. "Wait on the Lord, and wait on the weather."
Meanwhile, Hurricane Ivan formed Sunday in the central Atlantic. The fifth hurricane of the season was about 2,600 miles east-southeast of Miami with wind of 75 mph.