What to expect, thanks to Georges

Evacuations and the possibility of power outages, flooding and bridge closings disrupt daily lives.

By CURTIS KRUEGER and JOE NEWMAN

© St. Petersburg Times, published September 25, 1998

urricane Georges might not smash your house, but it could keep you away from work, disrupt your plans to travel more than a couple of blocks, rob you of electricity and force you to eat all the ice cream in your freezer before it melts.

More coverage from the Times on our Georges site.

With hundreds of thousands of Tampa Bay residents ordered to leave their homes, and hundreds of thousands of others urged to stay in theirs, and with the potential for Tampa Bay bridge closings, this hurricane will affect your life whether it gets here or not.

Here's a look at what the experts say you can expect from Hurricane Georges.

THE WEATHER: First, expect high wind, but probably not devastating, Hurricane Andrew-style wind. The latest prediction calls for the center of the hurricane to remain more than 100 miles away from Tampa Bay, though the margin of error is so wide that Georges could veer much closer or much farther away.

The winds and rain are expected to cause flooding in low-lying and coastal areas, but the unanswerable question is how much. People in flood-prone areas should pay close attention to evacuation orders.

The latest forecasts indicated the storm would be closest to the Tampa Bay area early Saturday.

STAYING OR GOING: Beginning at 6 a.m. today in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties, you must evacuate your house if you live in evacuation zone A. For a map of evacuation zones, see Section A of this newspaper or your regional section. You also must evacuate in either county if you live in a mobile home.

Pasco County officials held off issuing an evacuation order, but it's likely one will come this morning for coastal areas. Turn on the radio for details.

If you live in an evacuation zone, you should already have made arrangements to go someplace else. If not, try to choose someplace on high ground within your county or general area. The less driving you have to do today the better -- highways could soon be clogged with tens of thousands of evacuees. Besides, central Florida hotels are filling fast.

What if you haven't been ordered to evacuate? Should you leave anyway to be on the safe side? No, says Pinellas Emergency Management Director David Bilodeau. That will just crowd the highways unnecessarily.

SHELTERS: Shelters in counties with evacuation orders will open this morning. In Pinellas, special buses and ambulances were preparing late Thursday to begin transporting people who are disabled and cannot move themselves. For shelter locations, see Section A or your regional section.

BRIDGES: Heavy rains tend to flood the approaches to the Courtney Campbell Parkway and the Howard Frankland and Gandy bridges between Pinellas and Hillsborough counties. Flooding would prompt the closing of those bridges, but officials wouldn't say when. Officials may close the Sunshine Skyway between Pinellas and Manatee counties early today.

FOOD: Check grocery stores on a case-by-case basis. Some will stay open.

But some don't have much choice but to close today because they are in evacuation zones. "Probably late morning we'll be closing," said Ron Zellmer, manager of the St. Pete Beach Publix, which is across the street from the Gulf of Mexico. "It's basically when the fire department tells us to leave."

ELECTRICITY: The bigger the storm, the more likely we are to lose power. If your power goes out, or you see something dangerous such as a downed power line, call your electric company. But try not to make repeat or unnecessary calls. Utilities will shut off electricity to whole neighborhoods if flooding appears to have caused an electrical hazard, said Mary Estes, spokeswoman for Florida Power.

If you are evacuating your house and you expect flooding, it's a good idea to shut the power off at the main breaker before you leave. But you should have a certified electrician check out the inside wiring before returning to your flood-damaged home and switching the power back on, Estes said.

WATER: Utility officials hope to keep drinking water flowing throughout the storm, but Pinellas County was forced to cope Thursday with a rupture of an important 84-inch water main for causes unrelated to the hurricane.

PHONES: During the storm, GTE requests that customers make only emergency calls. And there is no need to call for repair service more than once.

-- Times staff writers Leanora Minai, Alisa Ulferts, Joe Newman, Jean Heller, David Ballingrud, Jo Becker and Richard Danielson contributed to this report.