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Animals find cover, people find movies
Times staff writers © St. Petersburg Times, published September 26, 1998 HEEDING A SILENT WARNING: Schools of dolphin swam through John's Pass on Friday morning to take refuge in sheltered areas in and near the Intracoastal Waterway. More than 50 were seen by Gary Preston, maintainence manager of Sculley's Restaurant on the John's Pass Boardwalk in Madeira Beach. "It was really unusual," he said. "I guess they wanted to get out of the way of the storm." Other creatures got the message, too. "One of the first things I noticed this morning was there were not as many birds," said Madeira Beach resident Charlie Johnson, who, opted to stay in his beach home. Such behavior by animals is normal, said Peter Clark, director of Tampa Baywatch, a non-profit environmental group. "Animals in the wild are very sensitive to sudden changes in atmospheric pressure," he said, and they will often seek shelter. * * *CURLING UP WITH A MOVIE: "We're getting hammered down here," said Tom Kurinzi, who works at Megaflicks on U.S. 19 in Port Richey. But he wasn't talking about the weather. "People are wiping out the shelves," Kurinzi said of the video rentals at the store. "They're grabbing stacks of them. They're taking six and 10 at a time." From around Tampa Bay on Friday came reports of people leaving video rental stores with their arms full of entertainment to pass the time -- maybe a lot of time. "Bad weather is good for the video business," said Liz Greene, spokeswoman for Blockbuster Video. "Whenever people think they may be housebound, we see sales and rentals go up. The same thing happens up north when there's a blizzard warning. It's part of making preparations." WHAT'S PLAYING IN BOB'S BUNKER? With a deadly 300-mile-wide hurricane knocking at the door, some forecasters thought Titanic was just the break they needed. So they settled inside a conference room at the National Hurricane Center in Miami to watch another disaster unfold on a TV screen."If I were writing the headline for this, it would be NOAA's Ark," said center spokesman Frank Lepore, creating a pun from the acronym for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and its fortress-like headquarters. The squat, satellite dish-encrusted building is known as "Bob's Bunker," nicknamed for former center director Bob Sheets, who retired in 1995. With 10-inch-thick, double-reinforced concrete walls and 11/2-inch laminated glass windows protected by metal shutters, the building is designed to withstand sustained winds of 130 mph and gusts to 167 mph. The windows can absorb a hit from a 250-pound object moving 60 mph. * * *PITCHING IN TO HELP: In the flood-prone Town 'N Country area of Hillsborough, residents waited three hours and more for sandbags Friday morning. But even after the long wait people pitched in a few more hours to help strangers fill bags. "It feels good helping people out, and I'm just following a tradition of people helping everybody else," said Shawn Spray, a 33-year-old delivery driver working alongside county staffers and jail inmates at a road maintenance facility off Sheldon Road. Christopher Pille, 16, saw what Spray was doing and followed his lead. "I don't have school today," he said, nodding toward the long line of cars waiting for sand. "All these people need help, and the more people that help, the faster they can get out of here." * * *THE COMFORT OF FAMILY: About 150 elderly or disabled Hillsborough County residents were taken to a gymnasium at the University of South Florida. Dorothy Andrechuk of Seffner sat in her wheelchair, huddled under a thick shawl. She missed her four dogs, she said, but she was glad for the company of her sister, Maxine Frier. They live in separate mobile homes on a 5-acre spread, but they agreed it made sense for them to be evacuated together. "When I get sick, she comes to see about me," the 81-year-old Andrechuk said of her sister, who is two years older. "When she gets sick, I come to see about her. I went over to her house and stayed three years once." Andrechuk said Hurricane Georges, fearsome as he might be for some, would not have frightened her in her younger days. "When I was a kid, I'd go out into the storm and enjoy it," she said. * * *KITES ON A WINDY DAY: For a short time early in the evening, the winds kicked up but the rains held off. Turns out that's perfect weather for flying a kite. David Rohr and his family, who evacuated their Snell Isle home and headed to his parents' home in Seminole, tiptoed around puddles in the Seminole High School parking lot at 4:45 p.m., their kites flapping in the gusts. "We have to get the kids out for a little while," Rohr said, as he watched his 6-year-old son, Steven, try to launch his kite. * * *AN ADVENTURE, TO BE SURE: Peter and Bernandette Von Rotz of Lucerne, Switzerland, came to Florida for their honeymoon, to soak up some sun and experience all that the Sunshine State has to offer. In recent weeks they have seen the Florida Keys, Miami and Orlando's theme parks. Up next, a close encounter with a hurricane. The newlyweds had to evacuate their Treasure Island motel Friday morning. They headed to the emergency shelter at Tyrone Middle School. Bernandette called her mother on the pay phone outside the school. "She heard about it," Bernandette said. "I tell her I'm okay. It's very . . . adventurous." * * *HERE'S TO YOU, GEORGES: A few beach bars stayed open late Thursday night so that residents could celebrate the arrival of the storm. "WELCOME GEORGE, YOU BAG OF WIND," was spray-painted in huge blue letters on the plywood covering the windows of the Daiquiri Deck in Madeira Beach. The special was $3 hurricanes, a concoction of light and dark rum, orange juice, grenadine and pineapple juice. "We just wanted to give everybody a chance to have fun before the hurricane," owner Keith Meyer said. "We're here to party before everything is blown away!" Rachel Walker of Clearwater said. Not everyone would have the opportunity, however. About 2:50 p.m., Treasure Island police officers shut down the party at Nick's Beach Bar, which had swelled to include about 50 people, all declaring they planned to stay through the storm. * * *OUT OF PROPORTION? In St. Pete Beach, Terry Snowhite explained why he and his wife were going to ride the storm out. They have lived near the beach for about 10 years and seen worse storms, he said. "I think the media really blew this out of proportion," Snowhite said. "Let's face it, it's nice everyone's so prepared, but we've got nothing but a light storm tonight. This is only going to desensitize people the next time there's a threat, and they won't take it seriously." * * *LOYALTY REMEMBERED: At Mickey's Snell Isle Market, a sign on the boarded-up windows read: "We Are Open." While some grocers closed their doors Friday, owner Mickey Huguet opened hers at 6 a.m., two hours early. Her shelves had plenty of water (60 cases), doughnuts and even flashlights. She planned on being open today. If she can't make it to the store, an employee who lives nearby will unlock the doors to sell water, even if the electricity is out. "This little community supports me very nicely and I owe it to them," said 49-year-old Huguet, who has owned the store 10 years. * * * OUT OF ROOMS: By late Friday afternoon, most accommodations in the shadow of Disney World had been snapped up. Even Disney's pricey Grand Floridian Hotel with some rooms priced at $530 a night was sold out. As early as noon, the Orlando Visitors and Convention Bureau was advising nervous callers to bypass Orlando for the Daytona Beach area to find accommodations.
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s people around the Tampa Bay area prepared for whatever Georges would bring, small stories accumulated. There was NOAA's Ark. There was the little market that remembered its customers. And there were the dolphins who swam for cover.
