Jeanne bears down on Florida

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Hurricane Jeanne got stronger, bigger and faster as it battered the Bahamas and bore down on Florida Saturday, sending huge waves crashing onto beaches and forcing thousands into shelters just weeks after Frances ravaged this area. The hurricane officially made landfall late Saturday near Stuart.

About 2 million people, from near the state's southern tip to the Georgia border, were urged to evacuate as Jeanne's sustained wind strengthened to 115 mph from 105 mph earlier in the day. It was expected to strike the state's central Atlantic coast and then turn to the north, a move that could devastate east and central Florida.

"Yesterday I was hoping we wouldn't lose power again," said Lynn Tarrington of Lake Worth, who was leaving her home near the water early Saturday. "Now I'm hoping I have a house left when I come back."

In Stuart, palm fronds whipped amid waves of horizontal rain. Debris flew and crashed.

A hospital lost part of its roof, allowing water to leak into the building, said Tom McNicholas, an emergency management spokesman in Martin County. Dozens of patients at Martin Memorial Hospital North in Stuart were moved to other floors, but no injuries were reported.

Streets were deserted, and sections of coastal highways were flooded.

Waves 24 feet high were reported ahead of Jeanne and were moving toward the coast, where six-foot storm surges were expected. Powerful swells knocked pieces of mobile homes out to sea on the central coast.

The Category 3 storm's outer bands started lashing Florida Saturday morning with steadily increasing rain and wind.

It will be the state's fourth hurricane of the season -- an ordeal no state has had to face since Texas in 1886.

Jeanne was expected to hit near where Hurricane Frances came ashore three weeks ago, leaving behind piles of debris that officials feared would turn into deadly, home-destroying missiles in Jeanne's wind.

"I really can't believe it's happening all over again -- and right in the same place," said Charity Brown, who moved to West Palm Beach from Chicago three months ago with her children, ages 5 and 3. They hid in a closet as Frances tore the roof off their apartment. That hole is now covered by a tarp, so the family took shelter Saturday at an elementary school that was filling with evacuees.

"I'm going to get ou," she said. "It's scary. It's crazy."

Jeanne follows Charley, which struck Aug. 13 and devastated southwest Florida; Frances, which struck Labor Day weekend; and Ivan, which blasted the western Panhandle when it made landfall in nearby Alabama on Sept. 16. The storms caused billions of dollars in combined damage and killed at least 70 people in Florida alone.

Gov. Jeb Bush warned Floridians not to let storm fatigue get the best of them, "even though we're weary and even though this is a painful process."

"They must treat this hurricane as if it's the only hurricane they've ever been through," said Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami. "This has the potential to cause loss of life."

Officials ran out of time to remove piles of debris left over from Frances -- some taller than adults -- that still sit in neighborhoods. Some people took to burning the downed trees, housing material and other debris that could become airborne, banging into homes and endangering anyone who ventures outside.

At a mobile home park on the Intracoastal Waterway, George MacArthur's home was one of the few that remained intact amid mounds of twisted metal, smashed furniture, broken tiles and garbage bins filled with trash. He feared his home was about to be smashed by all the debris Jeanne flings about.

"All the ones in the front got it last time. Now it's my turn," MacArthur said.

The storm will make the already formidable job of keeping the lights on in Florida even more difficult -- especially if Jeanne follows in Frances' path, giving its wind piles of ammunition to topple power lines.

Already Saturday evening, more than 185,000 customers were without power.

Gas stations and businesses were boarded up and deserted Saturday, and law enforcement took to the radio airwaves, saying that anyone who was outside their homes after the 6 p.m. curfew would end up in jail.

It was unknown how many of the 2 million people urged to evacuate actually did, but Judy and Terry Smith, their daughter and son-in-law were among them.

They were driving from their home on Merritt Island inland to a hotel in Orlando, bringing their one dog and five cats with them. Their house was spared by Frances, but they weren't taking any chances with Jeanne.

"What can you do?" Judy Smith asked. "You've got your house insurance, and everything in it can be replaced. Everything I care about is right here," she said, motioning to her family, her eyes filling with tears.

State officials said more than 31,000 people were housed in shelters Saturday. Many of them have homes that were damaged by Hurricane Frances.

LaTrease Haliburton reluctantly checked into a West Palm Beach shelter with her 6-year-old daughter, who has had nightmares since Frances caved in the bathroom ceiling in her family's apartment.

"I don't want to be here, but what else can I do," Haliburton said. "I want to make sure my daughter isn't as scared this time. ... I'm hoping this is easier on her."

Others were trying to ride out the storm.

About 40 miles north of West Palm Beach on Hutchinson Island, where white high-rise luxury condos loomed like ghost ships in the gray squalls, John Lumberson built a plywood-and-2-by-4 barrier with a porthole to look at raging waves that crashed against his second-story home. Frances gutted the condos of his downstairs neighbors with surf that roared through beachfront living rooms and exited the back doors.

"We never leave. We'll make it," said Lumberson, 54.

At 10 p.m. CDT, Jeanne was centered about 15 miles east of Stuart. It was moving west and slightly to the north at 13 mph. Top sustained winds were 115 mph.

Jeanne was expected to turn north over central Florida and stay inland over Georgia and the Carolinas through Tuesday. Rainfall totals of 5 to 10 inches were expected in the storm's path, and flooding could be a major concern because previous hurricanes have already saturated the ground and filled canals, rivers and lakes.