Preparations
On July 7, a tropical storm watch was issued for Florida's Gulf coast from Bonita Beach southward, and for Florida's Atlantic coast from Golden Beach to Ocean Reef. Later that day, a hurricane watch was issued for the Florida Keys and Florida Bay. By 2100 UTC, the hurricane watch was upgraded to a hurricane warning for the Florida Keys. Subsequently, a tropical storm watch was issued for Florida's west coast north of Bonita Beach to Longboat Key which was discontinued at 2100 UTC. At the same time, a hurricane watch was issued for Steinhatchee River, Florida to the mouth of the Pearl River. By 0900 UTC on July 9, the hurricane watch was upgraded to a hurricane warning just prior to the discontinuing of the hurricane watch for the Florida Keys. At 2100 UTC on July 9, the tropical storm warning was lifted for Florida's coast from Golden Beach to Flamingo, and for the Florida Keys from the Seven Mile Bridge eastward. By July 10, all advisories for the Keys were discontinued and the hurricane warning was downgraded to a tropical storm warning for Florida's coast east of the Ochlockonee River to the Steinhatchee River. By July 11, all advisories were discontinued.
About 50,000 tourists in the Keys were forced to evacuate by July 8. Governor Jeb Bush declared a statewide emergency, and evacuations started in the Florida Keys, a highly exposed chain of islands connected to the mainland by a single road and a series of bridges, stating that people "should have enough water, enough food, non-perishable food, batteries of course for 72 hours so people could safely weather the storm". Residents of the Florida Keys who did not evacuate were advised to remain indoors due to dangerous weather conditions that were predicted.
At Cape Canaveral, the space shuttle Discovery was considered to be safe on its launching pad after concerns of unfavorable weather, and NASA re-scheduled a liftoff the following week; however, shuttle managers eventually decided to begin moving Discovery from the launching pad to ride out the storm. In Miami, the Booker T. Washington Senior High School opened as a voluntary evacuation shelter for all pre-registered special needs residents. Also, the MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa evacuated its aircraft to McConnell Air Force Base near Wichita.
In the Florida Panhandle, Governor Jeb Bush warned "This is serious. This is a very dangerous storm." As Bush announced that hundreds of tractor-trailers would be carrying ice, water and generators to staging areas in north central Florida, he stated "Here we go again", referring to the large number of storms which had threatened Florida in the years prior to Dennis. 700,000 people in the Florida panhandle were evacuated in the days prior to Dennis, 100,000 of them in Escambia County alone. As a result of the large evacuations, more than 200 truckloads provided about 1.8 million US gallons (6,800 m3) of gasoline. The Red Cross put dozens of volunteers on standby to go into regions affected by the storm, and open shelters. The Red Cross also moved 60 mobile canteens, each capable of serving 30,000 hot meals a day, to the staging points of Hattiesburg and Jackson. National guardsmen were mobilized, and four emergency medical teams, each capable of setting up a small field hospital, were on standby. Also, at Eglin Air Force Base, about 20,000 military personnel were evacuated, and at Hurlburt Field, home to Air Force's 16th Special Operations Wing, a mandatory evacuation was ordered for all 15,000 airmen and their families.
Read more about this topic: Effects Of Hurricane Dennis In Florida
Famous quotes containing the word preparations:
“At the ramparts on the cliff near the old Parliament House I counted twenty-four thirty-two-pounders in a row, pointed over the harbor, with their balls piled pyramid-wise between them,—there are said to be in all about one hundred and eighty guns mounted at Quebec,—all which were faithfully kept dusted by officials, in accordance with the motto, “In time of peace prepare for war”; but I saw no preparations for peace: she was plainly an uninvited guest.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The most evident difference between man and animals is this: the beast, in as much as it is largely motivated by the senses and with little perception of the past or future, lives only for the present. But man, because he is endowed with reason by which he is able to perceive relationships, sees the causes of things, understands the reciprocal nature of cause and effect, makes analogies, easily surveys the whole course of his life, and makes the necessary preparations for its conduct.”
—Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 B.C.)
“Whatever may be the reason, whether it was that Hitler thought he might get away with what he had got without fighting for it, or whether it was that after all the preparations were not sufficiently complete—however, one thing is certain: he missed the bus.”
—Neville Chamberlain (1869–1940)