MIAMI – Hurricane-weary, hurricane-savvy and a little hurricane-obsessed, South Floridians nervously – and possibly needlessly – filled fuel tanks Saturday, stocked groceries and tied down those blue tarps as they monitored a late-season torment called Tropical Storm Gamma.
This time, though, the awful hurricane season delivered sunny news: With a little bit of luck, nearly all of Gamma’s weather will bypass South Florida, a region still recovering from Hurricane Wilma’s rampage less than four weeks ago.
Forecasters said roof-challenged residents still faced the threat of rain and tarp-flapping gusts today and especially Monday, as a cold front approaches the area.
But that’s a lot better than a tropical storm or a hurricane that plunges millions into darkness and despair.
“It needs to stay away from here – tropical storm, hurricane, whatever it is,” Freddie Bradwell, 55, of Fort Lauderdale said as he picked up Thanksgiving fixings from the Cooperative Feeding Program, a charity meals program. “I’ve still got plastic on my roof.”
The latest predictions carried the center of a relatively weak Gamma diagonally across central Cuba late Monday and had it missing the Florida Keys and the rest of South Florida as it raced over the central Bahamas and into the Atlantic.
That would leave the Keys and Miami-Dade and Broward counties on the left – generally weaker – side of the storm and possibly completely out of harm’s way.
Still, residents should expect rain and gusty winds, forecasters said, and severe thunderstorms are possible as the arriving cold front collides with warm tropical air.
Beachgoers were warned of rip currents and mariners were alerted to expect rough seas.
“We’ll probably see some squally weather,” said Eric Christensen, a forecaster at the National Weather Service’s South Florida office. “For people living under tarps, that will be problematic.”
Said forecaster Jack Beven of the National Hurricane Center in West Miami-Dade: “This is not going to be Wilma 2.”
Though all residents must decide for themselves, Beven said he saw no reason for South Floridians to re-install their hurricane shutters.
All of that provided some comfort, though many hurricane-sensitized South Floridians were in no mood to take anything for granted.
Dwight Thompson, a Broward handyman, said seven people called Saturday hoping to accelerate the installation of storm shutters they previously bought. “They’re taking this one more seriously,” Thompson said.
Brisk business was evident at many gasoline stations, but not to the point of cars waiting in line. Supermarket parking lots were packed as customers shopped for Thanksgiving Day provisions and – just maybe – an extra case or two of water. At a Home Depot in West Miami, customers staged a brief rush on roofing supplies.
“Are you ready for another one?” Johnny Vasquez, 49, grinning, called out to a neighbor in Highland Village, a collection of 700 mobile and concrete-block homes in North Miami Beach.
Wilma so thoroughly wrecked his bathroom that he has been taking showers outside with buckets of warm water. Another bucket collected the drip-drip-drip from his leaky roof.
“I don’t have money to fix my roof from the last one,” Vasquez said. “I can’t get mad at Mother Nature. Remember, that’s God’s work.”
Gamma formed Friday in the Caribbean and dumped heavy rain on portions of Belize, Honduras and Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.
In Belize, a small plane carrying two unidentified passengers disappeared during the storm and five fishermen were missing after their boat capsized. In Honduras, three people were killed and 13 were missing after flash floods.
In the Florida Keys, where more than 4,000 homes sustained major damage from the last storm, no evacuations were ordered and several special events proceeded on schedule.
Still, many people were barely back on their feet after floods claimed almost everything they owned.
“Am I tired of it? Yeah. A few days before Thanksgiving, this is just unbelievable.” said Irene Toner, Monroe County’s director of emergency management. “Hopefully, with this one we can close out the year.”
But first, with some severe weather still possible, Navy Lt. Dave Roberts, a meteorologist at the hurricane center, had a few words of advice:
“Just make sure that tarp is on nice and tight.”
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