Hurricanes Florida

Although powerful hurricanes have struck Florida, Guam and now Hawaii in less than three weeks, experts insist that there is little evidence to suggest the end of a 25-year lull during which the United States has been relatively free of major tropical storms. "There is no evidence yet of a new cycle of storm activity," Max Mayfield, a forecaster at the National Hurricane Center, said Saturday. "Whether these storms are just freaks or not, we don't know. As yet, there is no clear trend."

Tropical Storm Beryl neared hurricane strength as it prepared to lash the coasts of northeastern Florida and southeastern Georgia Sunday night and early Monday. Winds were expected to reach 70 mph as the storm made its way toward landfall. It was forecast to weaken and start churning northward by Monday night, according to the National Weather Service . The storm has already interrupted many Memorial Day plans along the coast in the Southeast. The Jacksonville Beach Pier in Florida reported 50 mph winds as the storm approached, according to the weather service.

Mounds of rubble still line most roadways, hundreds of local residents are still living doubled up with friends or relatives, and it could be years before the shattered trees again provide any shade in this sun-stricken town at the end of the Florida peninsula. "When someone drives in here for the first time, there is still a reasonable amount of shock," says Bill Kiriloff, an assistant city manager. "There is still a lot of debris, a lot of homes scheduled for demolition.

When Florida adopted a statewide building code in answer to Hurricane Andrew, it set tough storm construction standards well inland for much of the state -- but not the Panhandle. At the time, homebuilders and legislators argued that the extreme northwestern edge of the state wasn't prone to the assault of high winds and the code could unreasonably increase the cost of homes. Hurricane Ivan, with its 130 mph winds, may have changed some minds.

Striking in pre-dawn darkness, Hurricane Andrew ravaged South Florida Monday, leaving at least 13 persons dead here and in the Bahamas as well as a swath of destruction defying description and credible economic estimates. The storm hit just south of Miami, leveling trees, snapping utility poles, ripping away rooftops, shattering windows and flattening neighborhoods. It was one of the most powerful hurricanes to strike a major metropolitan area.

Two months after Hurricane Andrew twisted this city and much of the surrounding area into the ruins of what is called the worst natural disaster ever to strike the United States, the patient is on the mend. Electrical power has been almost completely restored, about 30% of businesses are open and, with the tents and field kitchens gone, the park across from City Hall could soon see a baseball game again.

3rd Quarter Losses Likely for Many Insurance Companies: Battered by damage claims from hurricanes in Florida, Louisiana and Hawaii, property/casualty insurers may lose $2 billion in the third quarter--the first operating loss for the industry since the end of 1985, analysts said. Although big insurance companies such as Aetna Life & Casualty Co. and Chubb Corp. probably will eke out profits in the quarter ended Sept. 30, Cigna Corp., Continental Corp., Travelers Corp. and USF&G Corp.

Insured damage from Hurricane Andrew will reach $7.3 billion in Florida alone, making the killer storm the costliest disaster in American history, an insurance industry group said Tuesday. An estimated 685,000 home, auto and business claims will be filed in Florida, whose southern tip was ravaged by Andrew's 150-m.p.h. winds Aug. 23 and 24. The claims and damage estimates are the first official projections by the insurance industry.

From the turnpike, they are easy to see--dozens and dozens of dump trucks, each overflowing with tree limbs, corrugated metal, roof shingles, plywood. They snake a lengthy and tedious path to the local dump, where a huge fire is raging in violation of this state's strict environmental regulations.

All week long, USC prepared for its game against Florida State today by practicing while huge speakers blared simulated crowd noise. Maybe the managers should have just dumped buckets of water on the players' heads instead, Coach Paul Hackett said Friday.

Done in by decimal points, confounded by computers, the Miami Hurricanes took their case for college football's national championship as far as humanly possible Tuesday night, defeating Florida, 37-20, in the Sugar Bowl because the Orange Bowl wasn't available. The bowl championship series bouncers kept the Hurricanes sequestered in New Orleans, instead of Miami, where the real action is tonight: the BCS title game between undefeated Oklahoma and once-beaten Florida State. Beaten once by Miami.

A storm beginning to pound Florida's Gulf Coast reached hurricane strength Saturday after deluging western Cuba with up to 10 inches of rain early in the day. Florida Gov. Jeb Bush activated emergency response teams as rains pushed by Hurricane Gordon moved onshore. Storm watches and warnings were posted along the Gulf Coast, and several counties recommended voluntary evacuations of barrier islands and coastal or low-lying areas.

Tourists were ordered to leave the Florida Keys on Wednesday, even as the reason for the evacuation--Hurricane Debby--seemed to fall apart during its march toward the U.S. coastline. Indeed, Debby was downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm after its winds dropped from 75 mph to 50 mph during a passage over mountainous Hispaniola, the island shared by the nations of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Debby was still headed west, toward a likely landfall at some part of South Florida.

Two banks are collecting money at branches in southeast Los Angeles County to aid the Red Cross' efforts to help victims of Hurricane Georges. Puerto Rico-based Banco Popular has put out canisters in its Norwalk, Downey and Montebello branches, and First State will begin collecting donations at its Santa Fe Springs branch today, according to Cindy Marquez, a spokeswoman for the Red Cross' Rio Hondo chapter.

As part of a disaster-relief team, four San Fernando Valley and two Ventura County residents landed this week in devastated areas suffering the aftereffects of Hurricane Georges. After a short stay at a staging area in Atlanta, the American Red Cross volunteers were dispatched to either Puerto Rico, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana or Mississippi, said Mike Powers, a spokesman for the Red Cross.

All week long, USC prepared for its game against Florida State today by practicing while huge speakers blared simulated crowd noise. Maybe the managers should have just dumped buckets of water on the players' heads instead, Coach Paul Hackett said Friday.

Tent City, Lanark Park. Hundreds of the newly homeless wait in the afternoon sun as relief workers hand out milk, shampoo, oranges and canned food. Camouflage-clad soldiers play catch with little children. Fraternity brothers from Pepperdine flip burgers on a grill. Older folks retreat to their tents to steal some much-needed sleep. Cindy McCain, head of a team of volunteer physicians from Phoenix surveyed this organized chaos and felt a twinge of deja vu.

As Hurricane Andrew approached Sunday, I sent the kids to stay with their mother and hunkered down in my house with the dog. I kept my hand on her most of the night, trying to stop her shaking. I wish she could have put a paw on my heart. At first the wind merely rustled the palm fronds and sent the hedge of arelia into a spastic dance.

Like moths drawn to a flame, the elite of Southern society flock to this tiny sliver of pristine beachfront, building their million-dollar condos as close as structurally possible to the emerald waters that lap the sugary sands. Over the last decade, vacationers from Alabama and Georgia and Tennessee have transformed Destin from a sleepy fishing village into the crown jewel of the Florida Panhandle.