Category 4 Hurricane Charley Offshore Fort Myers
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hurricane Charley getting stronger as it charges toward the Florida west coast. We're live from Florida with some spots already feeling the storm's effects.</s>MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The twists and turns of Charley. We're tracking where it's likely headed for you this hour.</s>JOSEPH KYRILLOS, (R), NEW JERSEY STATE SENATE: Asking the governor to do the right thing, to go beyond what he did yesterday and resign now.</s>WHITFIELD: The fallout from coming out. Calls for a speedier exit after New Jersey's governor announces he had a homosexual affair.</s>O'BRIEN: And Julia Child, the television chef who simplified French cooking for American cooks on the television, has died. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Miles O'Brien.</s>WHITFIELD: And I'm Fredricka Whitfield, in for Kyra Phillips. This hour of CNN's LIVE FROM begins right now.</s>O'BRIEN: Hurricane Charley has made its move. Instead of Tampa in the bulls-eye, it appears to be Fort Myers. And the storm looks like a whopper, Category 4 with 145 mile-an-hour winds. It was a bit weaker when it blew past the Florida Keys this morning. Lots of wind and rain there. The worst over, however. Tampa, on Florida's west coast, had been expecting the worst. Now other areas are taking precautions. Walt Disney World in Orlando closed an hour ago, although its hotels remain open. The Associated Press reporting Universal Orlando and Sea World Orlando plan to close this afternoon, as well. If the storm comes into Fort Myers, Orlando could be right under its path. Now, let's go to the CNN Weather Center as we begin our coverage here. Meteorologist Orelon Sidney has been working very hard this morning and last night, and will be working through the night tonight keeping track of the storm. What is the latest, Orelon?</s>ORELON SIDNEY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: The very latest, as we reported last hour, is that we now do have a Category 4 hurricane. That is more than a major hurricane. The last time a Category 4 hit the United States was Hurricane Hugo in South Carolina in 1989. And you can remember the extensive damage they had from that, if you were there. Some of my friends actually were there, and they told me they were out of power for weeks after that storm went through. So this is the kind of thing we're dealing with, 145 mile-an-hour winds. We're currently looking for the intermediate advisory from the National Hurricane Center that came out at the top of the hour, 145 miles an hour was the latest report, 162 mile an hour, the flight level winds. And it's moving to the north, northeast at about 20 miles an hour. It doesn't look like this storm system is going to make any more of a jog. It is headed pretty much right towards the Fort Myers area now, having made its little right turn. I expect to see hurricane- force winds across the Florida peninsula. So it's deceiving to think of a hurricane warning from Key West all the way up the coast, because we actually have hurricane wind advisories even inland by several counties. You could even see some hurricane-force winds as far north as the Georgia coast later tonight, depending on the exact track of the storm once it moves on inland -- Miles.</s>O'BRIEN: All right, Orelon. So I guess it's almost a little late in the game for a lot of folks to start evacuating in that area.</s>SIDNEY: That's so true.</s>O'BRIEN: But should they? Should they move now, or should they hunker down?</s>SIDNEY: Depending on where you are, I can only tell you what I personally would do. If your local officials are still telling you to evacuate, you should do that. If your local officials are telling you, it's too late, the roads may get cut off by water, then you should not do that. You need to listen to your local officials. Those are the ones who have studied the situation. They know the lay of the land literally, and they know what a hurricane of this type will do. Listen to your local officials.</s>O'BRIEN: All right. You know, that point is worth underscoring here because what we're talking about is people who make a decision to evacuate and get stuck along the way on a causeway or whatever.</s>SIDNEY: That's exactly right.</s>O'BRIEN: And that could be a lot worse than just staying in your house.</s>SIDNEY: That is so true. That's one of the -- that's one of the nightmares literally for the National Hurricane Center folks, is that people will get stuck on a -- on a thoroughfare, trying to get out of an area when a storm surge or the gusty winds come through. Listen to your local officials, take their advice. That's what you should do right now.</s>O'BRIEN: All right. Orelon Sidney, thank you very much. We hope folks in that area are heeding those words of advice from Orelon Sidney -- Fred.</s>WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks a lot, Miles. Well, for about a day now folks around Tampa, Florida, have been getting out of Hurricane Charley's path. But what happens now? Keith Oppenheim is standing by in a city that is buttoned up and ready for the worst. But we know there are a lot of resisters, people who decide to stay.</s>KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. But I think what's happening here in Tampa and St. Pete, Fredricka, is that the situation is changing with some competing information. The bad news, if you will, is that the storm has intensified, which means that even if the perimeter of the system hits Tampa and St. Pete, it will still be quite strong. It could cause some serious storm surge in the channel that you see behind me and in the bay in general. But the other side of it is that the system has changed its direction. It's moving south. So now a lot of the people here who have evacuated are watching these changes as the storm moves to the Florida coast.</s>OPPENHEIM (voice-over): Hurricane Charley pelted Key West with rain this morning as it churned toward the mainland.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our power is out and there's pretty much nothing we can do. So...</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you ever seen anything like this?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.</s>OPPENHEIM: Charley had its sights set on the Gulf Coast of southwestern Florida, including the Tampa-St. Pete- Sarasota area, home to more than 2.5 million people. Florida Governor Jeb Bush warned those who don't leave to find shelter.</s>GOV. JEB BUSH (R), FLORIDA: When gale-force winds start hitting our -- the area, which will happen soon, in the next couple of hours, law enforcement officials out of their safety will be seeking refuge as well. This is not the time to be getting on the interstate.</s>OPPENHEIM: But even being prepared may not be enough as the Category 4 hurricane looms.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It scares the hell out of me. It -- you're looking at the map and it's -- when you live on the coast, you dream about some day a hurricane hitting us head on. And, hello, here it is.</s>OPPENHEIM: Now, yesterday, Fredricka, I'll point out that we traveled north from the Fort Myers area. We went to Sanibel Island. We also went north to Sarasota. And people who are middle aged and older remembered Hurricane Donna back in 1960. It was a very strong storm that caused a lot of damage. One guy talked about how he was literally swimming in his family's kitchen when he was a child. And that storm, I'll point out was a Category 3 storm. With a Category 4 storm coming, we have the possibility of even greater damage than the last hurricane, where southwest Florida got really hard hit. Back to you.</s>WHITFIELD: All right, Keith. Well, hopefully, those people who remember that were able to urge their neighbors to get out of town. Well, just north of the bulls-eye of Charlotte Harbor is Venice. And joining us from there is Al Zimmerman of Bay News 9. Al, what's happening there?</s>AL ZIMMERMAN, BAY NEWS 9: Well, the rain is picking up just a bit, but the weather is doing funny things out here. You can see the surf behind me. It doesn't look like it's too choppy right now, the waves don't look very big. But let me tell you, what you can't see on camera is that the water is swirling in all directions out there. So, obviously, something is on its way. Now, there were people out here on the beach earlier. They have gone inside. There were about four or five people living in some condos near where I'm standing, about 100 yards away, who said they were going to go ahead and ride out this storm. And let me tell you, they're still going to ride out this storm, but that was -- they said that when it was a Category 2. When it went to three, they got kind of nervous. Now that it is a Cat 4, you can bet they are rethinking their plans. But there are some people sticking around here, including us. And obviously the weather out here is going to get a lot worse -- Fredricka.</s>WHITFIELD: But then, Al, I don't know if you heard our report earlier from Orelon. You know, in some cases, it really is too late for some of those people who decided to stick around to venture out now. What are authorities telling those people?</s>ZIMMERMAN: Well, what's interesting here, you're not hearing anything from authorities because all the police, all the sheriff's deputies, they are gone. They want to be away from this area, too. And they warned people here, "Hey, look, we're getting out of here. If you have any emergency, there is nothing we can do because we're not putting our lives on the line." So they're gone. The people who are staying here will stay here. And those deputies, those police officers, they don't plan on coming by to knock on doors. That's for sure.</s>WHITFIELD: All right. Al Zimmerman, thanks very much for that update -- Miles.</s>O'BRIEN: Way to the north of the storm is the tiny fishing and tourist town of Cedar Key, Florida. It juts out into the Gulf 100 miles or so north of Tampa Bay. In years past, hurricanes have done a number on Cedar Key. Today, the folks there are no doubt breathing a sigh of relief. Gary Tuchman was there as they prepped for the worst.</s>GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We come to you from Cedar Key, Florida. This is about 100 miles north of the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater area. Right now, we're going through a squall before this hurricane comes to the Florida coast. People here know this is a very vulnerable area. The elevation is only about seven feet. The storm surge during this hurricane is expected to be 12 to 17 feet here on Cedar Key, which is in Levy County, Florida. Police tell us -- like these air conditioner units here are expected to be under water by the time this hurricane passes over the Florida landmass. They estimate this sign right here -- it says "private property" on this pole -- they say this is where the water from the bay and from the Gulf of Mexico should go up to. Over here you can get a look at the preparations that have taken place on this island. And it's very small. Only about 1,000 full- time residents live here. There were no boards yesterday at all. People were taking it relatively easy. The last big storm here was in 1993, and it wasn't even a hurricane or a tropical storm. It was an unnamed storm in March that caused a lot of flooding. People here are used to the threats, haven't gotten many huge storms. And, therefore, just today they've started boarding up. But right now, people here are hoping for the best, but realize that much of the small island could be under water by the time Hurricane Charley passes by Florida. This is Gary Tuchman, CNN, in Cedar Key, Florida.</s>WHITFIELD: All right. Well, on the phone with us now from Tallahassee is Craig Fugate (ph) -- all right, sorry about that. We've lost him on the telephone line there. We'll be right back.