South Florida Sun Sentinel from Fort Lauderdale, Florida • Page 4

4A Sun-Sentinel. Friday, August 4, 1995 ERIN I A i fTr- lllp.m.Thur.day 31.7 88.9 sf If I I Max. winds: 40 mph Moving: NW at 13 mph SSfig fl MIdn gM Wednesday, I IHtriiiAAtr 11 upgraded to hurricane I dVero Beach FT Walton, jf ofl jttT Y7 fvq BEACH iTf. J-4 CJ 50 MILESf upgraded to hurteane -yj 90 85 80 TV5 II I FROM PAGE 1A Hurricane Erin delivers 1-2 punch, batters Panhandle storms from Erin stretched as far as Cuba and drenched South Florida. Earlier this week, Erin narrowly bypassed South Florida, instead blowing through Vero Beach late Tuesday.

The storm then spun across Central Florida before shooting out into the Gulf of Mexico, where it regained hurricane force and struck the Panhandle about 10 a.m. Thursday. Hardest hit were those who least expected it Florida's westernmost counties Escambia, Santa Rosa and Okaloosa. Chiles closed state offices in those counties today. In one Panhandle town, Navarre Beach, inspectors found that almost one-third of the buildings suffered major damage, said Joe Myers, Florida's director of emergency management.

"I really didn't even realize it was this close on us," said Marie Jernigan of Crestview, who fled to an emergency shelter with her three grandchildren just before the hurricane hit. "We waited it out last night, but those winds got pretty high. I was scared because we have such a small car, and we wouldn't be able to get through all those winds." Transformers exploded on power poles. A toppling tree cut a car in half. The damage is "worse frankly than what I thought it was going to be," said Barry Evans, an Escambia County administrator.

"One of my employees lost a room in his house from two trees. From what I understand, that is Tallahassee Democrat photoPHIL COALE to swim from shore to his boat. Winds from Hurricane Erin rocked the vessel on Thursday. Swells in Gulf of Mexico nearly hide the head of a Fort Walton Beach resident as he attempts "I'm angry at the emergency management of our county for not really giving sufficient notice," said Charles Clower, 69, of Navarre in Santa Rosa County. "Normally I would have loaded up and moved out, but they kept saying it was going to Louisiana." Connie Stonebridge and Steve Way were two people who chose to ride out the storm in their third floor beachfront condo in Pensacola Beach an acknowledged mistake.

By the storm's end, insulation, tiles and roofing nails littered the courtyard. Large boulders, used to shore up the complex's sea wall, were tossed into the community pool. "I'm from California, and I'd take an earthquake any day of the week," Stonebridge said. "An earthquake shakes and goes away. This was hours of torture, and I'll never do it again." The Deerfield Beach Amateur Athletic Union, which was in Pan ama City for a national baseball tournament, took the opposite tack.

Mid-way into the tournament, the teenagers and their coaches fled in their vans, first veering north to Tallahassee to dodge the hurricane. The ride home was a wet mess. Panhandle officials braced for a flood of people seeking refuge at emergency shelters because their homes are unlivable from storm damage and the lack of power or water. It could take at least a week before power is restored. In hard-hit Navarre Beach, Charlie Porretto, 62, said the wind blew out a bay window in his bedroom and tossed his 27-foot sailboat up on the beach a half-block away.

He said the front and back of the boat were gone, and what was left was pocked with holes. This story was compiled from Sun-Sentinel wire services by Staff Writers Jay Hamburg and Michael Griffin. kIt was Gulfport, Gulfport, Gulfport all last night, then all of a sudden: 'It's Susan Kuehne, a shelter manager going on all over the place." Mike Rucker, the state meteorologist, said many coastal residents failed to take the hurricane warnings seriously and were caught by surprise; Gov. Chiles even chastised the area's residents for not evacuating quickly enough. "I would rate the evacuation poor to fair," Chiles said.

More than 10,000 people evacuated coastal areas near Pensaco-la; about 600 people took refuge overnight in Panhandle shelters. But John Teelin, Escambia County Emergency management slam into Pensacola, Evans said. Officials at the National Hurricane Center in Miami disputed the criticism, saying they posted the warning for the Panhandle at 3 p.m. Wednesday. No matter who was to blame, many residents said they felt ambushed.

spokesman, complained that county emergency officials didn't have enough time to warn coastal residents. Forecasters had predicted Wednesday night that the hurricane would most likely brush the Panhandle on its way to the Mississippi-Louisiana coast not 25-40 offKasper, Dockers, SavileJZow, Jockey more TV ratings increase with storm Channels 4, 12 attract majority of viewers Pure, 100 wool suils.Our biggest sale of the year. Terrific savings from Savile Row, Christopher Hayes and more in a selection of solids, stripes and patterns. Single and double-breasted styles in traditional and contemporary silhouettes. Imported.

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By JACKZINK Cultural Affairs Writer Brian Norcross and John Matthews were the hurricane watchers most viewers watched as Erin skirted its closest to South Florida earlier this week. Meteorologists Norcross, at Miami's WTVJ-Ch. 4 and Matthews, of West Palm Beach's WPEC-Ch. 12, helped those stations pull down big numbers throughout Tuesday, when most stations provided nearly-continuous storm coverage. But viewers split their loyalties during the storm's two-day approach, allowing several other stations to claim bragging rights.

The A.C. Nielsen Company Miami ratings for all-day Tuesday give Channel 4 a 12.8 to 12.0 edge over WSVN-Ch. 7. WPLG-Ch. 10 came in third with a 6.7 rating, and WCIX-Ch.

6 trailed at 3.5. A ratings point represents 13,000 households in Dade and Broward. Channel 7 led in several day parts, some of them as viewers switched away from non-storm programming at the competition. Channel 7 claims a razor-thin lead for Tuesday afternoon, as the mystery peaked about the storm's landfall plans. However, Channel 4 pushed significantly ahead from 4:30 p.m.

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