South Florida Sun Sentinel from Fort Lauderdale, Florida • 16

SOUTH FLORIDA SUN-SENTINEL' Wednesday, October 26, 2005 HURRICANE WILMA Businesses try to stay optimistic 1 it. 1 last year's hurricanes Frances and Jeanne. Loss of business was on the mind of many owners. Conferences were canceled or postponed. The World Trade Center-Miami scuttled this week's Air Cargo Americas conference, which was expected to attract more than 4,000 people.

For some, the aftermath of Wilma was a business opportunity: Belzer's Hardware Co. in Boca Raton ordered extra supplies just before the storm, and on Tuesday morning had a truckload of generators, batteries and flashlights. By noon, Belzer's manager, Jim Shou-reas, had sold all his gas-siphoning kits or generators. Owners of Foxy's Ice Cream in Delray Beach had just returned from a vacation in Italy to weather the hurricane. As an avoidance tactic, co-owners Phil Dinielli and Diana O'Hara had decided to take off the month of September because that's when last year's major hurricanes happened.

"You can't escape destiny," O'Hara said. For information on the Air Cargo show, call World Trade Center-Miami at 305-871-7910 or check www.aircargoamericas.com A few find post-storm dpportunites BV MARCIA heroux pounds AND D0R1.EN HEMLOCK BUSINESS WRITERS For businesses large and small, Tuesday was anything but business as usual in South Florida. Airports and seaports were closed, grinding international commerce to a halt. Companies as diverse as Fort Lauderdale-based AutoNation and the Old Key Lime House rest aurant in Lantana assessed hoping to reopen as soon as they could get electricity restored and repairs handjfi. Some restaurants and hardware stores with backup re-aerators did a bustling business, catering to residents eager for hot food and supplies from generators to extension cords.

Other shops that cater to usual day-to-day office work saw no clients at all. "We haven't had any business today zip," said Doug Brzuchalski, 37, the manager af the UPS store in downtown Fort Lauderdale, who spent the day fielding client calls instead of sending packages. Respite the hassle, business owners put on an optimistic face. Their primary concern 9 Vh 1 I I I Marcia Heroux Pounds can be reached at or 561-243-6650. Wi iibi lui iv.

kiwi in, miiw iiwi iwwvuii ii uui ui i uv.i iv. iv.i. uuui, VI IIUVJ laid IQI UkJ KJ I ICIIJ I cpan IC I JJi Ul li ICT UI Jl lUUUtJ V-V Duilding on Wilton Drive got soaKea wnen tne root partially Dlew away. Staff photoJoe Cavaretta I ft was electricity, rather than the damage to their restaurants, shops or buildings. Hurricane Wilma's wrath will have a short-term effect, said J.

Antonio Villamil, a noted Flprida economist. The state will feel the drag on tourism, agriculture and trade key engines of economic growth and the pinch will hit the pock-etbooks of consumers, insurance customers and taxpayers statewide. On Tuesday, many businesses were still shut down. Delray Beach-based Office Depot was closed, and spokesman Brian Levine didn't know where there had been damage or how many of the national office supply retailer's 90 Florida stores in Florida were open. Many employees found that AW- i (corn I iro a ifo 0X0 j(Q working without power was almost impossible.

Two Temple-ton employees from India, visiting Fort Lauderdale for training, found their downtown office closed and windows blown out of the building. duo Shankar Kalya-nasundaram, 38, and Zakir Khan, 35 were shocked that basic services had failed so ex i i tensively. They said in some cases, India restored services faster after tropical cyclones bigger than Wilma. "I can't believe a country, as rich as the United States, can't restore within 24 hours more basic services," said Khan, who described Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday basically as a "dead city." Other businesses were dealing with extensive damage. Hurricane Wilma ripped off IT 0 the tin roof on the Key Lime House, on the new part of Lantana seafood restaurant.

The part built in 1889 was intact. Restaurant owner Wayne Cordero did some quick thinking, hiring the condo construction workers across the street and their heavy-duty equipment to lift the twisted metal from his restaurant. feed you and pay you and kiss you and tuck you in at night," Cordero said he told the workers. The Mississippi Sweets restaurant in Boca Raton opened to, serve hot pork and beef sandwiches to customers, old and new. "How are co-owner Linda Defero asked each customer cheerily as she jotted down orders from the line that went into the parking lot.

"When we run out, we run out. I don't want to be closed for a week like we were last year," Defero said, referring to i.