2.5 million urged to flee Florida,syorm could hit Friday

Forecasters say Frances could be the worst storm to hit the Florida coast in over a decade. It comes on the heels of Hurricane Charley last month, a comparable storm that killed 27 people and caused $7.4 billion in damage.

From Daytona Beach to Miami, coastal residents aren't waiting around to see whether Frances will be as deadly. (Related video: Residents are told to leave)

More than a million people had left their homes as of late Thursday afternoon. Facilities closing in Florida before the storm included hundreds of schools, along with colleges, courts, city halls, businesses and the Kennedy Space Center.

Airlines advised passengers to check for delays or cancellations. Cruises to the Bahamas were canceled. And Amtrak was halting southbound trains in Jacksonville, near the Georgia line.

The storm arrives after a record-setting month for storms battered the Southeast in August. In all, more than 30 people died after two hurricanes and three tropical storms hit the mainland.

Up and down South Florida's Atlantic coast, residents were boarding up, packing up and gassing up. As they left, the National Guard was moving in.

Grocery stores were jammed, gas was in short supply, and hardware stores were out of plywood and generators. Many ATMS were out of cash.

Evacuations were ordered in at least nine counties. Mostly affected were South Florida residents on the east side of Highway A1A, along the water. As many as 810,000 people in Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties were told to leave.

At the Walgreens drug store on 5th Avenue in Miami Beach, "it's like Christmas Eve," manager Joe Smith said. "People are grabbing whatever they can get, and they're glad to get it."

Authorities ordered everyone off Miami Beach by 4 p.m., even as the storm seemed to be taking a more northerly tack. "We don't want people moving around on Friday. That's the day we want to hunker down," Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Pinellas said.

Source: Agencies