Debby Threatens Puerto Rico

Aug. 22, 2000 -- With its eye making a slight turn to the north, residents of Puerto Rico appeared to avoid the worst of Hurricane Debby today as it became the first hurricane to make landfall this season.

But forecasters warn that Debby, which is classified as a minor hurricane, could pick up strength and approach the South Florida coast by Friday.

“The center will likely be approaching us (Florida) by Friday morning,” said Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami. “If it stays on our track, we’ve got Wednesday and Thursday to prepare.”

Still, forecasters stressed it was too early to gauge the storm’s threat to theU.S. mainland.

With winds up to 75 mph, Debby, a Category 1 hurricane, apparently caused little damage on Antigua, Anguilla and other small islands today. In Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory of 4 million people, there was relief as Debby’s eye passed just north of the island. Still,officials warned residents about heavy rains, life-threatening flash floods and mudslides, and about water spouts that could come ashore as isolated tornadoes.

“We’re really concerned about Puerto Rico, always, just because of the high terrain they have down there,” said Mayfield. “We’re forecasting four to six inches [of rain], and they could have some locally heavier amounts up to 10 inches.”

There was one death reported: , a 78-year-old San Juan man was killed today when he fell off a roof as he tried to dismantle atelevision antenna, police said.

At 7 p.m. ET, Debby was centered about 60 miles northwest ofSan Juan, Puerto Rico. It was moving west-northwest near 18 mph,slower than its 21 mph pace a few hours earlier, but still carryingmaximum winds of 75 mph, with higher gusts. Hurricane-force windsextended 25 miles from the storm’s center and tropical storm-forcewinds another 175 miles.

Precaution and ReliefOn nearby St. Maarten, which has been battered by hurricanes in recent years, a curfew was lifted and meteorologist Ashford James celebrated the passage of “Little Debby.”

Still, the threat was sufficient to disrupt life throughout the northern Caribbean as residents, tourists, businesses and authorities sprang into the routine — terrifying to some, exhilarating to others — of bracing for a storm.

The U.S. Virgin Islands declared a curfew and requested federal help, and a major oil refinery was partially shut down (see related story). Airlines canceled flights, schools and banks closed, storekeepers nailed plywood to windows and cruise lines diverted ships.

In Puerto Rico, schools closed, shelters opened, people jammed stores for emergency supplies and tourists boarded early morning flights from San Juan for the U.S. mainland. Airlines canceled afternoonflights, but U.S.Postal Service workers were ordered to report for work as usual.

“My parents are frantic, they’re screaming at everyone,” saidJulian Arato, 15, of New York City, who had been bumped from afourth flight at San Juan’s international airport.

‘Hurricane Experts’

Puerto Rico was hit hard by Hurricane Georges in September of 1998, with power out for weeks in some locations. Not many homeowners are boarding up this time, but locals are stocking up on supplies, tourists are canceling hotel reservations and hoteliers are planning to move guests into central areas of buildings.

Carlos Caban, the managing editor of Zonai.com, had to evacuate his 21st-story apartment in Condado, a beach resort near San Juan. “My apartment faces the ocean, we have windows facing the sea, obviously, it’s not the best place to be in during a hurricane,” he told ABCNEWS.com by phone.

Caban said he hadn’t slept all night because he was tracking the storm. But by 2 a.m., news reports said Debby had moved up and that the eye of the storm was most likely to hit the seas north of the island, affecting only the northern parts of Puerto Rico. “People started celebrating when they heard the news,” said Caban. “Here in Puerto Rico, everybody is a hurricane expert. They become instant meteorologists. They mark the course of hurricanes from the radio, the television and now the Internet.”

Caban’s Web site www.zonai.com is owned by El Nuevo Dia, the largest newspaper on the island, www.endi.com and features live hurricane updates for Puerto Ricans.

Mariloly Soto, who lives in Dorado in the northern part of Puerto Rico, said she did not go to work this morning, following a notice sent by the company Monday afternoon. Having experienced Hurricane Georges, she said she was not unduly worried this time. “I’ve just moved things I had outside the house to a safer place indoors, but not much more.”

It’s the period after the hurricane that residents are preparing for. “People are in a mad rush to buy water, wood and generators because you never know, you may have to go weeks without electricity after the hurricane,” said Caban.

Ten ships and two submarines in the USS Harry Truman battle group abandoned training off the Puerto Rican island of Vieques, the site of recurrent protests over military exercises — and moved 300 miles south, the U.S. Navy said. In addition, more than 70 U.S. soldiers in Haiti have been evacuated and a number of aircraft in Puerto Rico and the Bahamas have been moved back stateside.

Tourist Industry Hurt

In the U.S. Virgin Islands, the National Park Service closed its grounds on the island of St. John, and boaters moved to safe harbor, securing their vessels in mangrove swamps.

Carnival Cruise Lines said it was diverting three of its ships now in the eastern Caribbean to areas farther north, west and south to avoid the storm.

Debby already has cost Puerto Rico’s tourist industry a lot of money, says Deanna Castro, front desk clerk at the Copamarina Resort on the southern coast of Puerto Rico.

“Most of the people already left and canceled their reservations because of the hurricane,” she said.

But Caribbean residents have seen hurricanes before, and they know what to do.

“They are trying to pick up everything, like chairs, tables; we have a special place to put everything,” Castro said.

Unpredictable Path

Forecasters aren’t sure where Debby will move next — they believe the storm could putter out in the Gulf of Mexico or sweep up into southern Florida.

But the speed of the storm has weakened it, experts say. If Debby slows down, it may become more dangerous later.

“The storm could come up to Florida sometime Friday. Or sometime on Friday it might turn more to the north. It might turn more to the west,” said Jack Beven of the National Hurricane Center. “More than that, we can’t say yet.”

ABCNEWS.com’s Leela Jacinto, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.