Heads up, all of you! This was at the top of the news this morning (as if you didn't already know--it's mostly so everyone else will know what you're going through):

Florida Braces for Hurricane Frances
September 2, 2004 07:56 AM EDT

STUART, Fla. - With homes still swaddled in blue tarp and the deaths from Hurricane Charley still fresh in their minds, Florida residents lined up before dawn Thursday for supplies or made evacuation plans as they braced for an onslaught that could be worse than Charley's. Three-quarters of a million people in Florida were told to leave their homes by Thursday afternoon as Hurricane Frances inched toward the U.S. mainland. States of emergency were declared in Georgia and Florida. The latest evacuation order was issued Thursday morning in Broward County, where up to 250,000 people living on barrier islands, in mobile homes and in low-lying areas were told to be ready to leave. Other counties that already issued orders included Palm Beach County and Brevard County.

Frances is just as strong as Hurricane Charley, which devastated Florida's southwest coast Aug. 13, but twice the size, said Stephen Baig, a forecaster at the National Hurricane Center in Miami. Frances was also about twice the size of 1992's Hurricane Andrew, which destroyed much of southern Miami-Dade County. That means that Frances' powerful hurricane-force winds, which extend up to 80 miles from its center, can cause just as much damage over a larger area, Baig said Thursday. Packing 145 mph winds and a course that has emergency officials in several Southeastern states jittery, the Category 4 storm was expected to fluctuate in intensity as it headed for a Labor Day weekend rendezvous.

Supermarkets along Florida's Atlantic coast were stripped of bottled water and canned goods. In the pre-dawn hours Thursday, long lines formed outside home supply stores in Palm Beach County, with dozens of people hoping for a chance to buy plywood or generators. A delivery truck's arrival was met with raucous applause. Reservation clerks of sold-out hotels groaned with each telephone ring, knowing someone seeking a room was on the other end. And demand for gas was so great some stations were pumped dry. "We can't control the kind of damage that Frances is going to cause, but if people are smart, lives can be saved," said Max Mayfield, the director of the National Hurricane Center.

As of 8 a.m., Frances' center was 470 miles east-southeast of Palm Beach. It was moving west-northwest near 13 mph, and was expected to continue that course for 24 hours. Forecasters said Frances could begin affecting Florida late Thursday, less than three weeks after Charley raked the state's west coast with 145 mph wind, causing billions of dollars in damage and killing 27 people.

Forecasters said France could become a Category 5 with winds of 156 mph or higher by the time it makes landfall. The difference wasn't something residents spent time discussing. "Category 4, Category 5, what's the difference? I'm still out of here," said Michele Byrd, 38, a food service executive from Vero Beach. "This one will probably be bigger than Charley. I don't see any way we're not getting hit."

Late Wednesday, the National Hurricane Center issued a hurricane watch for 310 miles of Florida coast from from Craig Key to Flagler Beach. A hurricane watch means that those areas could start feeling hurricane conditions within 36 hours. "People should not concentrate on the forecast track," forecaster Jack Beven said Thursday morning, urging residents of the entire watch region to immediately begin preparing. "A slight dip in the track could result in big changes in landfall."

Court trials were canceled in 10 counties, cruise lines kept their ships away and schools in nine counties were shuttered for Thursday; another three planned to do the same Friday. In St. Lucie County, a curfew was to go in effect Friday night.

The menacing strength of Frances coupled with the damage wrought by Charley in Florida had even normally stoic coastal Georgians spooked. "The people here are paying this one a little more attention than they normally would," said Tybee Island Mayor Walter Parker. "When I went to the Post Office today, some people said they're a little more concerned. They saw what Charley did to Florida."

In the Caribbean, the storm's lashing winds tore tin roofs off houses and plucked trees from the ground as it plowed through the Turks and Caicos. The Bahamas' prime minister warned that Frances could be the worst in the archipelago nation's history.

On the mainland, the storm and evacuations it forces are certain to spoil Labor Day outings and make a mess of holiday travel across the Southeast. Florida may reverse lanes on some highways to handle the evacuation traffic, state Emergency Management Director Craig Fugate said. Many businesses along the Atlantic coast began closing Wednesday, some not planning to reopen until Sunday at the earliest. Cape Canaveral's Kennedy Space Center shut down, leery of the havoc Frances could bring. "It's going to hit somewhere," said Stephanie Graniero, who was having hurricane shutters attached to her store along a deserted commercial strip of Delray Beach. "You have to try to stay calm and not panic. If it's going to hit, you have to be prepared."

An evacuation order was issued for 300,000 Palm Beach County residents, and those who live in mobile homes and flood-prone areas of Volusia, Brevard, Martin and Indian River counties also were ordered to find safer locations. Forecasters said storm surges of 15 feet or more could affect those areas if Frances takes dead aim. State officials worried about finding enough room in shelters. Many hotel rooms in southern Florida are occupied by emergency workers and people left homeless by Charley. Some schools and community centers are still being used as shelters.

To make matters worse, many rivers and lakes in the Carolinas and Virginia are already swollen with rains from a series of August storms. The most recent of those came Monday, when the remnants of Tropical Storm Gaston brought heavy rain and knocked down trees and power lines. Joe Farmer, of South Carolina's Emergency Management Division, said the state would likely have to deal with Frances even if it makes landfall in Florida since evacuees would head north on Interstate 95.

The last time two major storms hit Florida so close together was 1950, when Hurricane Easy hit the Tampa area and Hurricane King struck Miami about six weeks later. Neither of those storms was as powerful as Charley or Frances.