Federal relief effort begins

Update: 10:20 a.m. State officials announced today that a new disaster recovery center will open in Lake Wales. Secretary of Elder Affairs Terry White said state officials also are moving some elderly residents out of their damaged homes, in some cases against their will, because of mold and other safety threats from storm damage.

“We’ve had case workers go into some homes that are devastated with mold and mildew,” said White. “We’re concerned about their safety.”

State health officials, meanwhile, said they have moved their focus from southwest Florida to South-central Florida. Services in southwest Florida are not back to normal, but health officials said basic health services such as hospitals and pharmacies have reopened.

438,000 Florida residents are still without power, state officials said Wednesday.
-- By Bob Mahlburg, Tallahassee Bureau

Government help poured into Florida on Tuesday for victims of Hurricane Charley, and the center of the massive federal relief effort was being set up in Orlando.

The death toll blamed on Charley rose by two to 20 Tuesday. Officials said an 86-year-old man who had evacuated his home died after falling at a Polk County motel. They did not release details on the other death.

Utility officials reported better-than-expected progress restoring electrical service, but hundreds of thousands of Floridians remain without power. More than 100,000 do not have telephone service. Supplies of gasoline remained scarce in some areas, especially in Charlotte and Lee counties, where many cars with empty tanks sat abandoned on the roadside.

More than 4,000 Florida National Guard troops were deployed in counties affected by Charley, most of them patrolling in the hardest-hit sections of southwest Florida. In Central Florida, hundreds of Guard soldiers who returned from a yearlong tour of duty in Iraq earlier this year were on patrol, many directing traffic at intersections with signals that still weren’t working.

Law enforcement officials warned again of the dangers of speeding through intersections where traffic signals are out. Two people were killed late Monday in Port Charlotte when a tractor-trailer hit three cars at one of those intersections.

School officials in Seminole, Volusia, Osceola and Polk counties announced classes will resume Monday. Classes in Orange County will resume Tuesday. In hard-hit Charlotte County, where Charley made landfall, classes will not resume until at least Aug. 30.

In Punta Gorda, relief workers were preparing to bring in at least 10,000 temporary shelters to house people left homeless in the storm’s wake, the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency said Tuesday.

“We’ll do tents, travel trailers, mobile homes -- whatever it takes,” said Mike Brown, the undersecretary in the Department of Homeland Security who leads FEMA. “I don’t want to rule out anything.”

Tuesday evening, FEMA was setting up its headquarters for Hurricane Charley relief at a vacant commercial building in south Orlando, set to open Thursday. At the 120,000-square-foot center on Sunport Lane, workers were stocking empty desks with laptop computers, cell phones and printers.

Within days, “there will be hundreds of people here,” FEMA spokesman Karl Suchman said. “There are people coming in from all over the country.”

The agency also will open satellite offices in other areas hit by Charley.

By Tuesday, FEMA had processed 1,070 claims for disaster aid, paying out more than $2 million. “That will be the start of steady checks,” Brown said.

But so far, it is only a beginning. Charley’s damage to insured buildings alone has been estimated at up to $14 billion by insurance groups.

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Florida, requested from President Bush at least $2.5 billion of extra federal assistance for victims of Charley. FEMA’s disaster fund now has only $836 million, Nelson said.

Bush, who on Sunday toured hurricane damage in Southwest Florida, on Tuesday sent two cabinet members to do the same: Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson.

Gov. Jeb Bush also toured parts of Central Florida hit by the storm.

Thompson said he would make available $10 million in emergency grants to Head Start and Early Head Start centers for aid to children. He said he would also provide $1 million to assist hospitals damaged by Charley, and $200,000 for emergency meals and shelter for the elderly.

“We are working around the clock to identify health and human services needs,” Thompson said.

Authorities promised quick action against looting and price-gouging.

Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist sued two hotels in Lakeland and West Palm Beach that he accused of price-gouging refugees from the hurricane.

The Days Inn Airport in West Palm Beach advertised rooms for less than $50 a night, but charged between $109 and $119 on Friday as residents fleeing Charley flocked in, Crist said. At the Crossroad Motor Lodge in Lakeland, an 85-year-old woman was told she could get a room for $44.79 a night, but when she showed up she was charged $61.27, he said.

The charges carry civil penalties of up to $1,000 per violation. Crist also accused the hotels of violating the state’s trade practices act, which carries civil fines of $10,000 per violation or $15,000 for victimizing seniors or the disabled.

Neither hotel owner could be reached for comment.

Crist said a consumer hotline operated by his office had fielded 1,224 calls by early Tuesday, and said state officials would aggressively pursue price-gouging.

“We’re not kidding around,” Crist said. “We do not want them to victimize our citizens.”

Lt. Gov. Toni Jennings said the state Department of Revenue will waive interest and penalties on state taxes in counties affected by the storm.

Federal housing officials Tuesday directed all lenders approved by the Federal Housing Administration to grant a 90-day moratorium on mortgage foreclosures for homeowners affected by Charley. The department urged lenders to waive late fees, and said it would help find vacant public housing where those left homeless by the hurricane could live temporarily.

Many still-powerless Floridians who faced their fifth night since Charley without lights or air conditioning were tired of the delays in restoring power.

Gov. Bush asked the victims for patience.

“It’s tough to be able to function in Florida in August without air conditioning and water,” Bush said. “No one is suggesting this is easy.”

The storm may cost Bush a chance to see his older brother accept the Republican nomination to run for re-election to the presidency. During a stop in Kissimmee on Tuesday, the governor said he may be too busy tending to issues from the hurricane to attend the Republican National Convention that begins Aug. 30 in New York City.

“There’s too much work to do,” the governor said. “I may not be going to New York.”

Melissa Harris, Anthony Colarossi, Myriam Marquez, Bob Mahlburg, John Kennedy, Leslie Postal and Tamara Lytle of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report. Roger Roy can be reached at rroy@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5436.