Florida Storm Kills Motorist, Grounds Ship
A drenching Tropical Storm Gordon swept the southern tip of Florida on Tuesday, grounding a 506-foot freighter just off the beach and killing a pregnant motorist.
Gordon moved into the Gulf of Mexico off Key West with 50-m.p.h. winds and was expected to slow down after dumping up to 8 1/2 inches of rain on South Florida.
The storm knocked out power to 397,000 homes and businesses, but by late afternoon Florida Power & Light said only about 26,000 customers were still without power.
Elena Quicano, 36, of Hialeah was killed Monday when she was thrown from her vehicle in a three-car collision and run over by a pickup at a traffic light broken by the storm, police said. She was seven months’ pregnant.
The sight of the grounded Turkish freighter Firat just yards from shore in Ft. Lauderdale awed tourists and beach-goers.
The ship, carrying 2,400 tons of steel, ran aground before dawn but did not appear to be in danger of breaking up in the heavy surf, the Coast Guard said.
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