Preparing for Hurricane Frances

Guests at Universal Studios Orlando dash from the park during a rainstorm generated by weather from Hurricane Frances.  (JOE BURBANK/ORLANDO SENTINEL)

Worth Busbee says Herman’s Ice Cream Shoppe in Winter Park will stay ‘open as long as we have power.’  (JULIE FLETCHER/ORLANDO SENTINEL)

Rudiger Palou uses a hand pump to fill a mattress Friday in a storm shelter set up at Discovery Intermediate School in Poinciana. He is accompanied by his wife, Sylvania, and daughters Cinnthia (left), 3, and Stephani, 2. The roof of the Uruguayan family’s home was severely damaged by Hurricane Charley, so the Palous were seeking shelter from Hurricane Frances. The family has lived here for 10 months.  (ED SACKETT/ORLANDO SENTINEL)

Shelley Dennis of Apopka has a smile on her face as she stands beside a car holding a new generator. She was 1st in line Friday when 9 generators arrived unexpectedly at the Lowe’s home-improvement store in Altamonte Springs. The generators were sold in less than 15 minutes. The devices were in high demand while people prepared for the arrival of Hurricane Frances.  (DENNIS WALL/ORLANDO SENTINEL)

Julie Joynt of Titusville places bags of topsoil around her sliding glass door to direct floodwater as she prepares for Hurricane Frances on Friday. She plans to spread the soil around her yard after the storm.  (BOBBY COKER/ORLANDO SENTINEL)

ƒoMyesha Brewton of the Osceola County Fire Department wheels Helen Farmer into a special-needs shelter in St. Cloud on Friday. Officials in many counties recommend people call county help lines before going to a shelter, particularly if they need to arrange transportation.  (ED SACKETT/ORLANDO SENTINEL)

Maria Seelman looks over supplies in the hurricane room of her home on the Indian River. Seelman and husband Robert plan to ride out Frances in the room, which is stocked with water, fans, flashlights and a Bible.  (RED HUBER/ORLANDO SENTINEL)

Vivian Wells of Philadelphia sits in Orlando International Airport after Friday’s last flight out. She had already checked out of her hotel and was stranded at the airport, with nowhere to go.  (ROBERTO GONZALEZ/ORLANDO SENTINEL)

Little remains on the bottled-water aisle Friday at Albertsons in Winter Park as Central Floridians prepare for Hurricane Frances.  (JOE BURBANK/ORLANDO SENTINEL)

Ramon Diaz cuts apart a fence panel for his son-in-law Tony Torres on Friday as they work to secure the windows of their Poinciana home. The pair used the panels from their downed fence after they were unable to find any plywood.  (ED SACKETT/ORLANDO SENTINEL)

Residents fill sandbags Friday morning outside the Poinciana Branch Library, in an effort to protect their homes from the flooding that could result from Hurricane Frances this weekend.  (ED SACKETT/ORLANDO SENTINEL)

Storm chasers (left to right) David Tipton, 19, Scott Griffin, 18, and Tim Case, 18, await Frances’ arrival in Fort Pierce on Friday with their Mercury Marquis equipped with thousands of dollars worth of equipment.  (HILDA M. PEREZ/ORLANDO SENTINEL)

Daisy Arroyo and her 1-year-old son Giovanni Monegreo spend time outside their home in Conway Acres in South Orlando on Friday where boarded-up windows make the home hot because the air conditioner failed.  (JOE BURBANK/ORLANDO SENTINEL)

Debbie Seelbaugh, 51, reads Friday at the Red Cross shelter in Micco in south Brevard County. The shelter is full to capacity with 242 people and 6 workers. ƒo  (RED HUBER/ORLANDO SENTINEL)

Sea oats on the beach at Indialantic bend in the wind as Tom Nissen, 62, of Palm Bay strolls down the sand Friday. Nissen, who is retired, said he comes to the beach every morning to shoot pictures. Frances was downgraded to a Category 2 storm Friday evening, with sustained winds near 105 mph, and was less organized but slightly more spread out.  (RED HUBER/ORLANDO SENTINEL)

Fred Baita fills a sandbag at the Lake County maintenance facility on Griffin Road in Leesburg. Baita, from Fruitland Park, is preparing for the anticipated arrival of Hurricane Frances in 2004.  (STEPHEN M. DOWELL/ORLANDO SENTINEL)

Charles Simone, 62, (left) and Bill Kobes, 79, both residents of Highland Country Estates, a manufactured home community in DeBary, watch The Weather Channel from inside the cafeteria at DeBary Elementary School. The shelter at DeBary Elementary School was filling up Friday morning.  (BARBARA V. PEREZ/ORLANDO SENTINEL)

Larry Burier, 53, who lives in Terra Alta, a manufactured home community in DeBary, attaches metal to a post to give more support to the roof of a carport.  (BARBARA V. PEREZ/ORLANDO SENTINEL)

Bunny Gregor, 59, who lives in King’s Lake, a manufactured home community in DeBary, crochets while sitting in the shelter at DeBary Elementary School. Crocheting helps calm her nerves, she said.  (BARBARA V. PEREZ/ORLANDO SENTINEL)

Debris from Hurricane Charley rests in front of a shelter for Hurricane Frances at Haines City High School on Friday. The school’s cafeteria, in the background, is serving as a shelter for Hurricane Frances.  (STEPHEN M. DOWELL/ORLANDO SENTINEL)

Phyllis Haines, left, and Barbara Harrison, both of Winter Haven, eat lunch in the cafeteria of Haines City High School on Friday. The women are in the cafeteria, which is serving as a hurricane shelter, to escape Hurricane Frances.  (STEPHEN M. DOWELL/ORLANDO SENTINEL)

A manatee plays in a shelter boat slip in Titusville on Friday, oblivious to the dangers of Hurricane Frances.  (BOBBY COKER/ ORLANDO SENTINEL)

Cars line up to buy gas at the Chevron station on U.S. 1 at State Road 50 -- one of few open Friday in Titusville in advance of Hurricane Frances.  (BOBBY COKER/ ORLANDO SENTINEL)

Francis Dougherty, 82, watches the ocean Friday afternoon in Ft. Pierce with his poodle Cruiser as they await the arrival of Hurricane Frances. “I have lived here 40 years and I have never evacuated and I don’t plan to start now,” Dougherty said. “I am stubborn like the hurricane, after all we share the same name.”  (HILDA M. PEREZ/ORLANDO SENTINEL)

Russ Hermanson of Titusville grimaces as he unloads limbs knocked down by Hurricane Charley at that city’s drop off area at Sand Point Park Friday, September 3, 2004. He and brother Scott volunteered to pick up Russ’s neighborhood limbs so they wouldn’t blow around in Hurricane Frances.  (BOBBY COKER/ ORLANDO SENTINEL)

Michael Medeiros, 47, of Melbourne uses pillowcases filled with sand to protect his sliding glass door at his apartment.  (RED HUBER/ ORLANDO SENTINEL)

Jeff Nave, 50, of Rockledge boards up his daughter’s home in Indialantic.  (RED HUBER/ ORLANDO SENTINEL)

Sea Oats on Indialantic Beach bend in the wind as Tom Nissen, 62, of Palm Bay strolls down the beach Friday. Nissen, who is retired, comes to the beach every morning to shoot pictures.  (RED HUBER/ ORLANDO SENTINEL)

A single car travels west over the Melbourne causeway away from the beaches early Friday morning. It appears that everyone took the mandatory evacuating order serious.  (RED HUBER/ ORLANDO SENTINEL)

Billie (left) and Leroy Newton of Sanford unload fishing equipment from their 46-foot yacht at Sand Point Marina in Titusville in preparation for Hurricane Frances on Friday.  (BOBBY COKER/ ORLANDO SENTINEL)

A closed 7-Eleven store on State Road 405 in Titusville. Many of the businesses are closed and others have run out of gas due to preparations for Hurricane Frances.  (BOBBY COKER/ ORLANDO SENTINEL)

Indian Harbour Beach volunteer Fire Department personnel patrol neighborhoods, warning residents and checking for possible looters.  (RED HUBER/ ORLANDO SENTINEL)

Motorists head west on Eau Gaulle Boulevard at the intersection with U.S. 1 in Melboune. There is a mandatory evacuation in place from the barrier Islands in Brevard County because of Hurricane Frances.  (RED HUBER/ORLANDO SENTINEL)

Yvonne Carroll or Winter Park buys extra bottled water Monday at the Costco warehouse in Winter Park. Three weeks after Hurricane Charley, residents are stocking up for Frances.  (RICARDO RAMIREZ BUXEDA/ORLANDO SENTINEL)

Ana Loane of Orlando, looks for batteries in preparation for Hurricane Frances at Ace Hardware.  (GARY W. GREEN/ORLANDO SENTINEL)

Chuck Ross (left), 47, and Leroy Robinson, 48, of the Volusia County Health Department in Daytona Beach stocked boxes with medical supplies for the county’s six special needs shelters. Volusia County is bracing for another possible hurricane.  (BARBARA V. PEREZ/ORLANDO SENTINEL)

Mark Weaver, in cap, helps repair damage from Charley at his brother Danny’s house in the Poinciana area of Osceola County before Frances arrives and so they can work a job out of town. With hurricane Frances headed toward Florida weather weary residents are making preparations for another hit and trying to repair and regroup after Charley.  (ED SACKETT/ORLANDO SENTINEL)