Unrelenting Hurricane Season Takes Its Toll

Hurricane Frances slammed into the east coast of Florida early on the Sunday before Labor Day with 105 mph winds, causing massive flooding and property damage in the billions of dollars, and leaving millions of residents without power. According to wire service reports, Frances was notable for its broad reach and the leisurely pace it took, lingering offshore for hours, then battering the coast for much of Sunday morning before heading northwest. The eye of the hurricane, where the worst weather occurred, extended across 80 miles, from Vero Beach to Boynton, Florida. Frances may be the largest storm ever to cross the Florida peninsula, but not the most destructive. Frances' extremely slow pace, barely eight-miles-per-hour, kept the East Coast in the storm's path for many hours and caused at least 15 deaths in the state. By the time Frances hit northwest Florida and moved into Georgia and northward into the eastern U.S., it had been downgraded to a tropical storm. Frances followed closely behind Hurricane Charley, which also caused extensive damage in parts of Florida. At press time, no forecasters were sure of the path of Hurricane Ivan, which ravaged the island of Grenada. Current National Weather Service predictions include an Ivan landfall somewhere in Florida on Sunday morning.

Businesses throughout the region have been affected adversely, although booksellers at Malaprop's Bookstore/Café in Asheville, North Carolina, received a surprising bounce in business because of a recent hurricane. "A few days before we were hit [by Hurricane Frances], we actually had an increase in sales," Malaprop's general manager, Linda Barrett Knopp, told BTW. "Lots of Floridians have vacation homes in the area, and they fled [Hurricane Charley] up here. We were very busy." Then the tides turned, and on Wednesday, September 8, when Frances hit, the area around Asheville received 16.6 inches of rain, according to the National Weather Service, and almost all business activity in Asheville stopped. "The town has no water," said Barrett Knopp. "Ashville's main waterline broke so no one has water." Yesterday, Malaprop's closed early, while massive flooding all over Western North Carolina caused many local rivers to overflow. "We've been open regular hours today, but hardly anyone is downtown. The store is fine, and we purchased filtered water to make coffees-to-go for anyone who has to be downtown. It's kind of a community service," she said.

Back in Florida, Caren Lobo, co-owner of Sarasota News & Books, has been waiting for the spotlight to shine someplace other than Florida. "It's damaging our business," she told BTW emphatically. "All the national news shows are saying that all of Florida is a disaster area, but it isn't. [In anticipation of Hurricane Frances], we closed the store a little early, didn't put our hurricane shutters up, and we didn't have a leaf blown off a tree here. There have been swaths of tremendous damage, but the vast majority of cities are fine. This hyperbole from the press impacts on the state's economy. I'm no Pollyanna about hurricanes -- when Andrew hit [in 1992], we had six feet of Biscayne Bay in our livingroom. But this time, the entire Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota market wasn't really affected. I wish the national press would be more factual and specific. Lots of people make their decisions about travel based on those reports."

At Inkwood Books in Tampa, Florida, co-owner Leslie Reiner told BTW that the store sustained no physical damage but was closed for the worst days of both recent storms. "We were lucky not to have any damage. Our store is in an old bungalow. We didn't lose power, but we did lose Internet access." This was more than a slight inconvenience, Reiner said, as Inkwood is the sole bookstore affiliate linked to General Tommy Franks' Web site. All visitors to Franks' site who wish to purchase his American Soldier (Regan Books) are directed to Inkwood's BookSense.com site. Fortunately, Reiner said, one of the store's owners, who lives outside the region, was able to check on orders.

Both Books & Books stores, in Coral Gables and Miami Beach, were closed for four days because of the frustratingly slow movement of Hurricane Frances, said owner and ABA president Mitch Kaplan. "For those days everything was paralyzed. It was quite blustery with 40 and 50 mph winds. Some people lost power. Our street in Coral Gables was shut down for days because the construction crews couldn't put up the crane due to the weather. That hurts business too. But our problems were insignificant compared to our colleagues at Vero Beach and Palm Beach. Our thoughts are with them."

Labor Day Weekend is a major holiday in the Miami area, and the hurricanes have been "devastating on business." Kaplan mused, "First Charley, then Frances, next Ivan. We do have a strange feeling of being targeted."

If multiple hurricanes are inauspicious signs, the owners of Wild Iris Books in Gainesville, Florida, might also be feeling singled out. New owners Cheryl Krauth and Lylly Rodriguez barely had time to unlock the doors when they were forced to lock them up again for Hurricane Frances. Krauth and Rodriguez had the official closing on their purchase of the 14-year-old bookstore last Friday afternoon. Their first day of business was cut short when winds up to 70 mph circled around them for two days. "We had to close early on Saturday and remain closed Sunday and Monday. We had no power. We saw the store sign fall off the wall outside -- what kind of omen was that," Krauth said and laughed.

With the SEBA (Southeast Booksellers Association) Trade Show scheduled in Atlanta this week, executive director Wanda Jewell heard from several booksellers who wouldn't be able to make it, but many more who would. Sue Grace of Grace's Books & Records in Leesburg, Florida, expressed her disappointment about missing the show, but noted in an e-mail that Frances left considerable damage to her home and store. Judy Mathys, owner of the Family Bookshop on Deland, Florida, also expressed regrets but e-mailed that due to Hurricane Frances, she needed to oversee repairs. Malaprop's owner, Emoke B'Racz, took off for Atlanta yesterday afternoon full of optimism, according to Barrett Knopp. "And she called today saying that everything was fine and the sun is shining." --Nomi Schwartz

Those most severely hit by the storms remained unreachable at press time. BTW would like to hear from you. Please contact us at [email protected], when possible, to let us know how you have fared.