Further update - posted two hours ago - now a Cat 4. Apparently Delta have cancelle flights into and out of Orlando.
Just hours before Hurricane Charley prepared to slam into Florida's Gulf Coast , it swelled to a Category 4 storm, with maximum sustained winds of 145 mph, and its path veered to take it directly over Orlando.
The hurricane is "rapidly intensifying and moving toward the Florida coast," said Ben Nelson, state meteorologist.
Gov. Jeb Bush again warned coastal residents to take cover, and officials said the storm could bring heavy rain and 100 mph, hurricane-force winds to Central Florida.
As of 2 p.m., Hurricane Charley's projected path would have it making landfill around Port Charlotte on the Gulf Coast and then moving northwest across the state through Polk, Osceola, Orange, Seminole and Volusia counties, according to the National Hurricane Center.
That projected path would take it directly over the city of Orlando, creating the biggest threat the city has seen in decades, emergency officials said.
"There will be power outages, there will be downed trees, there will be flooding in low-lying areas," Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said at a 1:30 p.m. news briefing from the city's Emergency Operations Center.
Emergency Management Director Manuel Soto said the city could be buffeted by hurricane-force winds for as much as 12 hours, starting in the late afternoon and lasting into the early-morning hours Saturday.
Orange County may soon open additional emergency shelters. Officials in Orange and Seminole recommended that those who live in mobile homes or who have special needs seek safe shelter. Other residents should remain in their homes.
Forecasters were evaluating reconnaissance data that seemed to indicate Charley's central pressure was dropping and that the storm was, as expected, intensifying.
"This is a very deadly storm that is approaching our beloved state," Bush said. "If you are in an evacuation area, you need to get to high ground now. There won't be another alert because it will be too late."
Officials expected it to make landfall around Port Charlotte at about 5 p.m. and get a storm surge of up to 20 feet.
"It will be to Orlando by midnight tonight," Nelson said.
Officials said the evacuation of coastal and low-lying areas in Charley's path was going well but that it was impossible to know the precise numbers of people fleeing or choosing to stay behind. The number of people evacuating could surpass the 2 million who fled their homes when Hurricane Floyd struck the Atlantic Coast in 1999, they said.
Late this morning, the hurricane was beginning to make its long-anticipated turn toward the northeast. If so, the storm could come in south of Tampa, putting Central Florida more in its path as it crosses the state.
"We've been forecasting it to turn more to the right. The question is: Is it doing it now and how sharply?'' said Ed Rappaport, assistant director of the National Hurricane Center in west Miami-Dade County.
Rappaport said forecasters do think it is now making that turn. "If so, it will bring the worst impact down the coast a little - maybe to the Sarasota-Fort Myers area,'' he said.
The Orlando area, officials said, is expected to get hurricane gusts, heavy rain, with the possibility of tornadoes and power outages.
"We should experience five to seven inches of rain and hurricane-force winds in Lake County and North Orange," Orange County Sheriff Kevin Beary said at an 11:15 a.m. news briefing.
County officials have urged residents to stay off the roads this afternoon and evening, so incoming Gulf Coast residents can make it to safety more quickly. Beary also asked people to avoid using their cellular telephones during the storm, so communications towers aren't overburdened.
Lynx officials said they would stop bus service at 3 p.m. today.
State officials said residents also should avoid the interstate system today, if possible. Bush said he may order closed parts of I-75 and I-10.
Orange County Chairman Rich Crotty said emergency workers and public works crews are preparing for the worst.
"There is some evidence that this storm is taking a turn for the worse," Crotty said.
Crotty signed two executive orders today related to the coming hurricane. The first authorizes emergency expenditures to deal with the storm and its aftermath. The second prohibits price gouging, which is also prohibited under state law. Business owners found to be gouging consumers can be fined $500 and jailed for 60 days.
"This is an opportunity to define ourselves and our community...in how we interact as neighbors, how we interact as friends and how we interact as a community," Crotty said. Bush said has spoken with President George W. Bush and has received early approval of disaster funding that will allow small business loans and family assistance.
And it that wasn't bad enough, Nelson added, hurricane trackers have reported another depression that could soon be a tropical storm southeast of Cuba and about five days away from Florida.
"This hurricane season is not starting out very well," Ben Nelson, the state meteorologist, said. "I'm spinning right now myself."
