Newspapers Prepare For Hurricane Wilma

By: Joe Strupp As if hurricanes Katrina and Rita had not done enough to test Florida newspaper flexibility in recent months, Hurricane Wilma is forcing editors and production managers once again to scramble.

But for most in the busy storm area, Wilma's biggest problem may not be her eventual damage, but her current uncertainty. Newsroom leaders say they are well-prepared to respond to the coming Category 4 storm, but remain unsure when or where it will land.

"We're staying very flexible," says Tom Tuell, editor of The Key West Citizen, an 8,800 daily-circulation paper that had planned to put out its Saturday paper on Friday night, but will now likely have an early Sunday paper instead. "There is a lot of uncertainty on its speed, they have delayed the evacuation [in Key West] to Friday and that changes our model."

Tuell said the paper's last plan called for the regular 11:30 p.m. editorial deadline for the Saturday edition to be moved up to 4 p.m., with a Friday evening distribution. But that is expected to be pushed back a day, with those deadline changes likely for the Sunday edition, which would now be distributed on Saturday evening. He also said the paper will have no Sunday or Monday sports section.

"There are no local sports anyway," Tuell said, referring to the hurricane's impact on area teams. "We'll just have to play catch-up on the others, [as] we did it for Rita." He said any sports news that is deemed worthy will go on the paper's Web site.

The 25-person news staff had split up during Katrina's and Rita's arrivals, Tuell said. Half of the staffers relocated to a bureau of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel of Fort Lauderdale, which is located in Deerfield Beach, Fla. The Citizen also has an agreement for the Fort Lauderdale paper to print its editions if necessary.

But the timing of those staff departures is also uncertain. "They were going to leave tonight, but that has been pushed back to at least Friday afternoon," he said of the relocating employees. "We will probably keep at least half here. But if it looks like a Headlines 4 or 5 bearing down on us, some may make a late decision to leave, which is fine."

On the mainland of South Forida, editors also are dealing with the uncertainty of Wilma's timing and location, while saying they are more than ready. "It is the equivalent of being in a no-huddle offense," said Tom Fiedler, editor of The Miami Herald. "We know what the plays are, but you don't call them until you get to the line of scrimmage."

Fiedler said the only definite scenario at this point is that the storm will likely hit Key West late Saturday, meaning the Herald will not be able to distribute its Sunday edition there. Instead, the paper plans to truck its Sunday bulldog edition to the Keys on Saturday, then get out.

But the rest of the weekend remains unknown. "It's too far out to know. It depends on when landfall occurs," Fiedler added. "We look at it when the leading edge is to hit our circulation area."

The story is similar at the Sun-Sentinel, according to Editor Earl Maucker. "This one is hard to forecast," said Maucker, who plans to relocate some of his staff to the same Deerfield Beach site available for The Citizen.

Maucker noted that his news crew did not have to leave their offices during either Rita or Karina, but added, "we have to plan well in advance for each one so we can be ready to move."

If Hurricane Wilma maintains its current Category 4 status, it will mark the third such hurricane to hit the area since the last week of August, giving some news people a bit of a hurricane hangover. "It's damned annoying," says Tuell. "It creates a lot of anxiety, but you get used to it." Fiedler agreed, noting that the ever-changing hurricane path "keeps throwing head-fakes at you."

Still, the increased activity this season has given each paper some new lessons. At The Citizen, executives had planned to install a large new generator next week that would have the capability of powering the paper's entire on-site printing presses, Tuell said. That would eliminate the need to print elsewhere in these storms, he explained. Although the paper has some small generators, none can do that much work. "It will obviously have to be delayed now."

The Citizen also will launch an improved hurricane-only Web page for this storm, Tuell said, with plans to have more news people -- including himself -- working on it. "We have better software and we will update it more online," he said.

In Fort Lauderdale, Maucker said the planning improves with each hurricane, citing more satellite phones, vans, and trucks at the ready than in the past. He also said the paper has lined up cellular phone service with each of the major wireless phone companies so that reporters and editors will have a better chance of getting through if any of the services are not working. "That is something we started this year," he said.