Tampa, Key West Papers Brace for Hurricane Charley

By: Charles Geraci As the Florida coast readies for hurricane Charley, The Tampa Tribune is preparing for the worst. "We're in crisis mode right now," said Executive Editor Frank Denton. "We are very concerned."

Charley, the second of two big storms to threaten the state, is scheduled to arrive in the Tampa Bay area about 8 p.m. Friday. Bonnie, expected to be a hurricane by Friday morning, came ashore today affecting the Florida Panhandle and is now north of Tampa. Some 380,000 Tampa Bay area residents were told to evacuate from coastal areas as Charley nears.

"We are boarding the windows to guard against the wind," Denton said. "They are forecasting 10-foot waves which may flood the first floor of our building. There is the potential for a major disaster."

But Denton guaranteed that his paper will publish on Saturday, possibly at an alternative site, and maybe a little late. The Tribune has mutual agreements with a number of other newspapers, including The Ledger of Lakeland and the Orlando Sentinel, to print for one another in an emergency.

"We have all sorts of plans under way and are doing our best to ensure the safety of our journalists, other employees, and our carriers," Denton said.

There will be a complete report of the approaching storm in Friday's Tribune as well as constant coverage on Tampa Bay Online (tbo.com), which is powered by the newspaper.

The first "emergency communication" memo sent out to the Tribune's employees reads: "There is a possibility that employees will not be permitted into the News Center Friday due to evacuation plans. If this is the case, when you leave for the day on Thursday make sure that your computers are secured. Facilities will be delivering bags to protect your equipment... "

Far to the south, the operations of The Key West Citizen may not be affected nearly as much as the Tribune's, but that did not stop it from completing plans to publish and deliver Friday's paper on Thursday night. "Our readers will get tomorrow's news today," said the paper's editor, Tom Tuell. The Citizen purchased radio time promoting the switch.

The approaching hurricane is scheduled to pass about 65 miles to the west of Key West. "This is kind of a dress rehearsal for us," he said. "We have a hurricane plan and we update it every year."

Tuell expects nothing more than electrical outages at the Citizen. If the power does go out for a sustained period, the paper will transmit its pages to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale, with which it has an agreement.

"This morning, we sat down and mapped out our contingency plan," he added. The Citizen sent some test pages to the Sun-Sentinel to ensure everything is compatible.

Another area where the Citizen could be affected is transportation. The bridges connecting the islands in the Florida Keys are closed to traffic when winds reach 50 miles per hour.

Tuell is upbeat that the storm will pass by without drastic problems. He noted that the paper has recently been stocking up on newsprint in anticipation of rising prices later this year. "It'd be a shame if the newsprint got wet," he quipped.