Floridian growers are praying that Hurricane Frances does not live up to her potential

Floridian growers are praying that Hurricane Frances does not live up to her potential

Florida’s citrus growers are battening down the hatches for the second time in less than a month as another hurricane threatens the sunshine state.

Hurricane Frances battered south-eastern Bahamas with 140 mph winds on Wednesday as it roared towards the US and put millions of people, as well as the citrus industry, on alert along Florida's east coast.

The powerful hurricane looms as the state’s industry struggles to recover from Hurricane Charley, which struck just three weeks ago. Citrus growers have been told they will receive US$225 million in disaster assistance from the US government. There is every chance that figure will be raised if Frances causes more damage.

A hurricane watch, warning of possible hurricane conditions in the coming 36 hours, was issued on Wednesday evening for much of the Florida east coast.

Frances is a Category 4 on the five-step scale of hurricane intensity and much larger in diameter than Charley.

"It will likely have an impact over a much, much larger area," said Max Mayfield, director of the US National Hurricane Centre. "If it remains a Category 4 hurricane, it certainly will cause extreme damage."

Florida Governor Jeb Bush has declared the state a disaster area to speed aid after the storm hits. Some 3,000 federal emergency workers were still in Florida cleaning up after Hurricane Charley, and many could themselves be forced to evacuate.

Orange juice prices rose on fears of havoc in key US growing areas. Damage from Frances would hit Florida's $9.1 billion citrus industry hard, after Charley uprooted trees and stripped fruit across the state.

Last night, the storm was battering the Turks and Caicos, a tiny British colony of 20,000 people, and the southeastern Bahamas. It was on course to move up over the Bahamas chain of 700 islands that are home to 300,000 people and stretch from north of Haiti to Florida.

But forecasters reminded Floridians of Charley's last-minute course change three weeks ago. It went ashore hours farther south and earlier than predicted, catching some people off guard in fragile mobile homes.

Charley caused about $7.4bn in insured losses, the second-highest hurricane damage toll in US history behind Hurricane Andrew's $25 billion devastation in 1992.

Topics