By Dan Klepal, Enquirer staff writer
and the Associated Press

Mary Alice Craycraft still has a hole in the roof of her trailer in New Smyrna Beach, courtesy of a hurricane named Charley that hit Florida's west coast Aug. 13, then moved across the state and pummeled the Atlantic coast.

Craycraft isn't even scheduled to meet with her insurance agent about the damage until next week. By then, Craycraft - a 64-year-old native of Anderson Township - might have more damage to discuss with her agent.

Craycraft's home sits in the path of another powerful storm: Hurricane Frances, a mammoth hurricane more than 1,000 miles wide, twice as big as Charley.

Hurricane Frances lost some steam and hesitated off the Florida coast Friday, prolonging the anxiety among the millions evacuated and raising fears of a slow, ruinous drenching over the Labor Day weekend.

Downgraded to a Category 2 hurricane, the storm was expected to come ashore with up to 20 inches of rain as early as this afternoon, a day later than earlier predictions.

As Frances pounded the Bahamas, its top wind fell to 105 mph from 145 mph a day earlier.

Craycraft is one of 2.5 million Floridians ordered to evacuate their homes and get out of the storm's way. It is the largest evacuation in the state's history. She decided to drive north and stay with relatives in Macon, Ga., instead of going to one of the 82 shelters that were to house more than 21,000 people Friday night.

"We're getting a double dose right now," Craycraft said. "But that's where we live, and we have to accept that. There's not a lot I could do, just turn off the electric and water. We'll clean up afterward."

Officials said that, although weaker, the storm still is capable of pushing ashore waves up to 10 feet high and dumping up to 20 inches of rain.

'Very unpredictable'

Gov. Jeb Bush warned people Friday against taking comfort in the diminished force of Frances.

"The storm is very unpredictable. We still don't know exactly where landfall will be," he said.

S. Donald Urban was anything but comforted Friday.

Urban, 74, spent his adult life in Cincinnati before retiring as a senior vice president from Taft Broadcasting Co. Now living in an oceanfront condo on a barrier island near Vero Beach, the Urban and his wife drove across the causeway leading to the mainland Friday morning, knowing that they would not be allowed back on the island until after the storm.

"Some of our neighbors are riding out the storm in our building, they feel comfortable doing that," said Urban, who decided to stay with friends inland. He and his wife return to Newport every summer.

"I'm sure this is going to be a fearsome storm, but right now, it's idyllic," he said. "I'm sitting here watching (television), and I see blue skies and puffy clouds."

Winds and waves picked up along the shore by midday Friday. By 11 p.m., the hurricane was 70 miles southeast of Grand Bahama, 150 miles southeast of Palm Beach, moving northwest at about 6 mph.

The delayed arrival allowed more time for preparations, but frayed nerves from Florida to Cincinnati. Betsy Connell was stuck at her Loveland home, worrying about her family and condo in Jupiter, Fla. Husband, Peter Connell, has a brother and sister in Jupiter - the sister left but the brother has boarded up his home and is going to ride out the storm.

"We've freaking out," Betsy Connell said. "We just keep watching the Weather Channel and getting on the Internet for information. "We're extremely nervous, and one of our big concerns is that we have no way of finding out what happened to our condo after the storm moves through."

With cloud cover as large as Texas and its slow movement, Frances has devastating potential even if it doesn't regain its former strength. That's because the slower a hurricane moves, the longer its winds and rain linger, forecasters say.

Charley's destruction

Three weeks ago, Hurricane Charley tore across the state with sustained winds of 145 mph, causing billions of dollars in damage, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of people and killing 27. Two major hurricanes - defined as having sustained winds of at least 111 mph - have not hit Florida so close together since 1950.

Traffic seemed lighter early Friday than a day earlier, when bumper-to-bumper traffic clogged Florida highways and airports were packed with people trying to leave. Friday, it was easy to stroll through Miami International Airport, where outgoing flights were canceled and ticket counters were empty. Hotels and motels inland filled up, and gasoline stations ran dry.

Florida rescinded tolls on major roads and said lanes on some highways could be reversed to handle the evacuation traffic.

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E-mail dklepal@enquirer.com