Meanwhile, FEMA teams stockpiled ice, water, meals and tarpaulins for distribution in regions in the storm's path. Federal and state officials placed emergency medical personnel and search-and-rescue teams on alert, and laid plans to open disaster field offices and assistance centers in the hardest-hit areas.
Officials urged residents who did not evacuate to buy extra water and nonperishable food, store extra ice in freezers and keep battery-powered radios handy to hear emergency broadcasts if power is knocked out.
Leocadio Mercado tapes his windows in preparation for Hurricane Frances at his home in Daytona Beach, Fla. on Thursday.
(Kelly Jordan - Daytona Beach News-Journal via AP)
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Audio: The Post's Manuel Roig-Franzia reports from Miami Beach on the preparations for the arrival of Hurricane Frances.
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Video: Trucks and campers clogged highways Thursday in the biggest evacuation ever ordered in Florida.
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"We were successful with Charley, because we were massive, overwhelming and fast," said Michael D. Brown, the FEMA director. "For this event I want us to be massive, overwhelming and fast squared."
For some, it was all a bit much.
On Miami Beach, cafe life refused to stop. Beneath the verandas of the art deco hotels on Ocean Drive, sunburned tourists and cheeky locals ordered tropical drinks. Asking for a hurricane, a potent alcoholic concoction, was a sure laugh line at many bars, where an aura of zaniness competed with one of anxiety before the storm.
John and Nancy Swanton, a Tampa couple celebrating their 16th wedding anniversary at the Pelican Cafe, turned to the local television anchors for amusement.
"It's 'the sky is falling, Chicken Little,' " said John Swanton, 43, a real estate investor.
"The news is so sensational!" said his wife, 44, a retired tobacco saleswoman. "It's so fun to watch. So entertaining."
Tampa was expected to be directly in the path of Hurricane Charley. But the storm veered south, turning Punta Gorda, a sleepy retirement community on Florida's west coast, into a national household name. Tampa residents who evacuated to Orlando left a place that went unscathed and put themselves in harm's way.
Now the Swantons wondered whether Frances would be similarly fickle. They might flee Miami Beach on Thursday afternoon, only to drive directly into the storm's path.
"We could be driving right into it," Nancy Swanton said.
Lee reported from Washington. Special correspondent Catharine Skipp contributed to this report.
