Hurricane Frances

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - While defending its handling of disaster assistance in Miami-Dade County, the Federal Emergency Management Agency revealed yesterday that it overpaid $12 million in hurricane relief to 3,500 Floridians and is trying to recover the money. The agency blamed the problem on a "computer glitch." Last week a U.S. Senate committee announced an investigation into allegations of fraud and abuse in FEMA payments throughout the country. FEMA officials said they have done a good job responding to the unprecedented four hurricanes that hit Florida last year and have found no fraud in Miami-Dade.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - The federal government used hurricane aid money to pay funeral expenses for at least 203 Floridians whose deaths were not caused by last year's storms, the state's coroners said. The deaths include a Palm Beach Gardens millionaire recovering from heart surgery who died two days before Hurricane Frances, a Miami baby not born when the storm arrived, and a Port Charlotte man who died of cirrhosis and heart failure five months after Hurricane Charley. In two other cases, coroners could find no record of the people dying.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - For an 87-year-old man, Harry Weinberg is in pretty good physical shape. When he is not caring for his bedridden wife, he walks in the mornings, and plays golf four times a week. So when he found himself breathless hours after Hurricane Frances pounded his Lake Worth retirement community, that meant things were quite hectic at his house. "I have to keep running into the bedroom to get the phone. The other ones don't work," Weinberg said over the telephone while taking a break from feeding lunch to Jean, his wife.

LAKE WORTH, Fla. -- Rain-weary residents dried out, cleaned up and surveyed the damage caused by Hurricane Frances' wide reach as the weakened storm took a second hit at the state yesterday, dumping more water and wind over the Florida panhandle before finally moving inland. The lumbering storm, which battered Florida for much of the holiday weekend, knocked out power to as many as 6 million people and was blamed for at least four deaths. It ripped off roofs, destroyed luxury yachts, caused heavy damage at the Kennedy Space Center and left waterlogged suburban parking lots looking more like the Everglades than strip malls.

NASSAU, Bahamas - Hurricane Frances flattened houses, tore open roads and flooded broad stretches during its three-day rip through the Bahamas, killing at least three, injuring dozens and knocking out electricity, telephone and water lines throughout the islands. The strong, slow-moving Category 2 hurricane stormed directly over Grand Bahama yesterday, blasting the Caribbean nation's second-most-populated island with sustained winds of 105 mph and soaking the international airport under 6 feet of water.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Hurricane Frances left few parts of Florida untouched yesterday as its slow, cruel crawl across the peninsula left behind flooded roadways, downed power lines, uprooted trees and debris-strewn beaches. As many as 5 million people lost power, and the state's panhandle region braced to take its hit from the storm today. After pummeling parts of Florida's eastern coastline with rain for as long as 30 hours, the storm weakened as it crept west, with winds slowing to about 70 mph. By early evening, Frances was downgraded to a tropical storm as it approached Tampa en route to the Gulf of Mexico.

LAKE WORTH, Fla. - In the desolate expanse of Palm Beach County's evacuated areas, a few stubborn homeowners are refusing to leave, insisting that they would rather brave the potentially wrath of Hurricane Frances in their plywood-covered houses. "My wife and I will get into the bathtub if it's bad enough," said George Piper, a boat builder who was still boarding up his windows last night at dusk. "I'm probably the only person out here still cutting plywood," Piper said, looking around his deserted neighborhood.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- David Soloweszyk had been a Baltimore guy his entire life. He grew up on Eager Street, later moved to Pimlico, and most recently lived in Randallstown. Eight weeks ago, he and his wife, Tobie, 52, moved to Boynton Beach in Palm Beach County because Tobie said she couldn't stand another Baltimore snowstorm. But the Soloweszyks traded one natural disaster for another -- they ended up in the path of Hurricane Frances. Since Saturday night, their new home has had no power, cell phone service or working phone lines.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - As he stands in the abandoned street, his feet about shoulders' width apart for reinforcement, the man in the bright blue golf shirt seems not to notice his straw-colored hair spiraling from his forehead in the rising tropical gusts. It's Friday night, the monstrosity known as Hurricane Frances is gathering force above the Atlantic Ocean 80 miles east of here, and Mike Seidel, on-camera meteorologist, is bracing himself. "If you can't stay focused for an event like this," he says through the swirling winds, "you're really in the wrong business."

KISSIMMEE, Fla. - The lights that flickered out during the violent passage of Hurricane Charley only came back on a week ago, blue tarps still cover holes in many roofs and haphazardly uprooted trees litter the sides of many roads. But Kissimmee has moved on from thinking about Charley to worrying about what could be a bigger, stronger storm - Hurricane Frances is moving inexorably through warm Atlantic waters on a path that could once again buffet this central Florida town with powerful winds and torrential rains.