Tropical Storm Ernesto did little or no crop damage in Southwest Florida. Growers are breathing a sigh of relief. That’s according to Gene MacAvoy – the vegetable extension agent for the University of Florida. They were fearing a category one or even two hurricane. MacAvoy says a storm of that magnitude could have been devastating.

“A lot of our growers have been impacted the last few seasons by gene, fran, charley – the whole alphabet soup of hurricanes that has hit south florida and we’ve had some freeze events and in the past year and poor market prices so a lot of them are economically stretched really thin and could ill afford any kind of major catastrophe”

Growers in Southwest Florida began planting tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and squash about two weeks ago. MacAvoy says Ernesto’s gentle rain and light winds will do no harm to fields.


Growers in Southwest Florida are breathing a sigh of relief – Tropical Storm Ernesto did little if any damage to newly planted crops. In fact, Gene MacAvoy, vegetable extension agent for the University of Florida, says the storm may have benefited some growers.

“a lot of areas were still kind of on the dry side so we could – even if we get another inch or two of rain before the storm moves off most places will be able to accommodate that with no problem, just miss a day of work and get on with business.”

Growers have just started planting the fall crop of tomatoes, peppers, cucumber and squash. Southwest Florida is leading producer of these vegetables staples.

Tropical storm Ernesto turned out to be little more than a rainy day for most Floridians. Ernesto's fizzle illustrates the difficulty forecasters face predicting the intensity of tropical storms -- a science that lags far behind figuring out where a storm will go. State emergency management director Craig Fugate says he’s concerned that it’s often such a mystery to forecasters why hurricanes sometimes develop so quickly…

“That was never in the forecast for Ernesto, but much of the science is the same. Why do some storms develop when others don’t? Why do storms strengthen? Why do they strengthen rapidly? Why do they sometimes weaken rapidly?”

Technological advances have enabled forecasters to cut their error rate in half since 1990 for predicting where tropical systems will go.
National Hurricane Center director Max Mayfield describes the process as a "jigsaw puzzle with a million pieces." Fugate says he hopes there’s more research funding to give forecasters better tools to predict storm intensity.

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Ernesto surprised forecasters by failing to strengthen before reaching the southern tip of Florida, where it delivered drenching rain but none of the heavy winds or damage that had been expected. State officials say their biggest concern in advance of Ernesto were the more than 30-thousand people in Florida still under blue tarps from past hurricanes. But they say even those people in most cases had no trouble weathering the storm. Craig Fugate is Florida’s Emergency Management Director.

“For those people who feel that this was an inconvenience, we understand. But would you rather have had the damages associated with a land-falling hurricane, versus being prepared and being spared the damage and misery from a storm?”

Fugate says most of the heaviest rain fell over the Everglades in Collier & Glades Counties. But even in those areas flooding was minor – and wind damage nearly non-existent.

The Lee Memorial Health System has been recognized by the AARP as one of Best Employers one of the best employers in the country of workers fifty and older. Of the fifty employers named – Lee Memorial ranked 2nd in the way it treats older workers. About 35 percent of the health care providers’ workforce is 50 or older – that’s about 24 hundred employees. Human Resources Director Jon Cecil says that includes 14 employees over the age of 80. These folks work part-time as patient sitters.

“They sit with patients that need additional attention while they’re in the hospital so when the nurse isn’t in the room someone is with the patient all the time.”

Cecil says its win-win position for the workers – who get a little bit of income – and also get of the house and into a stimulating environment. Lee Memorial also provides flex time and job sharing for older workers. Part-time employees are also eligible for health-care and pension benefits.

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Lee Memorial Health Care is one the best places in the country to work for people aged fifty or older. That’s according the AARP which began making the annual designation six years ago. Human Resources Director Jon Cecil says Lee Memorial is very pleased by the AARP’s endorsement. And he says older employees are a valuable resource.

“We see an exodus of a tremendous amount of experience, knowledge wisdom and maturity, and these are individuals that were typically serve as mentors and coaches for our younger force – so anything we can do to retain that older workforce is very important and vital to our ability to provide the highest quality patient care.”

The AARP selected Lee Memorial as one the top employers of workers 50 and older because of its flexible work options, job sharing, phased retirement and employee health and pension benefits. The Hospital system has 14 workers over the age of 80.

All garbage, yard waste, and recycling collections are suspended today in Lee and Collier counties. The city of Fort Myers is collecting yard waste.

There’s no school in Lee, Collier, Glades, Hendry and DeSoto Counties.
There is school today in Charlotte county. Collier County Parks and Recreation offers a No School Fun Camp today at
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Tropical Storm Ernesto surprised forecasters by failing to strengthen yesterday before reaching the southern tip of the state. The decaying system made landfall at 11:30 last night on Plantation Key with 45 mile-an-hour winds.

Only about half an inch of rain fell at Miami International Airport. One of the highest wind gusts recorded was 58 miles-an-hour in Key Biscayne.

It's expected to continue over Florida as a weak tropical storm. Its top sustained winds decreased to 40 miles-an-hour.

Forecasters say Ernesto could weaken to a tropical depression later today, but rainbands with strong, gusty winds will continue throughout the day.

The center is about 75 miles southwest of West Palm Beach moving north near eight miles-an-hour.

All garbage, yard waste, and recycling collections are suspended today in Lee and Collier counties. The city of Fort Myers is collecting yard waste.

There’s no school in Lee, Collier, Glades, Hendry and DeSoto Counties.
There is school today in Charlotte county. Collier County Parks and Recreation offers a No School Fun Camp today at
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Collier County recommends visitors and tourists should evacuate. Authorities say the so-called voluntary, precautionary order is needed in case ‘Ernesto’ takes a more northerly path and strikes Southwest Florida. Collier County Emergency Management coordinator Jim Von Rinteln says the evacuation recommendation would give people maximum time to leave the area.

“That’s for people who don’t desire to be here during a hurricane or tropical storm event or have medical conditions that power outages could affect. Often they’re people who just have the ability to go visit friends or take a mini-vacation. This is a good time to do it if you don’t want to be around for bad weather and potentially a hurricane.”

State meteorologist Ben Nelson says residents shouldn’t dwell on the storm’s projected track because weaker systems are more difficult to forecast.

“Don’t focus on that skinny black line, the track, again this is a weak tropical storm at the moment. Those are often much more difficult to forecast than some of the bigger storms we’ve had over the past couple of years – and it’s very important for folks not to get fixated on that skinny black line.”

Nelson says heavy rainfall will be the biggest threat – as Ernesto moves onshore sometime this afternoon. He says strong currents and tornadoes are also possible in the coming days throughout South Florida.

Motorists across South Florida have clogged gas stations Monday to fill up their vehicles in advance of Ernesto’s arrival. Governor Jeb Bush says he’s pleased people are preparing in advance. But he also says the state is in NO danger of running out of fuel. He says Florida’s ports have more than 295-million gallons of gasoline—the highest ever recorded in the state:

“There’s ample fuel. It’s getting out of the ports. The ports are still open. There’s not going to be a shortage so people don’t need to overreact. They just need to make sure they have enough fuel to take care of their families.”

State officials also warn residents to be on the lookout for price gouging. They say any suspected instances of being overcharged should be reported to authorities.

Motorists across South Florida have clogged gas stations Monday to fill up their vehicles in advance of Ernesto’s arrival. Governor Jeb Bush says he’s pleased people are preparing in advance. But he also says the state is in NO danger of running out of fuel. He says Florida’s ports have more than 295-million gallons of gasoline—the highest ever recorded in the state:

“There’s ample fuel. It’s getting out of the ports. The ports are still open. There’s not going to be a shortage so people don’t need to overreact. They just need to make sure they have enough fuel to take care of their families.”

State officials also warn residents to be on the lookout for price gouging. They say any suspected instances of being overcharged should be reported to authorities.