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Noel Bigger, Badder, Northbound

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By NEIL JOHNSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 2, 2007

TAMPA - As Hurricane Noel rockets north, forecasters expect the storm not only to grow larger but also more powerful as it eventually threatens Nova Scotia.

The National Hurricane Center says Noel could pack winds of nearly 90 mph when it reaches land about Sunday.

Forecasters also said Noel will grow. When the storm is at its largest, winds of 40 mph and higher will span nearly 900 miles.

The storm's brush with Florida caused little significant damage, though heavy surf eroded beaches and threatened to wash away some beachfront homes and buildings in St. Johns County and in Fernandina Beach.

People in the Caribbean weren't that lucky. Noel is blamed for 115 deaths from Hispaniola to the Bahamas, a death toll higher than the Category 5 Hurricane Felix, which killed 101 people.

Heavy surf created the threat of rip currents on Florida east coast beaches and pushed waves up to 15 feet in the Gulf Stream.

Only "isolated instances" of damage were reported statewide, said Mike Stone of the Florida Division of Emergency Management.

"The primary effect is some coastal erosion and some flooding issues, but we don't have any other real big concerns," Stone said.

Palm Beach County officials were watching several hot spots in Jupiter and Singer Island, where a few structures were in danger, said Leanne Welch of the county's Department of Environmental Resources Management.

Brevard County beaches have had erosion damage estimated at up to $8 million from the combined effects of Noel and several storms in October, said Virginia Baker, a supervisor in the county's Natural Resources Management Office.

"What we've been seeing mostly is a lot of beach deflation and a little bit of dune erosion," Baker said. "We've got a handful of buildings that are vulnerable."

In Broward County, the beaches lost sand but protected beachfront structures.

Noel had winds of about 80 mph this morning, though it quickly was shifting from a tropical cyclone to simply a sprawling, powerful storm.

The forecast track keeps Noel away from the United States, though the storm could brush close enough to Maine that there is a 20 percent to 30 percent chance that winds of more than 40 mph could hit the eastern portion of the state.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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