afternoon officials told people to hunker down. "It's now too late to move about," Sarasota police chief Peter Abbott said. Many in Charley's path stocked up on plywood, generators, flashlights and other emergency and clean-up supplies. "In the last 96 hours, we have shipped 440,000 sheets of plywood into the west coast of Florida, 30,000 generators, 1.2 million batteries and 150 truckloads of flashlights," said Home Depot spokesman Don Harrison. On its final approach to the Florida coast, Charley exploded from a Category 2 storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale, with 110 mph (177 kph) winds, to Category 4, capable of causing extensive damage to homes and buildings. Hurricane Andrew was believed to be a Category 4 storm when it hit Miami in August, 1992, causing about $25 billion in damage. It was subsequently upgraded to a Category 5, the most powerful hurricane. --more 2331 Local Time 2031 GMT
