opened Sunday after the storm passed. About 3 million people along a 500-kilometre strip of eastern Florida were asked to leave their homes, but as many as a million storm weary residents decided to tough it out at home instead of in public shelters. Shelters reported fewer people had arrived than during the last evacuation of east coast areas forced by Frances. People in low-lying areas were under a mandatory evacuation order, however. Florida Governor Jeb Bush declared a state of emergency before the storm arrived. Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue did the same for his state on Sunday. Florida has never seen four hurricanes in one season since record- keeping began in 1851. The latest storm arrived at about the half-way mark in the hurricane season. --SP 2349 Local Time 2049 GMT
