Hurricane Frances’s impending arrival in southeastern Florida provoked a large number of adult Internet companies to pack up and bail for safe ground until the lady spends her fury – especially under a mandatory evacuation order that was handed down for the area at about 2 p.m. EDT September 2.
But as the first serious winds and rain began to hit the southeastern Florida landmass September 3, one adult Net player, SmutDrs.com executive producer Kevin Godbee, sat somewhere between comfortable and uneasy at his home further inland, concerned for evacuating fellow adult industry workers, yet having mixed feelings over the panic that hit the state as the new storm began to bear down at last, over a fortnight following Hurricane Charlie.
"I'm glad Hurricane Charlie spared the Internext show, but it looks like we're getting a direct hit down here in South Florida with Frances," Godbee told AVNOnline.com. "The gas stations around here ran out of gas yesterday. People were so crazy at Home Depot yesterday that they have police stationed there. Everybody was buying plywood to make shutters, the advantage is that because you make them yourself, they're cheap – but the disadvantage is, because you make them yourself, they will fall off."
Godbee said the waiting on just when Frances was likely to hit was especially trying. "Now I know why most hurricanes are given female names," he said wryly by telephone from his home. "It's because the are female. They like long foreplay, they change their minds frequently, and they're late. We've been waiting for the climax for a week here. First, it's heading south, then it's heading north. It's a category 4, then it goes to a category 3, and is expected to go back to a 4 when it hits here. It was going to hit here Friday night and now it's Saturday afternoon."
Operators at Net Management Services, the parent of affiliate programs TrafficCashGold and LoveDollars, and Cyberservices, the parent of SexMoney.com, were available to take a call from AVNOnline.com as of 11:45 a.m. EDT September 3.
The longtime Floridian noted sheet metal shutters work well once you get them up, but the disadvantage is that, once you do, "your hands will be useless bleeding stumps, and it'll be about December by then." Godbee recommends roll-down shutters. "They're very easy to use, and will definitely protect your house," he said. "The disadvantage is, you will have to sell your house to pay for them."
SmutDrs.com co-hosts Dr. Johnny and Platypus were even safer than most of their Florida-based colleagues: the pair was in Las Vegas and likely to stay until Frances's fury, however severe, was spent. The popular Web radio show was moved to servers through AdultChamber.com to keep it available and broadcasting through the brunt of Frances.
SEGuru told AVNOnline.com by way of instant messaging that he and his wife made way to friends west of Fort Lauderdale. Internet Billing (iBill), located in Deerfield Beach, also had no one answering the switchboard when contacted by AVNOnline.com, and the company has posted on several Webmaster message boards that they have, indeed, closed their offices during the hurricane threat, though all their automated systems are still running, including transaction processing, merchant information, direct integration, and B2B.
“In the event of a power failure, transaction processing will continue as our entire data center is backed up with an onsite high capacity diesel generator. It is important to note that we may experience network outages if Internet Service Providers and Telephone facilities are affected,” the company advisory said. “In the event that we experience a network outage or lose local continuity, we utilize an out of state data center as a secondary hot site for transaction processing and data backup.”
Godbee confirmed earlier reports from the region that over a million people have already evacuated with a possible million more likely to do so to avoid being trapped in their homes along what could be the heart of Frances's attack. On the other hand, he said, they may not be trapped at home but they'll be trapped in huge traffic jams for several miles.
"As a bonus, they may not be lonely," he said. "But that is why I decided to stay home. The one thing I have made sure I have is a 55 gallon drum of underarm deodorant. The advantage with plywood shutters is that, because you make them yourself, they're cheap. The disadvantage is that, because you make them yourself, they will fall off."
LifeStyle Magazine, located in Clearwater, was still in their offices Friday morning. “It’s supposed to go north of us,” said an unidentified staffer, “so we’re not going to lose.” The staffer said the magazine isn’t going to move just yet, but they’re keeping a close enough eye on Frances, which is said to have weakened somewhat as of Friday morning.
Pride Studios, a gay adult entertainment company whose operations include affiliate Webmaster program PrideBucks, was also unavailable to comment. Located in Miami Beach, they, too, were likely under the mandatory evacuation that affected an estimated 2.3 million southern Floridians.
At about 5:30 p.m. EDT, Doppler radar readings showed rains between two and three inches and possibly growing extending on and off on a north-northeasterly pattern west of Miami and Fort Lauderdale, moving up from Everglades City to Belle Glade and Fort Pierce. Almost two hours later, those rains had moved mostly over Fort Pierce, and approached four inches in some portions, according to the radar readings.
Similar rains were spotted in the earlier readings just southwest of Miami and crossing the Keys, while rains an inch or slightly more were seen on the radar readings of the coasts of Miami and West Palm Beach. The radar showed scattered patterns of lighter rains in a few areas north of Frances's expected touchdown area, such as Tampa, Orlando, Melbourne, Daytona Beach, and off the coast of St. Augustine.
By 7:10 p.m. EDT, however, Doppler readings showed rain largely away from the Keys, in a concentration west southwest of Miami, and several miles off the Miami coast, both in volumes up to four inches in some locations.
At this writing, Frances's core was expected to hit the coast the afternoon or evening of September 4, many hours after it was first believed bound to strike. The storm weakened by the morning of September 3 to a Category 3, with top winds at 115 mph – down five from earlier in the morning and down 40 from September 2.
But various forecasters said it could not rule out Frances regaining some strength before its schedule strikedown in Florida. And they still believe the storm has potential to push 10-foot high waves and as much as 20 inches of rain in enough southeastern Florida areas – meaning severe flooding still possible, considering Florida's hundreds of miles of coastline.
“I hope people don’t take comfort in the fact that Frances weakened,” Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said earlier in the day September 3. “The storm is very unpredictable. We still don’t know exactly where landfall will be.”
Staffers at virtual chat program Full Spectrum in Clearwater, near Tampa, were reported in meetings all morning long Friday, with one telling AVNOnline.com they were too far north to be affected themselves by Frances. But this staffer also said there was likely to be an impact on business because of Frances, with some of their business partners having to evacuate. “I hope not too heavily,” the staffer said.
She said their area was bracing for flood potential as a result of rain in the region likely to be stirred by Frances but didn’t expect any other effects from the storm which is well enough south of their area.
Frances was reported over the Bahamas at 11 a.m. EDT, about 220 miles east-southeast of West Palm Beach and moving west-northwest at 9 mph, with hurricane-force wind reaching about 85 miles from its center. The airports in Fort Lauderdale and Miami were all but closed, with airport officials at both urging stranded travelers to find shelters and helping transport them there.
“We’re all buttoned up,” said SEGuru. “Everybody remembers Hurricane Andrew, so no one’s taking any chances.”
"Watching a hurricane approaching," Godbee said, "is like watching grass grow. When it gets here, though, it's a different story. But when you think of me riding the storm out, picture Captain Dan from Forrest Gump during the storm on the shrimp boat, tied to the mast, shaking his first and yelling, 'Is that all you got?!' I don't take no shit from anybody. Especially a female hurricane.
"I hope Frances doesn't bitch slap me for that."
