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Quote: And here is yet another, at http://www.wpmi.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=60635E5E-6C8A-4CA8-9BE5-E8DD43AC4BDD which says in part, " GULF SHORES, Ala. (AP) - About a half-million people on the Alabama coast were ordered to evacuate Friday as Hurricane Dennis took aim at beach resorts still trying to patch roofs, restore dunes and rebuild high-rise condos wrecked by Ivan last year. Gov. Bob Riley, with recommendations from emergency management officials, ordered the mandatory evacuation of all of Mobile County, with more than 400,000 residents, and the part of Baldwin County that is south of Interstate 10, a coastal area with about 100,000 people. It was uncertain how many would leave, with traffic already bumper-to-bumper in some places. While the evacuation is mandatory, such orders in past hurricanes have been followed mostly by those at the beach resorts, low-lying coastal areas or in mobile homes in the two counties, which surround Mobile Bay and include fragile Gulf islands. But many even in urban Mobile have boarded up and fled, too. Alabama Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Martha Earnhardt said law enforcement officers can arrest anyone who disobeys an evacuation order. But she said the troopers' focus will not be on making arrests but making sure the evacuation continues smoothly.The evacuation order takes effect at 6 a.m. Saturday. At that time, state troopers will begin turning Interstate 65 into a one-way north to Montgomery, about 170 miles from Mobile. I-65 will return to two-way traffic at 5 p.m. |