'Catastrohphic damage at St. Lucie airport By LINDSAY JONES Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Monday, September 06, 2004 Several private hangars at the St. Lucie County International Airport suffered "catastrophic" damage from Hurricane Franc= es, county officials said Monday, with early estimates of total damage pu= shing $40 million. Private airport tenants Mirabella Yachts, Lanshe Aerospace and the Pan Am= International Flight Academy took Frances' hardest hits, county Building= Official Dennis Grimm said. Mirabella, which renovates antique airplanes= , was a total loss, as were the approximately eight airplanes trapped und= er the collapsed hangar. = Get updates on Frances and its aftermath. =95 Advisory | Maps | Warnings =95 Satellite images | Radar Multimedia: Audio, video Photos: Landfall, damage Emergency Info =95 Where to get supplies =95 Openings, announcements =95 Schools | How to help =95 What to do after the storm Important phone numbers, updates on shelters, more: =95 PB County | Martin =95 St. Lucie | Okeechobee =95 Indian River County Message Board Share stories about the storm, report damage in your neighborhood. =95 Storm 2004 forum Special Feature See the path of Frances in an interactive timeline. Hurricane Ivan News | Advisory | Maps = Path | Coords | Warnings = EMAIL THIS PRINT THIS POPULAR PAGES Frances' winds shredded the roof of Pan Am's maintenance h= anger and tossed about several planes and a golf cart left inside. Airpor= t Director Paul Phillips said the school flew out 50 planes in preparatio= n of the storm, but had to leave several that were unable to fly. The flight school's administration building also appeared to have suffere= d roof damage, but by noon Monday Phillips and Grimm had been unable to c= ontact school personnel to get inside. "The lack of communication is just hindering everything," Phillips said. = "There are chances the owners don't know the extent of the damage, and th= ere is no way for them to contact us." Phillips arrived at the airport shortly after the hurricane-force winds s= ubsided Sunday morning, and though he had prepared himself for some damag= e, he said he was shocked by what he found. In addition to the destruction at Mirabella, Lanshe and Pan Am, most of t= he other hangars at the airport suffered some degree structural damage, a= nd the U.S. Customs building adjacent to the terminal had part of its roo= f torn off, leaving the building currently uninhabitable. Hurricane preparations began in earnest Wednesday, when Phillips and his = staff advised all tenants to fly as many of the approximately 200 airplan= es housed at the airport out. "Clearly our preparations were based on the plan to evacuate any plane th= at could fly," Phillips said. "With the storm being downgraded, I expecte= d a lot less damage than we had. I'm very shocked at the amount of damage we sustained." The damage airport-wide was so substantial, Phillips said he fears many o= f the tenants will not be able to afford to rebuild and reopen. "All of the tenants are required to have insurance, but they probably hav= e very high deductible," Phillips said. "I expect that this type of disas= ter is going to catastrophic to many of our tenants." Though the airport was officially closed, emergency and media aircraft ha= d been using it as a place to land and refuel. Phillips said the airport = were topped off on aviation and jet fuel just before the storm and have e= nough to keep the emergency aircraft flying. Roger EWROPS