That's especially true for 16-year-old Jessica Lewis of West Palm Beach. She's spent the past few days reading books and watching movies in St. George and expects this week will bring more of the same.

Lewis and her mother, Marva, headed north Friday, fleeing from the path of Hurricane Frances. Their car broke down near St. George off Interstate 95, Jessica Lewis said. It was five hours before the vehicle was towed to a garage. On Sunday, after two $70 nights at a hotel, they realized their spending had to slow. She and her mother expect to spend the next several days at a Red Cross shelter in St. George while their car is repaired.

"We've been waiting ever since," the girl said Sunday. "We don't know what's going on."

Lewis has called everyone she knows who stayed behind, she said, but the phones aren't working. She said she and her mother worry about their home, about her uncle in a wheelchair who stayed behind and about tornadoes.

And with Hurricane Ivan backing up Frances, the Lewises fear they may not see home anytime soon.

The women were among about 10 people staying at St. George United Methodist Church on Sunday, according to Red Cross spokesman Bob Jones. The shelter was one of two still open out of 11 created in South Carolina after the first Frances evacuations, Jones said. About 43 people were staying in a shelter near Hardeeville on Sunday, he said.

Hundreds more have stopped in at the shelters for food or to use the restrooms. About 60 people found a warm meal at the St. George shelter on Sunday. Jones said signs off I-95 direct evacuees to Red Cross shelters, and hotels, fast food restaurants, the S.C. Department of Transportation, the Highway Patrol and the media helped spread the word.

"We realize that this storm is going to create one of the largest Red Cross responses to any disaster that we've ever seen," Jones said.

Lowcountry Red Cross volunteers are on standby for travel assignments, Jones said, but he expects it will be Tuesday before any may be dispatched. That's when the Red Cross hopes to end its local relief work with people devastated by Tropical Storm Gaston, which hit the South Carolina coast Aug. 28.

Five local Red Cross volunteers already are in Florida helping with the recovery from Hurricane Charley, which killed 27 people and caused billions of dollars in damage in southwestern Florida three weeks ago. That effort was suspended over the weekend so volunteers could seek shelter from Frances, Jones said.

Also on Sunday, a C-130 air-craft of the South Carolina Air National Guard left from McEntire Air National Guard station in Eastover on its way to Tallahassee, Fla.

The plane will take Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and federal officials to Miami to begin assessing the damage from Frances, Lt. Col. Pete Brooks said.

Ten members of the Guard's 240th Combat Communications Squadron are being deployed to Florida to set up a satellite communication network, Brooks said.

The help is offered as part of an agreement where states outside of a disaster area share their equipment and personnel with other states, Brooks said.

IF YOU WANT TO HELP

Federal Emergency Management Agency officials discourage people from going to affected areas to render aid. Instead, they encourage people who want to assist victims to send cash donations to one of the following agencies:

-- American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund: Call 1-800-HELP-NOW or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish), or online at http://www.redcross.org/

-- Catholic Charities, USA: Call 1-800-919-9338, or online at http://www.catholiccharitiesusa.org/

-- Salvation Army: Call 1-800-SAL-ARMY, or online at http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/

-- United Methodist Committee on Relief: Call 1-800-554-8583, or online at http://gbgm-umc.org//

For a complete list of charitable agencies recommended by FEMA, visit www.fema.gov/help/index.shtm.

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