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	Hurricane Floyd Threatens Cape Canaveral By Kenneth Silber Staff Writer posted: 12:12 pm ET 13 September 1999

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Officials at Cape Canaveral Air Station and Kennedy Space Center stepped up efforts this morning to secure their facilities -- including four rockets standing on launch pads -- against Hurricane Floyd's possible arrival early this week.

Lynda Yezzi, Cape Canaveral's chief of public affairs, told space.com that steps were being taken to protect the rockets. "We are rolling mobile service towers over them, and bolting [the towers] down," she said. The towers, she said, "are able to withstand winds of 120 miles per hour -- and we hope we don't have to test that."

Hurricane Floyd was nearing the Bahamas this morning, and was reported to include winds at speeds of almost 155 mph.

The space facilities moved this morning to a state of Hurcon 3, which is issued when a hurricane could hit in 48 hours. Preparations under way include the boarding-up of windows and the sandbagging of buildings, said Yezzi. She noted that staff may be evacuated, but that no evacuation order had been given.

The rockets on the launch pads are two Atlas rockets, one Delta 2, and a Titan 4B.

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