mm) falling at Polo. Les Cayes, Haiti was leveled as the storm struck the town. The aircraft carrier U.S.S. Boxer arrived off the coast of Hispaniola on August 29 to provide medical aid and evacuation services to those in the worst impacted areas of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Damage in Cuba was minimal because the hurricane had weakened and moved through quickly. Florida The hurricane was the first to directly strike Miami since Hurricane King in the 1950 season. Cleo intensified rapidly just prior to landfall, bringing sustained winds of 100–105 mph (160 km/h–170 km/h) with gusts to 135 mph (215 km/h) to the Miami area, due to moving over water temperatures of 30 to 32 degrees Celsius and its compact size. Lightning was observed within the eyewall at the National Hurricane Center. The pressure fell to 967.6 mb (28.57 inches) in North Miami. Major damage was constrained to a 20–35 mile (30 km–50 km) wide strip from Miami to Melbourne, in the form of broken glass, interior flooding, uprooted trees, overturned aircraft, power failures, and agriculture. Cleo cut power to 620,000 homes and businesses in southeast Florida. In Miami Shores the electricity was out for five days. At least two dozen fires blazed across Miami. About a quarter of the grapefruit crop was lost within the Indian River citrus producing region. The storm surge reached 4–6 feet (1.2 m–1.8 m) between Miami and Pompano Beach. The highest rainfall total measured within Florida was 9.37 inches (240 mm) at Stuart. The Sebastian River Baptist Church had its roof torn off during the cyclone. Minor damage occurred north of Melbourne. Heavy rains fell along the east coast of the state, along and east of its track. Three tornadoes were reported with the storm within the state borders. Cleo caused the Fort Lauderdale News, one of South Florida's biggest newspapers, to miss publishing, the only time that happened in its history. Storyland, a popular children's theme park in Pompano Beach, was destroyed and never rebuilt. A disaster declaration for Florida was made on September 8. Florida Atlantic University's grand opening to students was delayed six days due to Cleo. Southeast United States Heavy rains spread up along the Georgia coast into the Carolinas and southern Virginia in association with the weakening tropical storm. Interaction with a frontal boundary to its north led to significant rains across extreme southeast Virginia to the