About 19 hours before landfall , the National Hurricane Center ( NHC ) issued a tropical storm warning from Apalachicola to Venice , Florida , which was preceded by a tropical storm watch six hours prior . As the storm intensified further , the NHC issued a hurricane warning from Apalachicola to Anclote Key , and extended the tropical storm warning westward to Fort Walton Beach . The agency later issued a tropical storm warning for the Atlantic coast from Cape Canaveral to Little River Inlet in South Carolina . Officials ordered evacuations for barrier islands in nine Florida counties along the gulf coast , and about 3,000 people stayed in shelters . Government offices closed along the storm 's projected path in the state . Later , the storm forced the cancellation of part of Bob Dole 's bus tour through New York , and postponed a search for the wreck of TWA Flight 800 . Game one of the 1996 World Series was postponed by one day due to the storm
TWA Flight 800
TWA Flight 800
Tropical Storm Josephine (1996)