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Hurricane Charley

Hurricane Charley

Old Aug 19th 2004, 4:15 pm
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Post Hurricane Charley

Anybody else in Lee or Charlotte counties, FL ?

Our house escaped almost scot free, just 4 fascia panels blown off from under the eaves at the back. No trees down. The eye passed within about 10 miles of us, we had winds in the street of 80-90mph. The winds on Captiva Island were around 145mph.

Next door to us their is a 50' oak blown over which only missed their house because it landed in another oak tree. They have 2 more trees in the front yard blown over.

Two other families on our circle have large trees, torn out by their roots, resting on the houses. Several have lost some or all shingles and at least one has had it's pool cage demolished.

We still have no power but we do have a generator running 24/7 in the driveway to keep the freezer and fans going. At least we have ice. There were three power poles snapped in half at the entrance to the circle which were being repaired yesterday evening. The cables were blocking the road. We have had to exit the back way through a palm tree nursery.

Further north, in Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte it apparently looks like a bomb went off. Several trailer parks are completely demolished and they have no idea which ones had people in them.

At least we never ran out of water. A lot of places still have neither water or power. The pool feels great even if it isn't particularly clean. No pump/filter since Friday 13th.

Friday and Saturday nights we had great Hurricane Parties with the neighbours.

Anyone else have a Hurricane Charley story ?
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Old Aug 19th 2004, 4:38 pm
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Default Re: Hurricane Charley

Originally Posted by TRPardoe
.

Anyone else have a Hurricane Charley story ?
Well, Ray6 had his nap during the hurricane.

Sorry you got damaged, but lucky it wasn't worse.
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Old Aug 21st 2004, 3:36 pm
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Default Re: Hurricane Charley

Guess you are one of the luck ones, like myself. Sorry to hear you still don't have power though.

I am in Tampa and fortunately Charley turned 2 hours before it was supposed to hit us, but 30 miles east it wreaked havoc.
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Old Aug 21st 2004, 3:39 pm
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Default Re: Hurricane Charley

Originally Posted by suebo
Guess you are one of the luck ones, like myself. Sorry to hear you still don't have power though.

I am in Tampa and fortunately Charley turned 2 hours before it was supposed to hit us, but 30 miles east it wreaked havoc.
We got power back Thursday evening. First hot shower Friday morning. Could hardly bring myself to get out of it to go to work :-)

I spoke with one of my customers today who is doing electrical restoration in Punt Gorda/Port Charlotte. he says that things are so bad that it is affecting his workers, emotionally.
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Old Aug 21st 2004, 5:15 pm
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Default Re: Hurricane Charley

I had a friend vacationing just south of Orlando last week. He didn't have any power from friday through to monday night. He was supposed to have left on the saturday, but didn't actually fly home until tuesday night.
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Old Aug 21st 2004, 6:05 pm
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Default Re: Hurricane Charley

Originally Posted by TRPardoe
We got power back Thursday evening. First hot shower Friday morning. Could hardly bring myself to get out of it to go to work :-)

I spoke with one of my customers today who is doing electrical restoration in Punt Gorda/Port Charlotte. he says that things are so bad that it is affecting his workers, emotionally.

Yep - its unbelievable down there, overwhelming. We went through the hurricane in UK, but I've never seen devastation like this - all the power lines are mangled, street signs gone, street lights snapped over, traffic lights gone... and the buidlings and debris -OMG. Goodness knows when they'll get their power back, and of course no water. You look at it and think where the hell do you start. It looks like a war zone. We know from excellent sources that the fatalities are much much higher than is being quoted officially- one hospital alone filled 150 body bags and ordered 60 more. My son's friend is a firefighter down there and he's been finding bodies hanging out of ripped up buildings. Why they don't release the real number of people killed is a mystery to me- but they did the same thing after Hurricane Andrew- hushed up the fatality count.
I was supposed to be up in Vermont this week but our friends up there own a house and RV resort park in Punta Gorda, so they ended up coming down here and I;'ve been down there all week with them, helping out. It's a very humbling and levelling experience - I can understand the emotional affects of all this.,,there are many harrowing sights down there. I felt guilty cos I was coming home to Ellenton at night to a shower and air conditioning at first- and seeing it all cuts you up inside. You have to block your mind, roll your sleeves up and get stuck in. I've had a day off today though, cos I'm exhausted. There's nowhere there to get out of the heat.
So many people are helping- the red cross is feeding everyone (I can recommend their menu) and many emergency services coming round with water and ice. They are doing a remarkable job. And the residents down there are still smiling even though living in the most miserable conditions.

And of course there's the other element- looters (who are even trying to get in to the park by boat at night). The resort next door had a man come in the other night with a gun trying to get what he could- the police actually caught him thank goodness, should have shot the bastard. I mean what kind of person robs people who've lost pretty much everything.

Anyway I took some pics on Friday, I'd post some of them here if I knew how to do it. I'm glad no one here suffered much-we got so lucky, again, in the Sara/Bradenton/Tampa area...if that storm had hit a densly populated area like Tampa Bay, the human carnage would have been unimaginable. I've joked about hurricane warnings and so on, over the years here, but after seeing what the power of those storms can do, if a Cat 4 storm is headed our way in future- we aint faffing around bothering to board up the house (ummm hurricane shutters are absolutely useless, let me tell you), I'm loading up the cars and getting the hell out of its way.

Last edited by Taffyles; Aug 21st 2004 at 6:10 pm.
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Old Aug 23rd 2004, 2:49 pm
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Default Re: Hurricane Charley

Originally Posted by Taffyles
Yep - its unbelievable down there, overwhelming. We went through the hurricane in UK, but I've never seen devastation like this - all the power lines are mangled, street signs gone, street lights snapped over, traffic lights gone... and the buidlings and debris .............

My wife and I went to visit a friend in Bokelia, on Pine Island, yesterday afternoon. His house isn't so bad considering the estimated 150mph+ winds which blew down the street. The house across from him is untouched and the next one is 2 parts demolished. All were built relatively recently so it isn't age which is the factor.

Some of the trailer parks along Stringfellow are bad. I saw one trailer which looked like a bomb had gone off inside it. Many of the Malaleuca trees have had their bark stripped off. The ones which haven't fallen over are standing like tall, thin, orange sticks - very wierd. Many Australian pines are snapped off half way down. What force does it take to snap a 12" thick tree like matchwood ? There are huge strangler figs torn out of the ground intact. Their root balls standing vertical like a mud wall.

The Pine Island palm tree nurseries are a mess. Most of the palms, which are still in the ground, are leaning at 45 degree angles. There are thousands of them like this. A lot of the Mango trees, which you can see from the road, appear to have been stripped of their leaves.

Power is beginning to reappear in Bokeelia, the sewage pumping station started up again yesterday afternoon.

The Police do regular circuits of the neighborhood, warning people of hte latest scam artists and their plots. Presently there is still a curfew on Pine Island. No one but residents allowed after about 7pm.
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