Hurricanes

.

[stonemonkts]

Originally Posted by Scott Dolan

I'm hoping that by tomorrow afternoon this thread will seem like a bunch of needless whining.

If so, that'll be a first around here.



Good luck with the weather.

[frankenmeister7]

my mother-in-law lives in pensacola, fl. and she was hit by "h" bonnie. she is safely in chicago with my relatives.

my cousin who does live on the east coast of florida is riding it out. she refuses to leave. Hurricane Irene hit dead on and took out her sun porch and back yard fence. she said that this one is not going to make her move.

all of the folks in Tampa and the south are headed for "Daytona". boy is that town going to have its hands full.

Daytona is a crazy city to visit. Oye!!

they may have to call in the national guard just to keep the peace.

[Tanager]

Charley is forecast to track just East of here sometime tomorrow afternoon, but in a somewhat weakened state - probably a tropical storm at that point, but there is always the possibility of some restrengthening over the Atlantic if it tracks (as expected) up the coast before making a second landfall somewhere around...Wilmington or thereabouts, by most forecasts.

[GoodSpeak]

My father-in-law lives near Fort Myers.


I sincerely hope all is well there.

[Ron Thorne]

Sorry, but those original images shouldn't have been that large. I would never have posted them that size, knowingly.

Let's try it again in a different manner.

Here's an awesome color image of hurricanes Bonnie (Gulf of Mexico) and Charley (Caribbean) taken on Wednesday from a NASA sattelite.

And, here's an image taken at 12:35pm EDT today with Charley bearing down on the west coast of Florida. It's HUGE!

[Jesse]

Reading & sending the calmest vibes I can generate,

Jesse

[Lenny D.Guitarist]

Deja vu... August 1986, all set to go to the outer banks area of North Carolina for a vacation. Hurricane Charlie( spelled this way if I remember correctly) is losing its steam and may be downgraded, shouldn't be a factor according to the weather forecasts. We leave NE USA and travel south, the weather is beautiful. We stop in Virginia for the day. I go for a run on the beach. The weather is cloudy, high 70's, no blems. About 3 miles into the run, strong winds and rain begin and I turn around. About 10 minutes later, it's pouring and the winds are silly. Suddenly it's like a Woody Allen movie... ridiculously high wind speeds, and for every 5 steps forward I get pushed 3 or 4 back. Very hard to breathe because of this. Somehow I make it back to the hotel, heart rate approaching 4 digits per minute, scariest thing that ever happened to me. In about an hour, it's totally calm. Local tv says that the winds reached speeds of 60-70 MPH. We travel to North Carolina the next day. It's awesome, 70's to low 80's, sunny... for one day. It rained for the entire next week. Drank massive quantities of beer and tequila. Can't imagine what 100 MPH and above would feel like. Pray for Florida.

[Tanager]

Having been through a bunch of these things, I'll keep the folks in FL in my thoughts. Hurricanes are scary as hell. We lost our apartment to one once, so I can empathize to those whose lives and homes get ruined. It's projected to be downgraded to a tropical storm when it gets here - thus far, not a lot of strengthening as Charley churns up the coast towards the Carolinas - at last check, he was about 30 mi. SSE of Charleston.

The destruction in Cape Coral and the surrounding area is reported to be extreme.

[groover]

You have my sympathies, too, Scott. I hope your friends and relatives in the affected area suffer no more than property damage, as things can always be rebuilt or replaced. My parents live in New Port Richey, but, by the grace of God, they're in the Philadelphia area all week for a wedding.

Hopefully we won't get much more than pounding rain here. However, I live in a wooded area myself, and during Isabel, a massive branch came down in my driveway just behind where my car was sitting. I saw one tree behind my house bend over almost double, but only the very top cracked and hung down. I'm going up on my roof now to cover up my one skylight that always leaks in heavy rain.

Al-Qaeda can only dream of doing the damage Mother Nature herself inflicts (at least so far).

Regards,
Groover

[moneyp]

Jesus, this one is getting bad:



PUNTA GORDA, Fla. - Hurricane Charley flattened oceanfront homes and caused a "significant loss of life" at a mobile home park, making thousands homeless before it roared north and struck the coast of South Carolina on Saturday.


The strongest storm to strike Florida in a dozen years knocked out electrical service to an estimated 1.3 million homes and businesses as it crossed Florida from the southwest coast to the Atlantic at Daytona Beach, causing widespread damage to coastal areas and mobile home parks.



"I could hear the nails coming out of the roof. The walls were shaking violently, back and forth, back and forth. It was just the most amazing and terrifying thing," said Anne Correia, who spent two hours in a closet in her Punta Gorda apartment.



Charley's generally northward course took it across open ocean, missing the westward curving shore of Georgia, before it made landfall for a second time on South Carolina's Grand Strand resort region. The area was nearly empty after a mandatory evacuation of some of the area's 180,000 tourists and residents.



The storm still packed hurricane-force wind of 75 mph, considerably weaker than its sustained wind speed of 145 mph Friday.



In addition to the hard-hit mobile home park, Wayne Sallade, Charlotte County's director of emergency management, said there were confirmed deaths in at least three other areas in the county, but an exact number was unavailable, and might not be for days.



Gov. Jeb Bush, speaking in Tallahassee, said, "The good news is we train for this and we're well coordinated ... we're going to do everything we can to provide support."



There were five confirmed storm-related deaths elsewhere in the state. Earlier, Charley killed three people in Cuba and one in Jamaica, and tornados spun off by Tropical Storm Bonnie killed three people in North Carolina.



The federal government was sending a 25-member mortuary team to help process bodies.



Hundreds of people were unaccounted for in Florida's Charlotte County, which includes Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte, and thousands were homeless, Sallade said. He compared the devastation with 1992's Hurricane Andrew, which was directly blamed for the deaths of 26 people, most in South Florida. Extensive damage was also reported on exclusive Captiva Island, a narrow strip of sand west of Fort Myers.



"It's Andrew all over again," he said. "We believe there's significant loss of life."



There are 31 mobile home parks in the county that suffered major damage, some with more than 1,000 units, said Bob Carpenter, a Charlotte County Sheriff's Office spokesman. He said teams were sent to each park to search for bodies and survivors, but getting into them was difficult.



"We just couldn't get the vehicles in — there is so much debris," he said.



Rescuing people who may be trapped is the top priority, said state emergency management director Craig Fugate.



"If we're going to change the outcome for anybody that's been injured or trapped, we know time is of the essence," he said.



Dan Strong, 51, returned to his home in Biehls Mobile Home Park in Punta Gorda and found it had been destroyed.



"Everything is gone," Strong said as he dug through the rubble trying to salvage photographs, clothes and other belongings.







At 11 a.m. EDT, the storm was centered about 35 miles south of Myrtle Beach, S.C., and moving north-northeast at 28 mph. Forecasters expected Charley to increase in speed. Its maximum sustained wind speed was near 85 mph with higher gusts.

A hurricane warning was in effect from the South Santee River in South Carolina to the Virginia-North Carolina state line. A tropical storm warning extended north to Sandy Hook, N.J., and a tropical storm watch was in effect to the Merrimack River in Massachusetts.

National Guard troops were on duty in North Carolina, where a mandatory evacuation order was in effect for vulnerable coastal areas hit less than two weeks ago by Hurricane Alex.

More tornadoes were possible, warned Renee Hoffman, spokeswoman for North Carolina's Department of Crime Control and Public Safety. "Don't go out, don't drive in these heavy winds and rain," she said.

Charley was forecast to spread sustained wind of about 40 mph to 60 mph across inland portions of eastern North Carolina and to dump 3 to 6 inches of rain beginning Saturday morning, forecasters said. Gov. Mike Easley declared a state of emergency.

President Bush (news - web sites) declared a major disaster area in Florida.

Three hospitals in Charlotte County sustained significant damage, Sallade said, and officials at Charlotte Regional Medical Center in Punta Gorda said they were evacuating all patients Saturday.

More than 200 ambulances — many from southeast Florida — were organized to transfer patients to other hospitals in Orlando, Sarasota, Tampa and Lee County.

"We really have to get the patients out of here. This place just isn't safe," said Peggy Greene, chief nursing officer. She said windows were blown out, part of the roof was blown off, and there was no power or phone service.

Among those seeking treatment was Marty Rietveld, showered with broken glass when the sliding glass door at his home was smashed by a neighbor's roof that blew off. Rietveld broke his leg, and his future son-in-law suffered a punctured leg artery.

"We are moving," said Rietveld's daughter, Stephanie Rioux. "We are going out of state."

An estimated 1.4 million people evacuated in anticipation of the hurricane, which reached landfall at 3:45 p.m. EDT, when the eye passed over barrier islands off Fort Myers and Punta Gorda, some 110 miles southeast of the Tampa Bay area.

Charley hit the mainland 30 minutes later, with storm surge flooding of 10 to 15 feet, the hurricane center said. Nearly 1 million people live within 30 miles of the landfall.

At a nursing center in Port Charlotte, Charley broke windows and ripped off portions of the roof, but none of the more than 100 residents or staff was injured, administrator Joyce Cuffe said.

"The doors were being sucked open," Cuffe said. "A lot of us were holding the doors, trying to keep them shut, using ropes, anything we could to hold the doors shut. There was such a vacuum, our ears and head were hurting."

The fourth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, Danielle, formed Friday but posed no immediate concern to land. The fifth may form as early as Saturday and threaten islands in the southeastern Caribbean Sea.

[Ron Thorne]

Good luck, Scott. I mean that sincerely.

I saw considerable footage on news channels today, enough to see that Punta Gorda was hammered! My heart goes out to all of the residents adversely affected by Charley.

As you may recall, Florida is the place of my birth. I weathered two of the most horrific hurricanes ever to hit the state while living in West Palm Beach in the late 40's and early 50's, so I understand the wrath quite well.

My father was also born and raised in Florida, in fact not all that far from Punta Gorda, in a little town called Wachula, near Arcadia. Apparently it's still so small that Google thinks it should be spelled differently. Both of my Dad's parents lived in nearby Bradenton for most of their lives. I still have many relatives on both sides of my family living in the Sunshine State, so I empathize greatly with the losses.

Get well, Florida. I still love you, though I haven't seen you in-person in nearly 50 years.

[Dr Dave]

Be careful down there, brother.

[Ron Thorne]

Originally Posted by Scott Dolan

Actually, you did spell Wauchula wrong. Was it spelled with just an "a" before?

That's my only memory of the spelling of the town where my Dad was born. Of course I hadn't seen it in print in decades until yesterday. Could have been a correction of a spelling of a Native American word.

[bluenoter]

Scott--

See the latest reports on the aftermath of Charley in various parts of SW Florida here:

http://www.news-press.com/news/weath...ane/index.html

Scroll down and read the links underneath the map! A lot of very useful information is there.

Sanibel and Captiva Islands are dear to me. I'll be eager to find out anything you might hear about how they're doing.

Good luck!

Scott and others--

This is one of the links:

How to help

Information on how to help people affected by Hurricane Charley can be obtained by visiting www.volunteerflorida.com or by calling 1-800-FL-HELP1.

Please visit the Volunteer Florida site or call the toll-free number. They are trying to coordinate both donations and volunteer efforts.

[bluenoter]

CLICK FOR NEW INFO. ON HOW TO HELP

Scott--

Thanks.

I just read that the new pass that's opened on Captiva may close again; the water is shallow. It dawned on me that the longstanding passes in those strips of land might have been created under similar circumstances.

At least from what I've seen on the Internet, I'd call the national coverage of Charley's effects practically nonexistent. I've read the same few canned wire-service reports on site after site, and I can imagine how frustrated and disquieted you are by evidence that they may be grossly understating the magnitude of the disaster--especially the number of deaths. They're probably doing their best, but still . . .

It irked me that most of the reports referred to "luxurious," "exclusive" Captiva Island; I've eked out four or five wonderful low-budget vacations on Sanibel/Captiva. I've become acquainted with some of the townies, and I'm worried about them. From everything I've been reading, most (though not all) of the wildlife species will do fine, and the native flora may actually benefit from having had invasive species such as the beautiful but ill-adapted Australian pines knocked down.

Keep checking the News-Press site for new and updated links, and again, good luck.

[Slurpy]

Unbelieveable. Hope all your relatives and friends are safe, Scott. I'm still a little jittery here in Tampa. The line in the middle of the storm tracker path had Charley going right up the middle of Tampa Bay, and directly over my house, until only an hour or 2 before it turned east into Port Charlotte. It sucks to feel relief when I know so many people were effected and in fact, killed. Last I heard, 16 people dead and over 11billion in insurance covered damage alone. Our office closed down here Friday so I spent the morning dragging anything that moved from our yard and patio into the garage and preparing a 'safe room' for the kids. Unbelieveably, we ended up receiving almost no wind or rain. Over a million people evacuated low lying areas of Pinellas and Hillsborough counties, and unfortunately, many of them simply moved east, right into Charley again. Thank goodness that mofo "Earl"
appears to be staying south of Florida alltogether. Good luck, Scott.

[clinthopson]

Stay safe Scotty.

I have some good friends who moved to Holmes Beach last year. I've sent them an email but haven't heard back.

I kind of feel badly because when they moved I said "Why the hell do you want to move to Florida? They have hurricanes."

[Slurpy]

Scott, no problem gas-wise here in the Tampa area. I had heard the possibility of the NG keeping non-residents out, but in all honesty I haven't
heard anything lately. Haven't had time to check the links Rita provided,
but definately call first to get the official scoop, and then if need be, maybe you can do the back-roads thing. Good luck.

[bluenoter]

Scott--

Thanks for your most recent report.

Before Charley appeared, I was checking on lodging deals in Sanibel/Captiva with an eye toward getting down there again (it's been about seven years), and I was thinking of starting a Sanibel/Captiva thread. But I'd be useless as a volunteer on the mainland; I don't even drive. Anyway, I haven't replaced my lost or stolen ID yet, so I couldn't get on a plane.

I hope you can take a cell phone with you, but I'm sure you've thought of that, among other things that might be useful or necessary. (Or aren't cell phones working? I know nothing about them.)

[bluenoter]

Here are the same links that I posted above:

Click and Scroll Down for the Latest Conditions in SW FL

CLICK FOR NEW INFO. ON HOW TO HELP

Scott, I suggest that you write down some of the phone numbers from the "How to Help" link, especially 1-800-FL-HELP1 (1-800-354-3571) (Volunteer Florida), and take them with you.

[Slurpy]

That's great news, Scott. Glad to hear it. Good luck, man.

[bluenoter]

Scott--

Great news about your father.

By getting there later, you'll be helping even more, because some of the professional and volunteer "helpers" will be off the case.

[tippy]

Scott, I'm sorry to hear about the devastation suffered by your community and glad to hear that you've finally spoken with your father. I'm sure having you return to help out in such a time will be very heartening for your friends and family. Take care out there.

[Enforcer]

Holy cow. I'm so sorry to hear, Scott. I just read this thread for the first time today. The recovery will take a long time, but what's important is that your loved ones are OK. A visit by you is sure to help them along. That type of action really gives a person a lift. Good luck and I hope things improve for your friends and family soon.

Larry

[Chris D]

Fare well in your mission, Scott. It's an honorable thing you're doing, and you'll make a real difference in their lives.

[bluenoter]

AP, Wednesday, 8-18-2004

Medical Experts Fear Charley's Aftermath

By MIKE SCHNEIDER, Associated Press Writer

PUNTA GORDA, Fla. - Until the electricity hums again and the debris is cleared, health officials are worried that there could be more deaths and injuries in Hurricane Charley's aftermath than during the storm itself.

In addition to injuries sustained during repairs, residents are being sickened by eating rotting food and contaminated water. They are skipping their prescription drugs and, with no air conditioning and with window screens blown away, exposing themselves to mosquitoes carrying diseases such as West Nile virus.

"It really gets back to getting electricity as soon as possible because that's going to solve a lot of problems," said Tommy Thompson, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. "Right now there are a lot of heart attacks in people who are going out and cleaning out their property."

On Wednesday, Sanibel Island was reopened to permanent residents for the first time since it was evacuated before the hurricane. Roads had been cleared of storm debris but there was no power or drinkable water on the barrier island of about 6,000 residents.

Michael Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said Wednesday that Charley's 145 mph wind could have destroyed even more homes if not for the stronger building codes enacted after Hurricane Andrew 12 years ago over the objection of some contractors, who said they were too costly. He described seeing new buildings that were relatively undamaged next to older buildings that were destroyed.

"Governor (Jeb) Bush said it best — If anyone in Florida starts minimizing the building code, that idea should have been obliterated by Charley," Brown said.

Bill Nylander survived Hurricane Charley, but the storm still managed to hurt him days after it cut a swath of destruction through his hometown. Nylander burned his leg while trying to repair his sun-scorched roof. The 68-year-old retiree needed treatment Tuesday at a medical center set up in four tents outside a hospital closed for repairs.

"We're seeing lacerations, injuries post-hurricane," said Karen Mulvaney, a critical care nurse. "A lot of people are coming here now because people are now returning to their homes."

The U.S. death toll Tuesday rose from 19 to 20, when an 86-year-old man who had evacuated his home fell and died in a motel. Officials in Charlotte County said three new deaths may be linked to the aftermath of Charley: The three died Monday in a crash at an intersection where the traffic lights were not working.

For thousands of Floridians, Tuesday was a day when services cut off by the rampage of Charley's 145-mph winds last week were being gradually — and sporadically — restored. Federal disaster assistance money began flowing, state officials cracked down on price gouging and postal workers handed out mail.

About 493,000 people remained without power Tuesday, state officials said, holding to predictions it could take weeks to fully restore electricity. Nearly 100,000 still lacked local phone service from the storm, estimated to have caused as much as $11 billion in damage to insured homes alone.

Free food, ice and water were distributed across the region.

"I haven't had a hot meal in days, but I'm doing all right," said 82-year-old Norma Chapman, who drove to a half-demolished strip mall in Punta Gorda Tuesday to pick up six bags of ice.

With all the damage, the services of an electrician would seem to be in demand. But on Tuesday, electrician Ralph Guthrie was inching his way through the Port Charlotte unemployment line.

His company's workshop was destroyed, along with all its service vehicles. Even if he had tools and transportation, it could be weeks before anyone needed electrical service from Guthrie and his nine co-workers.

"It's kind of hard to work on electricity when there ain't none," said Guthrie, 30.

The medical center where Nylander sought help is one of three that opened after Charley when medics and medication became scarce and a lack of air conditioning exacerbated conditions such as asthma.

Each day the number people seeking help at the federally-sponsored facility has grown larger. Saturday brought 54 people, Sunday had 88 people and on Monday there were 107 patients.

The medical center has to pick up the slack since Charlotte Regional Medical Center is closed and Charlotte County's other two hospitals are just treating emergency-care patients.

Some supplies are getting low.

"We're running out of medication. We're running out of bandages," said John Caprio, team commander of the medical team running the center. "We're going to need a resupply."

A bandage was what Norman Bentley was looking for after an awning at his trailer home gashed his right arm as he was trying to retrieve some belongings. He walked into the medical center covering the 5-inch gash with a baby-blue wash rag.

"It's painful," said Bentley, a 73-year-old retiree from Punta Gorda. "It hit the bone pretty hard but I don't think it got any tendons."

He filled out a form in an open-air tent serving as a waiting room, where a half-dozen wheelchairs were being used as seats. He then was taken into a tent filled with cots that was used for examinations and treatment of minor injuries.

[Derek Taylor]

Scott, safe travels on your trek. I admire your desire & resolve to affect whatever good you can in a situation that ranks beyond tragic. Good luck & please keep us posted as to your whereabouts if possible.

[bostontricky]

Scott - keep up the good work. I would hope many of us could do something as noble for others when or if the time comes.

My wife's grandmother relocated from upstate New York to Naples permanently in the early 1990s, after wintering there for many years; she passed away between Christmas and New Year's at the age of 88. One of her charms (?) was that she would always obsess about the weather, and whenever we would visit the area often we would find dire messages left at our hotel desk concerning possible tornados and hurricanes whenever the sky became 70% cloudy. I can't imagine how she would have ridden Charley out.

[crawjo]

Best of luck, Scott. I wish you and your family all the best.