Is it safe to come out yet?

[Anonymous]

Hey guys! I still don't have power at home, but managed to get on at the church. Our house has some minor damage, but is really in pretty good shape. Just north of us they are estimating 60% of buildings are destroyed. Our main post office now has no roof. This is being estimated right now as the 3rd worst disaster in U.S. history, just behind 9/11 and Hurricane Andrew. Once the death toll is final and damages totalled this may surpass Andrew. There are hundreds missing north of us. The eye with 150 mph winds and 174 mph gusts went through a retirement area full of mobile homes loaded with folks who had not evacuated. Emergency crews are just starting to sort through and figure out who is missing. Captiva Island, a famous tourist island just offshore from Fort Myers, is now 2 islands as Charley cut a 400 foot canal down the middle. My family was very lucky. Now we have to wait for our power and to see how we can help our neighbors. I'm also concerned for some friends of mine that I know were in the worst part of the storm who I have not heard from yet. I'll try to check in once in a while, and I hope my power is on soon at home.

[tt3]

Wow :shock:
My condolences to those who lost friends and family, material posessions can be replaced, but man... thats a mighty big blow for a storm.

[floridamcmarion1]

Our power is on now!!! :D We are back home. Tomorrow I will start cleaning up the mess inside and out. The house became a bit of a mess when we were running around getting our closet set up as a hurricane shelter. Thankfully I got all the laundry done before the storm anticipating losing power. Now I just have lots of wet towels to deal with.

I haven't heard anything here other than our local damage. Can anyone tell me how Central and Northern Florida fared? How much damage in Orlando? Our cable is out and they are only showing disaster coverage on our local stations. They aren't even showng any of the Olympics. I have a battery operated TV I used while the power was out.

[Anonymous]

I'm from Tampa. Everyone I have been able to reach so far has been ok. There are several guys in the Orlando area that I have not reached yet...?

My SIL lives oon the east side of Orlando and my uncle on the west side. They both came out ok with minimal damage. Another SAHD in the Kissimmi area took some minimal damage to his house, but everyone is ok. Reports from Lakeland - ok.

Once it was appaernt that we were not in the direct path the avalible news diminished in quality, guess they figured we wouldn't care??? It would have been nice for someone to have shared a feed!!!

Seems it cut up just east of Lakeland. Orlando airport was "open" but no flights arriving/departing at lesast through noon. (They are doing both now.) DW flew into Orlando today from London, but has to sit in the plane for 1+ more hour til they have a gate they can use...

I have not heard of any damage in the areas NE of Orlando. Has anybody?

I think there is a substantial amount of damage at least to the I-4 corridor.

Not sure where you are, but it sounds like you came through it fairly good. I know a SAHD in Cape Coral (just south of landfall) and he came out of it with minimal/no damage as well.

I really hope the casualties/losses are real low!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sadly that is probably not realistic...

[Anonymous]

BTW: I'st SAHF from the Orlando area? How'd you come out on this one?

[Anonymous]

I think they did what they could. I can't imagine that they didn't notify the public. There are no reports of mass casualties in the area.

Part of the problem is that the storm shifted position when very close to the coast and didn't leave much time to prepare. With an hour or less of "oh *****, gotta go" notice there is not much you can really do. The roads are at a standstill, and your really in deep doo doo if you don't have any gas.

I think many if not most headed for shelters.

The homes are another thing. I spent much of the last two days doing what I could to get my house ready, gathering documents, getting supplies, etc... Look at what happened to some of the shelters in the path. A few boards and tape can't do much against that... much less a mobile home. The things are practically kites!

With under an hour notice about all you can do is head for the closet! And pray!

[floridamcmarion1]

The trailer parks that were devastated were not considered to be in harms way. They had voluntary evacuations, but nothing was mandatory in Punta Gorda. What caused the main problem was how Charley made landfall. Right up until it was too late to evacuate the storm was still looking like it was going to Tampa. It went into Charolette Harbor and followed it all the way keeping the eye of the storm over the warm water. That meant that it maintained the 150 mph winds all the way inland to Punta Gorda. The odds of that happening was astronomical. If you look on a map you will see how it had to wobble just right to make that path and still stay mostly over water. I was watching the news the whole time on my battery powered TV, and it was amazing the way the storm bobbed and weaved in such a way as to really trash Charolette County. They have said that 250.000 structures in Lee County have been damaged or destroyed. That doesn't take into account the most badly damaged areas. The news tonight said there are over 10,000 homeless. One shelter with 1,200 people in it had the roof torn off, though nobody was killed there. Charolette County has lost all three of their hospitals. FEMA has set up 2 field hospitals. 4 of the 6 hospitals in Lee County were damaged in some way.

As if it wasn't bad enough, Tropical Storm Earl is currently following the exactly same path Charley took. They say at this point that it should become a hurricane soon, but will probably head toward Texas. There isn't a force present at this time that will turn it north. Texas can have it.

[Anonymous]

problem with forcasts and warnings in a case like this is that the storm ws cruising alongside the coast. As we now see, if it shifts even a little the point of landfall is radacally different.

The EOC's (Emergency Operation Centers) have to be very careful on what they advise. If you advise that the entire coast evacuate from the keys to the panhandle every time there is a huricane, it will not take long before the majority will ignore the warnings. The death toll and devistation within just one season would be apocolyptic.

Even as it is there are many folks who ignore the warnings and "ride it out" in very unsafe areas and sub-standard structures. Kinda like going to Hawaii from Callifornia in a canoe. Maybe it could be done, but the odds aren't with you.

I am by no means trying to minimize the tradegy that has occured. It is an awful and heartbreaking situation to be in.

floridamcmarion1, how much time did you guys have to prepare? We first got word in Tampa about 2:30-3 that there was a shift in path (we were expecting the storm around 8 here).

Our prayers and thoughts are with the many many families that have been affected!

[Don-Dad]

I am glad those dads that have posted so far are safe and I hope you and your families are too!

I hope SAHF is OK, I know he is down in Florida as well.

I was out for a mini vacation the past 2 days and only saw the devastation today. :cry:

[Remington]

Well, my parents lucked out in Clearwater. They were thrilled to see the storm swing East. I feel for those that lost their homes, lives, families, etc...

I sure hope SAHD is ok and his family. Hopefully he will check in soon.

I have been keeping an eye on Earl and it doesn't look good for whoever gets hit. Sounds like Texas but if I were in Florida I would keep a real close watch on it. We know from Hurricane Dennis years ago a hurricane can defy all laws of science and turn in a different direction and do loops at any time.

[Jackson's Dad]

Wow, amazing how these storms are like living vengeful beings. Glad everyone's doing ok.

The remnants of Charley is just now reaching out area (NYC), but seems to be heading more to sea. What started as predictions for 50+ MPH winds and over 3 inches of rain have been steadily downgraded.

Hopefully it'll be a short season.

[floridamcmarion1]

ch10dad asked how much time Fort Myers had to prepare. That depends on how you look at it. On Wednesday they projected the path of the storm hitting Fort Myers head on. I acted then and got my hurricane supplies. Very soon they changed the projected path to Tampa and many area residents got lazy. I was watching the TV Friday as the storm started to make it's turn toward the north. It was evident around noon that it was probably going a little further south than Tampa, and they kept saying Sarasota. It was probably about an hour before landfall that it was evident we were probably getting a head on landfall near us. By then it was too late to go anywhere safely.

This was a case where there was enough of a deviation from the projected path that people were really caught off guard.

There was also an apathy around here because "I've lived here 20 years and nothing ever comes here." The last hurricane to hit here was Donna in 1960. After 44 years people thought they were exempt from storms. They now realize that those of us who prepared were not wasting our time, but it's too late for them.

I lived in Miami for 2 years and my wife is a Florida native. I've been hit by 3 storms now that left their projected path to come where I was. Tropical Storm Harvey a few years back was going to hit north of Tampa when I checked the weather before going to bed one night. When I woke up it was getting ready to go through Miami. It got hit by vertical shear and dropped several hundred miles straight south to go across the everglades and hit Miami. People forget that these storms can and do go anywhere. My wife watched Hurricane Gorges head out to sea only to turn completely around and come back to make landfall. Unfortunately, it takes living through something like this to convince lots of people. Hopefully they will remember this for a long time.

[floridamcmarion1]

I just found this in an article I was reading. I think it speaks for itself.




Thirty-one mobile-home parks in Charlotte County sustained major damage, some with more than 1,000 units, said Bob Carpenter, a sheriff's spokesman. He said teams were sent to each park to search for bodies and survivors, but "we just couldn't get the vehicles in - there is so much debris."

[Anonymous]

Here's an interesting map from the weather chanel. Seems like yours coast and my old stomping grounds (Miami) have the highest risk of a direct hit.

http://www.weather.com/maps/maptype/severeusnational/hurricanestrikefrequency_large.html[/img][/code]

[SAHF]

Hello all!

I am back online now. To all those that commented or sent PM...thank you very much!

Family is going just great. Charley hit us head on and tore up a lot of houses. My neighbor was not hit too hard. Lost half of my shingles, 2 trees, a screen on my Florida room, some water damage in the garage, and my doorbell... :shock: :lol: Now isn't that strange!

Clean up SUCKED, but had to be done. All of Saturday and most of Sunday was putting patches on my neigbors roofs so they do not sustain anymore damage.

Lost power until Sunday night (after I decided to get a hotel room for me and the kids).

Once again, Thank you ONE AND ALL! And to think....I tried to my Aunt to come to Orlando from Tampa... :D Good thing she did not come up ! lol

[Don-Dad]

Welcome back!

[Remington]

The doorbell... how strange!

Glad you and the family are ok. Welcome back!

[floridamcmarion1]

I've been keeping an eye on it along with a healthy sense of denial. It's really still WAY too early to tell where it's going, but the likelihood is Central Florida or north of there, maybe even a turn out to the Atlantic. Most likely, though, is an East Coast hit somewhere from Florida to North Carolina. My worst fear is for it to hit the West Palm Beach area and come across to hit those areas already flattened by Charley. I remember Debbie a few years ago headed to the Keys as a catagory 3 storm. It hit the mountains of Hispaniola and fell apart into nothing. When it got to Key West it was a small rain storm.

[Jackson's Dad]

Bleh, it's looking big. Check out this 5-day forecast: http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/tracking/at200406_5day.html

Hang in there guys! Man, I starting to miss San Francisco's non-weather! (Where I used to live.)

[mjknapp]

Yeah, good luck guys, hope it all turns out for the best for anyone in the path of the storm.

[Remington]

:shock: Not another one?

[floridamcmarion1]

The last update had top sustained winds of 140 mph already with further strengthening probable. The Bahamas are going to get nailed. Then there will be another area in the U.S. that is going to get leveled. It's still way too early to tell where that will be. I just know that Florida doesn't need another punch right now.

[Remington]

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ftp/graphics/AT06/refresh/AL0604W5+GIF/311628W5.gif

[mjknapp]

Man alive, good luck guys, keep everyone safe, this one sounds like a pretty good storm. You can all come to philly and I will give you room and board for a nominal fee......lol

All kidding aside, be safe.

[floridamcmarion1]

I really don't like that they are now predicting a more southerly hit. Mostly that's because my mom is due to fly back to Oregon on Sunday. If we get hit on Saturday then I get to put up with my hysterical mother living through a hurricane.

This has been a great visit so far......but it doesn't need to end with me strangling her in the closet. :shock: At this point we would have 4 adults, a 9 y/o with extreme ADHD, a 4 y/o and two babies all hiding in the closet. :shock: All I can do at this point is [-o<

[mjknapp]

Well, good luck, and let us know what happens.

[tt3]

Stay safe guys, we'll be praying for you too.