FL DG'ers - Hurricane Charley

Darius,
Dravencat is right about us being just north of Panama..about 40 minutes or so. No bad stuff here of course, this time. I have an uncle in Stuart and friends in polk and dade counties, haven't heard anything about any of them yet.
Weeds & Dravencat,
I sure will let you know about Joci..she isn't calling home too often though..I have to learn what she's doing through my friend that she is staying with. But that's for another post ;)
Jackie

I checked my email....

BuriedTreasures lives in Valrico, Florida. That is the city he moved to and I am sending a cold loving zone 3 peony to.

Ok, looks like he mighta been on the weak side of it.

Lilypon, I have NO idea where that is, LOL.

Jackie, Dade County should have been safe, same for Stuart. Don't remember where Polk is...

Daisy... Conway is almost just as flat and low as Myrtle Beach. Say extra Prayers for everyone in that area IF Charley strengthens again when out over open water.

I hope so......I kept looking at the map here and at work and couldn't find Valrico listed but it looked like it might be in Hurricane Charlie's path. I remembered him saying Valrico wasn't too far away from Sebring. He still has a house in Sebring tho'.

I've got his cell phone # if someone wants to give him a try....I won't post it but will email it.

He seemed confident they were past the worst of it when he posted last. I doubt they'd leave the office if they didn't feel it was safe.

Here is where mapquest says he is but I still can't see Valrico?!? http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?country=US&address=&city=Valrico&state=FL

Here it is

BT was set to go home around 6.
Vic so glad your family is safe. Now we wait for news of Pati's family amd Stella's friend.
No one was hurt in the Nursing Home roof loss. They don't know where that number came from. @ people were killed in separate traffic accidents. The wind took their cars off the road
Weeds, have you heard from your family? Darius?

Glad it missed you Floridian! haven't heard but the Tampa peeps are ok I am sure, no word from Orlando.

Just heard via an IM from another cousin that earlier my cousins in Kissimmee were right smack in the eye and they had no leaks, no damage at that point but still electricity and telephone .... but the other half of the storm was yet too come. No follow up reports yet.

This message was edited Aug 13, 2004 11:35 PM

CNN is reporting that Pine Island was hit really hard; however they don't actually have reports from any witnesses. I think they are basing that report on the severe damage that is visible onshore and are naturally assuming the barrier islands were hit even harder. The Weather Channel is reporting 160 homes destroyed and 160 homes damaged on Captiva (or Sanibel, I forget which) but CNN hasn't been able to confirm that.

Floridian,
Gosh..that was channel 6 news reporting that! They shouldn't report if they don't have the facts. You're looking good now aren't you..weather wise?
Darius,
Polk county includes Lakeland. My friends live between there and Dade City. I'm sure they are fine..they are old floridians and have been through several storms. Always nice to hear though.
Jackie

Just got home from work and found this thread..My prayers are with all of you and yours.....I've never been around this kind of weather but have seen my share of Tornado weather! Keep safe my D.G. friends!

Thanks Jackie. Pati's daughter evacuated to Lakeland. Still haven't seen Pati checking back in about them.

Floridian, the number I heard and posted earlier was not the nursing home, but a shelter.

My biggest family concern right now is my aunt just north and slightly east of Ft. Myers. (She's the one who owns this house I'm staying in.) That area got hit pretty hard.

This message was edited Aug 13, 2004 11:44 PM

Randy's alive and well, thank goodness, but it sounds like they took a beating - "Hey guys, Thanks for thinking of me. It's a little after 1 a.m., the generators going, and i can see stars through a section of my office roof. What a day. At around 4 p.m., the eye of Hurricane Charlie passed over Captiva Pass, Cabbage Key, Useppa, and my old house on the Indian mounds of Pineland. It was the equivalent of a 30-mile wide tornado. I have no idea what the winds were. 145 mph weas the last I heard. The weather station at Mote Marine next door was blown away. So were the boat houses where I sometimes write. So was the marina where my Maverick was stored for 'safe keeping.' A dumb ass move to put it there because my dock still stood after the nightmare moved on. None others in the area did. Pine island has been devastated; the houses around me in Pineland, too. It reminds me of photos of Hiroshima after the A bomb was dropped. A horizon of splintered trees and imploded buildings. But the mounds endure as they have for several thousand years. This house, built in the early '20s, also did well. It survived when much newer houses near by collapsed, and the storm surge never got near it because of the elevation. My sons and I boarded the entire porch exterior with marine plywood; used 2.5 inch screws. Two sections blew off, so my porch interior was destroyed, all the ceilings fans, bottles of hot sauce everywhere. I lost my tin room, nearly every tree in my yard was sheared, but for a couple of ancient, dinosaur Jamaican tall coconut palms. What really brought me near tears, though, was my office door blew open during the worst of it, and I later found my really fine stereo microscope, and my six inch Celestron telescope both ruined, in a pile of rubble on the porch. Anyway, we did very well, considering. In the overall scheme of things, Charles barely scratched our paint. Thanks so very much for your postings. What a good group you folks are. Randy"
Randy White, 8/14/2004 1:09:29 AM

Gosh, Stella!

What a nightmare for all our florida people. MY thoughts and prayers are with you folks.

I know, but I'm thankful he's ok. You really should pick up his books, he's a great writer. I absolutely love his mystery series about one Doc Ford, a marine biologist who lives on Sanibel Island. Much good Florida history for all you Floridians. For those who don't do fiction, he has three non-fiction adventure books too. I'm sure a great story will come of this disaster he's been through. Charley sure has wreaked some havoc today.

Oh my land!!! I just read an e-mail from my sister, both my niece and nephew are in florida....
yikes! yikes! yilkes!!!!!!! The kids were in the Sarasota/Brandenton area, but apparently they werent hit. egads!!!

WOW alot of threads here! Darius, you can call me Nicole! Anyway, if we had some sort of map listing the areas where members lived or something.. I am not sure - we still have the privacy thing to worry about. Maybe if the map only listed the area not the address and then leave it up to the individuals to contact each other through e-mail as far as asking if they can crash until the storm has passed... Hadn't really thought about the HOWS...

Morning all. Called my grand daughter's house in Lakeland at first light, but no answer. This is where my daughter, children, dogs and cat evacuated to from Bartow, Polk County. The answering machine took a message so I know they have power. Actually, I was not surprised because I'm sure they were on their way to Bartow to check on the horses, etc. left behind. If I don't hear from her in the next hour I'll drive over to check it out for myself.

I don't know the condition of my cousin's house in Ft. Myers. They are still in NC. Their house is on a lake and they have had high water problems before, so I am only hopeing for the best.

Being on-line with this group has been an incredible experience. Having gone through hurricane Andrew in Miami, and this same daughter losing her home, it is like living it all over again. Then, I had my DH with me, but this time I'm having to go it alone. I have drawn strength from my DG friends...Thank you.

Anyone who has gone through a major hurricane knows the wind blows through in about an hour, but the aftermath seems to go on forever. We lived without power for almost a month, no telephones even longer, and we counted ourselves luckier than the Homestead people where my daughter lived. Prayers should continue for the people who will be trying to get their lives back together again.

Well, still no word from my daughter so I guess I'll mount up and ride out.
Holding good thoughts for all of your families and friends that were in harms way.
Pati

Just spoke with my Florida family, sort of...My sister and her DH were taking a walk, assessing damage. Her friend that is staying with them answered the phone. They have no electric but are doing ok. Mom was still sleeping and Shari (the lady I talked to that is staying with my sister) said mom was a bit anxious last night...DUH! But so far everyone is ok.

Hoping all our folks are ok....good luck Pati, how long will it take you to drive there? Keep us posted. I am waiting to hear from everyone and ya'll check in to let us know you are safe.

edited to say: Darius and all you folks in it's path now, let us know what is going on there.....

This message was edited Aug 14, 2004 8:06 AM

Hello, Everyone.

Early News about where the first impact of Charley on the FL west coast hit is not looking good, with unconfirmed reports of loss of life. I have family in that area, and I believe we have several DG members there, too.

Please keep all of them in your Prayers.

This message was edited Aug 14, 2004 9:17 AM

It looks just awful!

weeds, I haven't seen too many pictures this morning (got up late) but what I have seen looks like Andrew's devastation. What's the best station to watch?

so sad, it does look awful.

Like pati said, the aftermath is just as bad. We went through Andrew a few years ago. No power for over a week. The heat and mosquitos were horrible. A truck would park at local stores and folks would line up for ice.

I hope all of our Fla. friends check in as soon as they can, worried about yall

I am watching CNN, seems to be the best this morning and I flip to weather channel every once in awhile.

The written (developing) story on the CNN web site about the devastation doesn't sound good either.

With so much poewer outage, who knows when I'll hear about my aunt & cousins in Ft. Myers. My cousin is Search & Rescue Commander so doubt he will be home for days. He and part of his batallion spent 3 weeks at the World Trade Center so he has seen devastation in full.

Pati and Darius, we wait to hear from you and I'm sure all of us are saying prayers for the safety of your families.
For the rest I'm glad to hear all is mostly well...

I am also glad y'all were here...it kept my anxiety level from really ramping up. Paul and I now realize that if Charley had come through Tampa we would have been in huge trouble in this old house. I think if this happens again we may just leave but as we have seen that too becomes an issue sometimes. We have a shelter right around the corner but no pets allowed. Our area of Lutz was the staging area for much of the Hillsborough County emergency response team. We are in a spot that is easy access to many cities

Darius, the nursing home was a shelter. Thank God that was a misinformed report. I have only heard of one other fatality aside from the 2 car accidents. A woman was electrocuted by a downed power wire in Daytona Beach. Have there been any other reports? Like I said before the most frustrating thing is misinformation. We were hearing that we were still due to get the high winds, etc over and over and then it was like they just forgot about it and went on without any mention of the previous reports. We weren't sure what to expect for a couple hours.

We have many customers in the hurricane's path so Monday will probably be very busy. We won't start getting the full reports til power is restored to those areas.

We aren't hearing much about Charley now except that NC/SC coastal areas are threatened. Can anyone give a better update? Our news is concentrating on local damage etc. I sure hope no more DGers are in her direct path.

~Stacey

kinda anti-climatic here in the Florida-Georgia border.
heavy rain... prolly about 3-4 inches over 2 nights, but no wind.

Not much different than any other storm off the gulf.

Stace....thanks for the report, glad ya'll are safe and sound. That is always my biggest worry...the pets, can't take them to a shelter, that is why I leave at 3+, not gonna leave my pets alone.....

I just went through the DG Subscriber list for FL. Looks like we have several subscribers within a 20-25 mile radius of the landfall.

I'm not getting much coverage here of FL damage reports but more coverage of the SC/NC coastal areas. Haven't really paid any attention to it yet but will do soon... and see who on DG is in the path.

Wind damage probably won't be bad but water/flooding will be. As far inland is Horseshoe is, they even had some impact from Bonnie a few days ago.

Anyone from lake wales?

Don't think I remember seing any in Lake Wales. MotherNature4 is in Bartow. I was really looking for those very close to landfall, not just in the path. That would include Brugmania, Floridagurl46, TamsTrees, PMRosie, Colson40, Grankgiresi, and godfather. I don't know some of these folks.

Looks like we have several in or near the coast of SC but not too many in NC. DaturaPod, Sparks42, WaterpondFarm, Strangebob and Catsmeow are along or near he coast. Of course I don't know the NC coast very well... haven't been in that area in years.

I worry about people like Jody who got flooded out last year up in Maryland. This storm could likely push as much water again up the Chesapeake.

Wow....what a mess!! I hope that all our DG family is okay.

Stella...how old is Randy? Bill has read his books and thinks that perhaps he might know him...lived in that area for years...Bill not me.

Connie...I'd have to stay put right here..no way I'd leave my dogs! Been there,done that,but not with this crew.

Jackie..thanks for the update on Jocelyn. I'll try calling again or you call me when ya got a minute.

Stacey...remember Bill and I are pet friendly here. LOL Just not a big house.

DOING THE HAPPY DANCE!!!! Just as I was getting ready to leave, my daughter called. As soon as the eye passed she left Lakeland and went back to her home in Bartow. Rough ride, lots of road debris, in the dark! The house was intact! Huge Oak tree went down in the front and missed the house and the fence. She was worried that if the fence went down the horses would get out. A lot of the trees had the tops sheared off, but they didn't fall which is an ongoing worry. The horses were a little spooked, but soon calmed down. The wind had battered the doors on the laying hen's house until the locks came off and they were open, but the hens were still asleep! The pasture was pretty clear, but in back of her house, which is heavely wooded, it was covered with debris. They drove back and finished the night at my grand daughter's house in Lakeland. A LOT of mess to clean up, but all and all a good outcome.
Prayer works!!!
Pati

Well that is good news, Pati! So glad they caught you before you left, that coulda beena rough drive for you. Glad all is well.