CHARLEY BECOMES A (CATEGORY 4 Now!!) HURRICANE (18 ft. storm surge)

NHC ^ | 08-13-2004 | Forecaster Lawrence

[NCjim]

Wonderful post - thanks!

Now to the shower (really)... *g

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Some tree falls in the Charleston area, and spotty power outages but mostly every thing's OK. Had some power flickers here around 9:30 and some 50 MPH gusts, but the sun is out and most of the Charleston area is clear and of danger. Myrtle Beach is getting it bad now.

[OXENinFLA]

All clear in JAX, we didn't get anything worse than a mild storm.

[Peach]

National weather service says Charlye made landfall in SC at Folly Beach with winds of 85 mph.

[SlickWillard]

Sorry but I think modular or mobile homes in hurricane prone areas should have a mandatory mobile home community storm bunker equipped with a generator for all of the mobile park residents to stay safe in. It's the most sensible solution so far. There is no way these people could have remained out of harms way inside their mobile homes. The news showed another senior citizen retirement mobile home park that is destroyed. I find it hard to believe home insurers there carry these mobile homes. It isn't practical or safe. Many many Oklahoma residents have tornado bunkers.

People live in mobile homes because they can't afford to live in regular houses. And they sure as hell can't afford to subsidize a steel-reinforced concrete bunker with failsafe power supply, potable water, foodstuffs, blah blah blah, yada yada yada. Besides, in low lying areas, a bunker would be at risk for flooding in these sorts of situations.

The solution to the problem of mobile home parks is to grow the damned economy so that people can afford to live in regular homes.

Of course, an awful lot of the people who can't afford to live in anything better than a mobile home park are either mentally retarded [or, if not clinically "retarded," at least substantially to the left of center of the bell curve], substance abusers, or single women who keep spreading their legs and making babies with worthless louts who won't marry them, so that, in many of these situations, there's not a whole heckuva lot that even a growing economy can do to improve their fortunes.

[OXENinFLA]

AFTERMATH Photos

[Aquamarine]

Just heard that my aunt's mobile home in Port Orange (just south of Daytona Beach) is in good condition. The other mobile homes in her community are not, lots of damage from debris.

[Mo1]

FNC just said Charlie hit landfall again ... in South Carolina

[Gabz]

Those are very crass and unkind remarks.

Some of the mobile home and module home neighborhoods in my area start at over $100,000.

[agrace]

Hey, you're from Drums? We're both from PA too, he's from Oil City (north of Pittsburgh) and I'm from Lewisburg, most of my family lives in Milton. My parents also lived in the Hazleton area for about 10 years.

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

The solution to the problem of mobile home parks is to grow the damned economy so that people can afford to live in regular homes.

This is making me want to puke. We try to teach teens in school and they REFUSE to listen, study, do homework or learn much of anything useful. Upon leaving school, the find they cannot command much of a salary. Then, they end up living in mobile homes. Now, it's someone ELSE'S fault. Pure garbage. The solution is to force the youth to learn in school. Either give them hard labor in the sun, or study in school. Only psychos will choose to work in the hot sun (which they richly deserve). And yes, I know there are exceptions to the rule, but VERY few.

[SunnySide]

"Besides, in low lying areas, a bunker would be at risk for flooding in these sorts of situations."

I realize the problem with flooding but there are many "above ground" bunkers in Oklahoma because in many areas they can't build below ground level like Florida.
There aren't any basements in Oklahoma either. If there are, they are few and inbetween.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Folly Beach is OK. A few minutes ago, local news showed idiot surfers out in it. Fox News even picked it up.

Local news reported that the hurricane made landfall in Awendaw, a place that was flattened during Hurricane Hugo. Georgetown is getting the heavy stuff now.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Local news just reported that preliminary damage estimates are at 15 billion dollars and expected to rise in the areas already hit.

[Howlin]

I think the grownups are over on this thread.

[NautiNurse]

Thanks for the Charleston update. Had to run to the hardware store. My cousin left here Thursday with the special screwdriver bit needed to get the boards off the windows.

[dukeman]

HERE'S A REPORT FROM SARASOTA COUNTY:

We were extremely lucky here in the middle portion of the county. Charlotte County, the hardest hit on the coast, is just south of us. The eye came ashore through Charlotte Harbor and moved near the mouth of the Peace River. We had some window rattling, but actually mild compared to Punta Gorda (mouth of the Peace River). From the photos in our local newspaper this storm would have clobbered us but for the landfall further south and the eastward movement into the interior of the state.

If anyone wants to help, contacting the Red Cross in Charlotte, Lee, or Sarasota counties might help. 1-800-HEL-PNOW IS being broadcast on FoxNews.

[Carolinamom]

Any news from your relatives in Wilmington?

[CindyDawg]

We thought about buying a new mobile home to put on our lake lot. Forget about it! We'll build a cabin. They are expensive now. Unless you pay cash by the time it's paid for and falling apart you could have built a nice house.

[Howlin]

They are saying it came ashore at Moore's Landing in SC.

Here:

http://maps.yahoo.com/maps_result?ed=M7tNO.p_0TqT&csz=Awendaw%2C+SC&country=us&new=1&name=&qty=

My niece said that there was no mandatory evacuation of the barrier islands.