Posted on 08/14/2004 1:42:49 AM PDT by kattracks
PLEASE--Does anyone have any information on North Port and Venice? My aunt and uncle have a mobile home in North Port (they evacuated) and my mom was supposed to move from Ohio into an apartment in Venice next week. They keep talking about Punta Gorda and Ft. Myers, which is close to these two areas. TIA!
I checked in around 2 am on the other thread but I'll check in again. :-) I'm on the east coast and just did a walk around the property. Many tree limbs down. Neighbor across the street has a hugh pine tree on top of his Chevy Tahoe. Getting ready to drive out to the Port (Canaveral) to check for damaged boats.
Yes, most of my family lives near Florence SC. I went up there less than a week after Hugo hit, and it made quite an impression. Florence, of course, was far enough off the coast that it was "supposed" to be safe, but there was significant damage there.
And, of course, Hugo was "supposed" to hit between Savannah and Hilton Head, but made a last minute turn (the 4 pm forecast showed it, IIRC, and the storm hit near midnight) and hit above Charleston instead.
If they wait until they know exactly where these things are going to hit, it's too late to get everyone out.
Local news reports that officials are bringing in several refrigerator trucks. Doesn't sound good.
Correct; Port Charlotte is only 50 miles from Tampa Bay.
Reviewin my software with all the NHC forecast tracks archived, anyone with 2 brain cells to rub together and with the vaguest understanding of typical track error should not have had the idea at any time that Port Charlotte was a "safe" place.
The deviation in track from the Tampa forecast tracks to the real forecast track looks like less than 10 degrees of arc.
I am not trying to blame anyone today. I am feeling sorrow for the losses involved in this. To do otherwise is coldhearted.
Venice was on the north, or weaker side of the storm. There's damage, but what I've seen (on various boards and such) from people in Venice is that it wasn't catastrophic.
Look, I was just trying to get these holier than thou, hindsight perfectionists to back off and show some decency today. Guess you missed that point.
But that's just what you did, isn't it? Weren't you the one saying they hadn't been told to evacuate?
No, I didn't. I am telling people on these threads blaming people for dying on stupidity, on their families not getting them out to back off.
I'm in Gainesville, in the middle of N. Central Florida and we are all OK in this area. My daughter lives in O-town(Orlando) and we have been watching WESH-TV from there, they have a good bit of damage but no reports of fatalities in that area. There are about 170,000 people there without power but hopefully they are getting things back together. The airports are closed but the theme parks are planning to be open today as usual. Some reports indicate pretty bad damage from Daytona area where they have interviewed Tampa residents who evacuated from their homes when they thought it would hit there. Looks like the Punta Gorda area is the worst though.
Prayers to anyone in that area or who has friends and relatives there.
List of Known Damage Caused by Hurricane Charley
The Associated Press
Here's a county-by-county list of damage as reported by officials and on-the-scene reporters.CHARLOTTE (Punta Gorda):
- Up to 50 people brought to Charlotte Regional Medical Center with injuries, according to hospital CEO. Injured being airlifted to area hospitals because Charlotte hospital sustained heavy damage.
- Portions of roof ripped off, windows broken at Deep Creek Rehab and Nursing Center in Port Charlotte, according to administrator. No injuries.
- Seven fire stations destroyed, according to state emergency management officials.
- Numerous trailer homes destroyed.
- At Charlotte County Airport, winds tore apart small planes and blew out the windows of a sheriff's deputy's car. Hangers were collapsed and roofs were torn off buildings. The only building that did not suffer major damage was the Airport Authority building.
- The roof of the county's emergency operations center in Punta Gorda also blew off.
COLLIER (Naples):
- Officials said a "good portion" of the county was without power and there was some flooding. No serious reports of damage.
DESOTO (Arcadia):
- Reports of roof blown off at Turner Agri-Civic Center, a hurricane shelter where 1,200 people had gathered. One known injury.
- Large sections of U.S. 17 are peppered with down utility poles; some parts of the road completely blocked.
GLADES COUNTY (Okeechobee):
- Rural county on west side of Lake Okeechobee reported sporadic downed power lines, minor roof damage, trees down. Approximately 35 percent of the county without power.
HARDEE (Zolfo Springs):
- Entire county without power.
- Destruction of numerous homes and commercial buildings.
HIGHLANDS (Sebring):
- Several power lines down north of Sebring.
- Tree fell through roof of apartment building in Sebring, injuries unknown
- Radio tower knocked down.
HILLSBOROUGH (Tampa):
- No damage reported, sporadic power loss in the eastern portion of the county.
LEE (Fort Myers):
- Lee County property appraiser estimates 250,000 buildings structures, homes and churches were damaged, causing just under $3 billion in damage, said Booch DeMarchi, spokesman for Lee County Emergency Management. The estimate was derived from a computer program, and appraisers would not survey the scene until Saturday morning.
- A man in his mid-20s was killed when a banyon tree fell on him outside his house in Fort Myers, said Ileana LiMarzi, spokeswoman for Lee County Sheriff's Office. The victim stepped outside to smoke a cigarette, others in the house heard a loud crack, then found him under the tree, she said.
- Downed power lines, numerous downed trees and some roofs torn off by high wind.
- A tornado touched down in southwest Cape Coral, damage still being assessed.
- Cape Coral city hall sustained enough damage that employees hunkered down there and had to relocate to other parts of the building.
- Cape Coral hospital sustained significant damage to parts of its roof, windows and doors. There were no injuries reported.
- At least 135,000 customers were without power.
- Eyewitness video showed the roof of a Fort Myers post office ripped off. Officials say no one was in the building.
- Sanibel Bridge is closed until noon Saturday.
- Curfew in Fort Myers and Cape Coral from 11 p.m. until 7 a.m.
MONROE COUNTY (Key West):
- The Islander Resort on Islamorada suffered minor roof damage, but it was open Friday.
- A sailboat separated from its mooring and its mast struck a main electrical transmission line, causing temporary power outages in parts of the lower Keys.
- Minor street flooding reported.
ORANGE (Orlando):
- 360,000 customers without power, according to the two power companies Progress Energy and Orlando Utilities Commission.
OSCEOLA (Kissimmee):
-Three fire stations damaged, including one which was missing its roof.
- Six people suffered minor injuries when the roof of their hotel blew off. There were other minor injuries around the county, but no major injures reported, officials said.
- County issued curfew from 11 p.m. until 6 a.m.
PINELLAS (Clearwater-St. Petersburg):
- No damage reported, no power loss.
POLK (Bartow-Lakeland):
- Amateur radio operator reports several mobile homes destroyed.
SARASOTA (Sarasota):
- Several trees down.
VOLUSIA (Deland-Daytona Beach)
- Most of the cities in Volusia County are about 80 percent without power, said Dave Byron, director of community information. No specific numbers were available.
- Trees down, trees on power lines.
To be fair, in that part of Florida, where do you escape to? It becomes a guessing game and you hope you guess right. People escaped from one place only instead to find themselves directly in the storm's path. It's folly to think the we will ever have hurricane forecasting down to an exact science.
Amazing! There was an evacuation order for mobile homes issued on Thursday afternoon and people chose to stay in them.
I live in Homestead and you're 100% correct. Mobile homes are ALWAYS under mandatory evacuation, even with the smallest storms. People don't always listen and stay.
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/huricane/history/whtexas.htm
Hurricane Celia, 1970: Hurricane Celia was one of the most destructive storms to ever hit Texas, with damages estimated at $1.6 billion (in 1990 dollars). Celia became a hurricane on August 1 in the Gulf of Mexlco and intensified rapidly in 15 hours before it crossed the coast north of Corpus Christi. As it moved over land, spectacular damage occurred from a "cluster of high energy winds of short duration," (also called downbursts or microbursts).
The extreme winds raked across the residential and business areas in less than half an hour. It was estimated that winds reached as high as 160 mph for several seconds. During those disastrous seconds, incredible damage occurred at the airport and an adjacent mobile home park which was completely demolished. Fortunately, only 11 died in the Corpus Christi area due to the state of preparedness by its disaster prevention agencies.
Let me tell you something: there are people reading these threads that are looking for any SHRED of information about their friends and family.
You have done nothing on this thread but whine; take it somewhere else.
And we promise not to get on the Colorado snow threads and criticize you all.
Give it a rest.
It's going to be bad, really bad.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.