Official: Charley's Death Toll to Climb [Stacks Of Bodies at Mobile Home Park]

Yahoo News ^ | 8/14/04 | ALLEN G. BREED,

[commish]

LOL! Thanks. I perk up when Hurricanes approach. My brother lives in Ft. Walton, took a direct hit from Opal -- unvelievably his house was the only one on his street not damaged, although he did have someones 35 ft yacht in his front yard. We took more damage here in Montgomery from Opal, I had a tree land in my pool, lost almost half of my back yard fence, had roof damage, and had my porch awning peeled back.

Also, rode out Hurricane Elena in the VEQ at Keesler in 85.

[Rebelbase]

Re: landfall...I'm guessing Somewhere around Myrtle?...Wilmington would be the farthest north landfall.

[Mo1]

President Bush had better move fast to declare a disaster area and get federal assistance in place.

He already did

He was on the news earlier

[dixie sass]

I am only going by what I heard on the newscast and from talking to my uncle yesterday before they left the Indian Rock area.

[LBelle]

you don't know how relieved I am to hear that you don't have a cousin in Islamorada!

:-)

[walford]

I get so frustrated coming on threads like this and reading how stupid people were not to leave, how stupid families were for allowing their loved ones to stay, how stupid people are for living there to begin with.

There was only one post in this thread that characterized the people who stayed behind as 'stupid' and it was removed by an Admin Mod.

I came to this thread to find information, not the above. I only mentioned that the media made it seem this storm would take a much different path, and that may be why some people chose to stay.

Part of the information that is being offered here is that people should bear in mind that these storms have historically shown a propensity for unpredictably changing direction and should thus be prepared accordingly. See post #138. The weather forcasters are now predicting that the storm will be making a straight-line path along the coast toward Long Island. Given what these storms have done in the past, I would be very surprised if Charley did not take another unexpected diversion in course.

It has also been noted in this thread that people in the affected area were given mandatory evacuation orders and when interviewed said that they would not leave.

I just saw an interview on the Weather Channel of a woman shouting over the howling winds [with palm trees bending all around her] saying how much she loved the 'power' of the storm.

Some of us are also frustrated' by people who needlessly risk their lives -- and those of rescue personel -- when they deliberately choose to ignore explicit warnings of impending disaster. It is not fair to characterize such a point of view as callousness. Analyzing and learning from mistakes made by others is not blame; it is very useful information.

It almost seems that some are arguing that others in the future should not be expected to avoid making the same poor choices that cost these people their lives. Is that compassionate?

[Quilla]

My goodness! Give your daughter a hug for me and let her know that we're praying for her friend and all those in Punta Gorda.

[commish]

President Bush had better move fast to declare a disaster area and get federal assistance in place. His father was slow to move on after Andrew and it hurt his reelection.

Bush declared the entire area a Federal Disaster area within 2 hours of landfall, has opened up the Fed Coffers already and had FEMA official on thier way down last night. He has not made the same mistake his father did.

[solzhenitsyn]

And you're an expert in dealing with the aftermath of hurricanes I suppose.

Absolutely not. The specific claim I made was that the report of deputies "guarding stacks of bodies" sounded like an exaggeration, and when asked, I explained why I thought so. I still suspect it was an exaggeration, no matter how often it's been repeated in the news.

Time will tell.

If the report was exaggerated, I wish they hadn't done that. Hard to see how it could have been comforting to people worried about their loved ones.

[Kackikat]

I was in Tampa, FL in fall 1968 in a terrible hurricane..don't remember the name of it, I remember sweeping water through first floor and palm tree in front yard being ripped up by roots...I left shortly after Hurricane deciding I would never live in Florida again...I was only there four months...but I was in a brick building. That was enough for me.

I don't like having to pack up and evacuate....I don't live in Midwest because of tornadoes and twisters...but now we are getting those things here on rare occasions.

Prayers for those who lost family, homes, possessions. Hope everyone hears from relatives and friends today and Florida recuperates fast.

[BobS]

It is best to get away from structures and lay flat to the ground. Yes, you will get filthy and wet, but you will survive. I survived a tornado in Kansas that way. Baseball-sized hail beating my body up several times/sec. Anything over~8" high got picked up and thrown around. I had a headache from the rapid decompression, even though I had fingers in my ears.

The hard part only lasts a few minutes, then it's all over.

[SunnySide]

" You just hit on one of the biggest reasons why people will not evacuate and go to a shelter. Their animals. There are no shelters that will allow a person to take their pets, and many people, especially the elderly, will not leave them behind. "

Unfortunetly that is true because there is no where or no way for the animals to relieve themselves over long hours stuck inside shelters. During tornado threat when my family had to go into a storm bunker we made sure our outdoor dogs were not tied up so they could gage for themselves where to run. It's all we could do, they always came out unharmed. Just like some farmers cut their animals loose. Sometimes animals natural extincts for survival are better than ours.

[Law is not justice but process]

Remember that guy named Harry Truman who refused to evacuate from Spirit Lake when he was warned Mount St. Helens was about to blow up? That sort of "I will go down with the ship" attitude was common among older people in Charleston before Hugo. I guess if you live on your property for 30 or 40 years and you get quite attached (I would ride out anything up to a Category 3 myself - a 4 or 5 and I'm out of here).

Most of those people evacuate on every warning now. They survived Hugo and learned a lesson they won't forget. I hope none of those unfortunate people in the trailer park died because they had never learned that lesson. I have to say I think not, as I cannot imagine anyone being that emotionally attached to a trailer park.

I fear they may have decided "I will ride out a Category 3 hitting Tampa, 75 miles away." People hate to leave their homes and it is even harder when your mobility is limited or if you have belongings or pets you refuse to leave behind. You will take quite a risk before going through the trauma of evacuation. Sadly, by the time they knew it was a Category 4 hitting them head on, it may have been too late.

[tutstar]

Florida has the largest elder population of any state and I think the largest pop of those over 86.

[Rome2000]

EMERGENCY NOTICES:
- Lee Memorial Health Systems says its emergency department and intensive care unit needs physicians at all three hospitals. If you can help, call the command center at 334-5098.

- Area hospitals are being flooded with patients who have sustained very minor injuries, and some with non-emergency conditions. These individuals need to wait until physician offices or urgent care centers are open. Please do not come to area hospital emergency departments if your condition is not a true emergency.

Charlotte death toll rising
The death toll from Hurricane Charley is rising this morning. Charlotte County Director of Emergency Management Wayne Sallade says there are "a number of fatalities" at a mobile home park in Punta Gorda where residents ignored evacuation orders. Sallade says deputies were standing guard over bodies because the area was inaccessible to ambulances.
Sallade says hundreds of people are missing in Charlotte County and thousands were left homeless. He didn't have an estimate of the number of fatalities and says it might take days to get a final toll.

Charlotte County officials say they have found bodies in four areas of the county. No one is releasing any numbers yet on the dead.

Curfews
Fort Myers and Cape Coral have instituted curfews from 11 pm Friday to 7 am Saturday for the safety of residents and clean-up crews. Collier County's curfew is in effect from 11 pm Friday to 6 am Saturday.

[kattracks]

'Many' Fatalities Expected from Charley in Florida

PUNTA GORDA, Fla. (Reuters) - Rescuers expect to find "many" fatalities after mobile home parks were devastated by Hurricane Charley's rampage over southwest Florida, a local official said on Saturday.

Bob Carpenter, a spokesman for the Charlotte County emergency management office, said it was too early to know how many people were killed by Charley, which slammed ashore on Friday afternoon.

"We just won't know until we can get in there (to the mobile home parks). Obviously we expect to have many (fatalities)," he said.

[dixie sass]

It sure did. I rode it out by myself with just the company of three cats. The scariest part was Civil Defense announcing that this is not a test ect...

[not_apathetic_anymore]

I think he's already delcared it a disaster area. One online feed I was listening to last night said something about the declaration happened before the wind stopped blowing. Hopefully needed manpower and supplies will be just as efficient in arriving.

[Jim Noble]

The sad thing is that some fool will try to blame Jeb Bush for this.

Actually, it was Cheney...

[Rebelbase]

Upper Captiva: 160 Homes destroyed. 160 Homes damaged.