Posted on 08/14/2004 1:42:49 AM PDT by kattracks
PUNTA GORDA, Fla. - The death toll from Hurricane Charley rose early Saturday, when a county official said there had a been "a number of fatalities" at a mobile home park and deputies were standing guard over stacks of bodies because the area was inaccessible to ambulances.Wayne Sallade, Charlotte County's director of emergency management, said early Saturday that there were "a number of fatalities" at the mobile home park, and that there were confirmed deaths in at least three other areas in the county.
The eye of the worst hurricane to hit Florida in a dozen years passed directly over Punta Gorda, a town of 15,000 which took a devastating hit Friday.
Hundreds of people were missing and more were left homeless, said Sallade, who compared the devastation to 1992's Hurricane Andrew, blamed for 43 deaths, most in South Florida.
"It's Andrew all over again," he said. "We believe there's significant loss of life."
Sallade did not have an estimate on a specific number of fatalities. He said it may take days to get a final toll.
Extensive damage was also reported on exclusive Captiva Island, a narrow strip of sand west of Fort Myers.
President Bush (news - web sites) declared a major disaster area in Florida, making federal money available to Charlotte, Lee, Manatee and Sarasota counties. One million customers were reported without power statewide, including all of Hardee County and Punta Gorda.
The Category 4 storm was stronger than expected when the eye reached the mainland at Charlotte Harbor, pummeling the coast with winds reaching 145 mph and a surge of sea water of 13 to 15 feet.
Charley was forecast to spread sustained winds of about 40 mph to 60 mph across inland portions of eastern North Carolina and to dump 3 to 6 inches of rain beginning Saturday morning, forecasters said. Gov. Mike Easley declared a state of emergency.
In South Carolina, roads clogged Friday night as tourists and residents of the state's Grand Strand — beaches and high-dollar homes and hotels — heeded a mandatory evacuation order. Gov. Mark Sanford had urged voluntary evacuation earlier Friday.
At Charlotte Regional Medical Center in Punta Gorda, 40 people sought treatment for storm injuries. The hospital was so badly damaged that patients were transferred to other hospitals.
"We can't keep patients here," CEO Josh Putter said. "Every roof is damaged, lots of water damage, half our windows are blown out."
Among those seeking treatment was Marty Rietveld, showered with broken glass when the sliding glass door at his home was smashed by a neighbor's roof that blew off. Rietveld broke his leg, and his future son-in-law suffered a punctured leg artery.
"We are moving," said Rietveld's daughter, Stephanie Rioux. "We are going out of state."
At least 20 patients with storm injuries were reported at a hospital in Fort Myers.
A crash on Interstate 75 in Sarasota County killed one person, and a wind gust caused a truck to collide with a car in Orange County, killing a young girl. A man who stepped outside his house to smoke a cigarette died when a banyan tree fell on him in Fort Myers, authorities said.
At the Charlotte County Airport, wind tore apart small planes, and one flew down the runway as if it were taking off. The storm spun a parked pickup truck 180 degrees, blew the windows out of a sheriff's deputy's car and ripped the roof off an 80-foot-by 100-foot building.
Martin said he saw homes ripped apart at two trailer parks.
"There were four or five overturned semi trucks — 18-wheelers — on the side of the road," he said.
In Desoto County outside Arcadia, several dead cows, wrapped in barbed wire, littered the roadside.
The hurricane rapidly gained strength in the Gulf of Mexico after crossing Cuba and swinging around the Florida Keys as a more moderate Category 2 storm Friday morning. An estimated 1.4 million people evacuated in anticipation of the strongest hurricane to strike Florida since Andrew in 1992.
Charley reached landfall at 3:45 p.m. EDT, when the eye passed over barrier islands off Fort Myers and Punta Gorda, some 110 miles southeast of the Tampa Bay area.
Charley hit the mainland 30 minutes later, with storm surge flooding of 10 to 15 feet, the hurricane center said. Nearly 1 million people live within 30 miles of the landfall.
The state put 5,000 National Guard soldiers and airmen on alert to help deal with the storm, but only 1,300 had been deployed by Friday night, a state emergency management spokeswoman said.
At a nursing center in Port Charlotte, Charley broke windows and ripped off portions of the roof, but none of the more than 100 residents or staff was injured, administrator Joyce Cuffe said.
"The doors were being sucked open," Cuffe said. "A lot of us were holding the doors, trying to keep them shut, using ropes, anything we could to hold the doors shut. There was such a vacuum, our ears and head were hurting."
At 2 a.m. EDT, the center of the storm was in the Atlantic Ocean, about 190 miles south-southwest of Charleston, S.C., and moving north-northeast at 25 mph. Forecasters expected Charley to increase in speed. Maximum sustained winds were near 85 mph with higher gusts.
The center was expected to approach the South Carolina coast Saturday morning. A hurricane warning remained in effect from Cocoa Beach, northward to Oregon Inlet, N.C., and a tropical storm warning was in effect on the North Carolina and Virginia Coasts north of Oregon Inlet to Chincoteague, including the lower Chesapeake Bay south of Smith Point.
Spared the worst of the storm was the Tampa Bay area, where about a million people had been told to leave their homes. Some drove east, only to find themselves in the path of the Charley.
"I feel like the biggest fool," said Robert Angel of Tarpon Springs, who sought safety in a motel. "I spent hundreds of dollars to be in the center of a hurricane. Our home is safe, but now I'm in danger."
The fourth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, Danielle, formed Friday but posed no immediate concern to land. The fifth may form as early as Saturday and threaten islands in the southeastern Caribbean Sea.
___
Associated Press writers Mark Long in Fort Myers, Ken Thomas in Key West, Mitch Stacy and Brendan Farrington in Tampa, Vickie Chachere in Sarasota, Mike Branom and Mike Schneider in Orlando and Bruce Smith in Charleston, S.C., contributed to this report.
Local report Arcadia: Bringing in the search dogs. WalMart distribution center destroyed. Thousands of buildings, both commercial and residential destroyed.
I meant the currant President Bush.
TIme for a little levity, what are Rita's Sources saying about the damage????
Well, how about estimating when TD5 will hit land and update us on where your brother plans to be. ;-)
Clear, Thanks.
"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 "
So true, we have to remember there are real people out there who are "adreniline junkies". They get a rush out of storm chasing. There was a segment I saw once on how many people are addicted to cable t.v.'s "The Weather Channel". There are vacation trips where Europeans come to America and go on storm chasing "tours" to see tornados! Too weird for my comprehension. Different strokes for different folks.
I remember, a real calm before. Something was different though, unnaturally calm. What marine do you use. I live 3 blocks from the Pilot House, mm99.5
Speaking of adrenaline jinkies.. How did Darwin Award Candidate NEWSBOY TODD make out. Last I heard his Van was being pelted with debris and he was watching the Holiday come apart in front of him, then his cell phone went out.
Your post is a little ambiguous. The governor of a state must call for help, which Jeb did early on. The elder Bush was hampered in declaring a Disaster area because the dem governor of Florida (his name escapes me) was very slow to ask for fed help after Hurricane Andrew. I feel the elder Bush was and continues to be unjustly blamed.
Was it the blonde chic?? .. I usually avoid watching her on the weekends .. she's too annoying
I work with a fellow whose wife if addicted to the Weather Channel. He's not complaining as it cured her of her previous addiction - the PTL channel - she sent them nearly everything he earned!
GWB did this yesterday.
Sometimes I think a cloud is hovering above me and tracking me.
"...there are real people out there who are 'adreniline junkies'. They get a rush out of storm chasing..."
Shoot if they wanted a thrill, they could have rode with me years ago when I drove a cab that used to be a police car. That wuz fun!
In Captiva, a typical cinderblock home “is” a multi-million dollar estate.
Those of us anxiously following the track yesterday were infuriated by the idiots reporting on location. We needed to see the track of the storm, not the foolish Hurricane Martyrs.
When I read about residents who didn't have the "sense to evacuate", I think of the old people who couldn't drive. It's hard enough for some old people to get someone to ride them to the doctor, let alone getting someone to evacuate them when everyone's trying to save their own skin.
My husband has been convinced I get hysterical about these things for years, but yesterday he was the one tying things down and saying, "I'm getting ready for the hurricane that isn't coming!"
See the comment with report and URL address behind the following. In the last report that I saw, it appeared that hurricane/tropical storm Charlie was heading north, toward the North Carolina-Virginia area. That report is almost two hours old at this time, I think.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1191393/posts?page=206#206
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