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.
I will be praying for the people who are in dangers way. I will also be praying for the families of the deceased. Comfort for their hearts!
cyn, thank you for the ping
Blessings,
trussell
If you want on/off my prayer ping list, please let me know. All requests happily honored.
Nope. Luckily I am safe in Central Alabama.
My heart goes out to my neighbors in Florida who lost their homes and worse.
We can PRAY that most of these folks evacuated and not in contact (in cars).
But a sad reality may be some of the missing may be in the Gulf of Mexico or the Peace River or buried under shattered buildings.
God, will you please help the families of those who have loved ones that are missing.
I am praying, too.
I was wondering why can't foolish people be escorted out instead of giving them their deadly choice? So, President Bush will arrive tomorrow. Kerry's not going to come to Florida. He's been here enough already.
The brick and block buildings toppled too and lost their roof.
Reminded for Freepers that phones arent guaranteed during and after disasters....
Florida Power & Light reported that as of 7:30 p.m., 305,000 of its customers in Lee, Collier and Charlotte counties remain without power. The breakdown is 80,000 each in Collier and Charlotte and 145,000 in Lee.
Statewide, 536,000 FP&L customers are without power, down from 650,000 earlier in the day.
Thousands more customers with the Lee County Electric Co-op are dark as well.
Members of the Florida National Guard patrol a damaged neighborhood in Port Charlotte, Fla., Saturday afternoon Aug. 14, 2004. Hurricane Charley came ashore Friday afternoon leaving behind a path of destruction.
Why?
Please accept my apologies for my earlier post - my husband often tells me I blurt out things without always thinking them through. Fortunately, God doesn't withdraw His salvation everytime I say or do something foolish....I've already asked for His forgiveness and will be careful in the future when posting.
Your apology is very gracious.
I am sure it will be accepted in the spirit it was written in.
You're not the only FReeper who blurts things out, only to come back and apologize and retract. ;)
Arizonans living in forested areas have to contend with massive fires all too often. And it doesn't matter if they live in a conventional home or a mobile home - they will burn. Thankfully, few people lose their lives and usually have time to evacuate and save some of their precious items and pets.
Anyway, prayers for all.
Luckily my folks' home (built to last through weather like this in the 1920's) escaped any significant damage, but a 100 yr. old oak tree from their lawn fell on the neighbors' home.
I have family in Vero Beach, Florida. I called them yesterday morning to check on them. My cousin said that they had a lot of rain Friday, but no big wind and that they were all just fine.I have a friend that lives in Orlando, much closer to the Hurricane's path. I sent him an email early Saturday a.m. ("Yikes! Charley went right over ya'll") and finally got a reply back 2 hours ago:
TELL ME ABOUT IT
CHARLIE TOOK SOME SHINGLES OFF MY ROOF TOOK OUT SOME FENCE....I SPENT THE STORM CAMPED OUT IN MY WALKIN CLOSET .....WHEW
WHAT MESS......IM GLAD IM RETIRED.....
MY ADVICE IS TO LEAVE TOWN IF THIS EVER HAPPENS IN TEX. YIKES
DAVE
Nice Pic.........
PING back to #368.
Erica Austin removes her pet bird from her
home in Punta Gorda, where her father has
painted a stern warning against looters.
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush tries to comfort a
distraught woman whose Punta Gorda home
was severely damaged.
Her neighbors were not so lucky. One house's entire roof is gone, and the load-bearing walls on another are collapsed (along with the roof). Both are probably total losses, but the insurance adjuster hasn't shown up yet so we don't know for sure. The entire neighborhood is still without power, but everybody my sister knew already evacuated.
The bad news is that my sister's garage (not attached to the house) is totaled. Her Bentley and various deep freezers, lawnmowers, gardening tools, ATV, workbench, etc. are buried somewhere under the roof joists, planking, shingles, and a 40 x 50 foot chunk of her neighbor's roof. She thinks that when the debris is cleared, the car will be suitable only to ferry Herve Villechaize around in parades.
She solemnly assures me that all the damage is fully insured, and her Flying Cat Circus will be home in a couple of weeks instead of the multiple months I had feared. God does indeed answer prayer, and I've brought in a Maine Coon cat to keep order - even fashioned him a little police badge on his collar :)
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