[GeronL]

OK, could be worse than we thought

[GeronL]

ping

[solzhenitsyn]

... deputies were standing guard over stacks of bodies because the area was inaccessible to ambulances.

Stacks of bodies? I doubt it.

[familyop]

Trailer park residents didn't have the sense to evacuate? I'm shocked, having once sat in a house through Hurricane Celia (160 mph sustained during the worst of it, gusts over 210 mph) and several tropical storms.

[dandelion]

God, have mercy

[Crazieman]

A description given for some coastal city (maybe Punta Gorda, not sure) on the Weather Channel was "Catastrophic damage"

[BunnySlippers]

"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."

Yikes! Sounds like a horror movie!

[7.62 x 51mm]

Sounds worse than they predicted.

[Crazieman]

FOX NEWS: HUNDREDS missing in Punta Gorda

[7.62 x 51mm]

It looks bad down there; switching between FNC and CNN coverages.

[7.62 x 51mm]

Is this hurricane or the accompanying tornado damage we're seeing on FNC and CNN?

[mystery-ak]

I fear my sister's home on Sanibel Island may have been destroyed...she and her hubby will try to fly down today....you can replace homes, Im praying for all of those who have lost family.

[RightWinger]

I'm in the Charleston, SC area. Only light rain and light winds now, it's supposed to come ashore above us.

Prayers for those in Florida.

[dep]

john zarella reports the sheriff at the trailer park has ordered 60 body baghs sent in.

[TomGuy]

It seems the forecasters had projected a different course---more northerly toward Tampa. Instead, the hurricane changed course eastward and hit an area that initially thought they would escape it.

FoxNews said there are at least 2 mobile home parks in the Punta Gorda area that were destroyed.

[PogySailor]

Our local Fox affiliate was just showing video of the damage to apartment complexes in Lake Wales. Roofs and sides of buildings blown away. I understand that parts of Hardee County look like a bomb went off.

These are inland areas. The damage in the Port Charlotte area must be horrific.

[Mercat]

I'm on a listserve which has several members from this part of Florida. None of them has checked back in. Prayers their way.

[dfwgator]

I spent a summer down in Punta Gorda back in the 80s, I can't even imagine the devastation that must have happened there.

[TomGuy]

FoxNews reported that the person who first made the "stacks of bodies" claim is now backing off that statement. There are casualties, but early reports may have been exaggerated.

[applpie]

My brother lives (I hope) in Charlotte Harbor about 150 feet from the harbor. These people were totally caught off guard by this. He was worried on Wednesday and decided they would take shelter in a local nursing home when the storm came. (but you can see that major buildings had huge damage) He took the most important momentos with him but they still had no idea it would be this bad. We haven't heard from him.

His whole mobile home park neighborhood was old folks. Alot of these old folks are not very mobile so he looks after them. That is probably why they stay...they have no family...no support system...I don't even know if the emergency managers will transport them if they don't have resources?

God Bless them.