Posted on 08/14/2004 12:41:23 PM PDT by Puntagorda
Here's a ground zero report from the Hurricane . . . from my observations as one who lives in the area that was hit.
Charley made a direct hit on Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte Florida.
These two cities sit at the mouth of Charlotte Harbor, and are separated by bridges that cross the Peace river which flows into the Gulf.
Neither city had been hit or threatened by a Hurricane in more than 75 years.
Hurricane Charley which was expected to hit Tampa, 120 miles north, unexpectantly veered into Charlotte Harbor, and followed the Peace River inland.
When Charley hit Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda it packed winds of 145 mph.
The downtown areas of both cities have been heavily damaged, with almost all businesses either being heavily damaged or destroyed. The closer the buildings were to the Peace River, the more the destruction.
Both hospitals heavily damaged. Seven Fire Stations heavily damaged. The Punta Gorda police station was destoyed. The Punta Gorda city hall was destroyed. Punta Gorda historic district was destroyed.
Almost every home in Punta Gorda Isles was heavily damaged (an upscale canal community on Charlotte Harbor).
Most mobile home communities were destroyed.
All radio stations off the air - towers down. The airport was destroyed (a small airport with no scheduled flights).
Thousands (maybe tens of thousands) of homes damaged - hundreds (maybe thousands) were totally destroyed.
Rescue workers are doing a door to door search to find the wounded.
Because local communication is down, including cell phone, no accurate numbers are available of who might be missing, or hurt, or who might be in rescue shelters, so door to door searches through the ruble are being conducted.
The lack of phone service, radio reporting, TV news, is causing major problems. And the downed trees and debris blocking roads, makes it difficult to move into the damaged areas - which include the main artery through town - Hiway 41 (also know as the Tamiami Trail).
Most local residents feared the storm surge most . . . the rising water. This is to expected since so many people live on canal front property.
But there was no storm surge. Charlotte Harbor averages 12 feet deep, so not much water in there in the first place. . . and much of it was blown out by the storm.
Almost all the damage was from the 145 mph winds.
The damaged area appears to be in a path about 15 miles wide - 30 miles long following the Peace river from Port Charlotte to Arcadia (30 miles inland).
The barrier Island communities of Sanibel, and Boca Grande suffered major damage.
Communities on the north side of the storm path were basically unaffected (other than the shock value of having a hurricane hit this area - first time in 75 years.)
Only minor damage to cities to the south - Fort Myers suffered some wind damage.
It will take years to rebuild Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda.
Many residents will discover that to rebuild to the now mandated Hurricane Building codes will cost much more than the insured value of their homes.
No one here expected the hurricane to hit, the forecasters kept telling us it was going to hit 120 miles north.
We were stunned when Charley was upgraded from a low category II to a dangerous category IV just hours before it hit.
Again this was the first time in 75 years that a Hurricane had even come close to this area. And many of the buildings built in the 60's and 70's simply could not stand the wind load.
FYI: Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda are (were?) ranked in the top ten fastest appreciating real estate markets in the US.
PuntaGorda
At that point, there's no place to run to, hence the advice to hunker down.
And yes, you're right, I fully expect my insurance to go up again.
We do live in a masonry home, meet codes, etc., but we also live in Pinellas county.
However, I have friends in the neighborhood whose houses are frame and last year they were having their policies cancelled at an alarming rate. You really have to scramble to find somebody to insure a frame house (I think they had to use the state's insurance fund.)
Like you said, now it'll only get worse.
No doubt on the replacement cost issue. Most older homes have ordinary windows. When you rebuild you have to use windows built to a standard developed after Hurricane Andrew. The difference in cost between the two is astronomical and not covered by most replacement insurance policies I've been told.
We will see.
From what I've heard Orlando fared pretty well.
They say that Polk and northwest Hillsborough got hit pretty hard.
A couple of towns I've heard that were hit hard besides the ones in south Florida were Arcadia and Bartow.
I hate to agree with sinky but he is right, the forecast was pretty good, clearly the entire coast knew a huricane was comming and EVERYONE knows that huricanes are unpredictable a slight change in track is not unusal, or predictable.
In fact, originally, they predicted the storm to make landfall between Fort Myers and Tampa, then on Thursday night and Friday all the models started converging on Tampa Bay.
Hey, anybody that's lived in Florida for any amount of time knows that hurricanes will do what they very well please to do.
Those folks in Punta Gorda were under the same evac rules as the folks in Tampa.
Only difference, they must have believed the predicted path was set in stone.
You're right! Even when we added an addition to our home, we had to upgrade every window in the house to meet the new code. We couldn't just put "code" windows in the addition, every window in the house had to be replaced including the garage window, LOL.
I sympathize with the loss of life, but not the loss of MOBILE HOMES at the water's edge of the Gulf. What are these people thinking? They played the Hurricane Lottery and won for 75 years, but eventually someone will LOSE. NO mobile or pre-fab homes should be allowed in hurricane country...and they certainly should not be repaid with taxpayer funds.
My rule of thumb is that, 36-24 hrs out where ever the pridicted land fall is, is the best place to be. They never go where they are predicted to go 36-24 hours out. And all us gulf coast residents know that too.
Here is a first hand article from the HIRT team while they were in the storm: Amazing read!
Anybody know where the street Malone Ave. is in Port Charlotte? Wew have an aunt and uncle and two cousins living on that street. Got a phone call through another cousin that they evacuated and are all right but probably lost their homes. They were modest homes.
I have been reading the info. on insurance with great interest. Aunt and uncle are retired; he from the steel mills in Granite city Illinois.
Thanks for any info.
And why should they, really? If the insured item is a house, you should be paid for the worth of that house, not the newer better one you would build if someone else was paying for it. Insurance policies can be written for anything you like.... but you have to understand that the insurance company is not a charity, it's a business. Trying to make money insuring homes in hurricane country is probably just as tough as trying to ensure people who continue to rebuild in flood plains.
Evacuation would have been difficult . . . there was Hurricane Bonnie to the North, Hurricane Charlie to the South.
Still, a million people evacuated . . . mostly to shelters as all the motel rooms within a 600 mile radius were booked.
Most shelters were full and turning people away 24 hours before the storm hit.
So, with a hurricane to your north, a hurricane to your south, no hotels available, and no shelters . . . do you risk getting caught on I-75 in a cat III hurricane?
And if you did manage to go inland to Arcadia, even Orlando, you would have still been hit.
Evacuation sounds good (and is recommended for those living in mobiles and along the coast), but just where to evacuate to?
That's the question that kept most people in their homes.
PuntaGorda
Oh my! I hope they turn their faces to God, but I fear they will not know the connection between supporting abortion and what has just happened. Only those who are already 'attuned' seem to know what this may signify.
Yes, but do you think they understand the connection?
Yes, but do you think they understand the connection?
Topher,
Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte have one of the oldest per capita populations in the US. Most of the people here are well into their sixties and seventies.
Most are long retired, and living the slow life in Florida.
Your abortion clinic connection does not exist for these two communities.
Get your facts straight
Well said! Hope the person takes note, and reflects upon its meaning, but I doubt it. Doesn't get it.
Well, Tampa Bay evacuated about a million folks. They started on Thursday afternoon.
First St. Pete evacuated, and then in Tampa at 6 AM on Friday they were told to evacuate.
My MIL was bused by her waterfront retirement home in St. Pete to a sister facility in Sarasota which was inland and well fortified (ironically she had more weather than we did, but it was a safe building, not on the water).
I can't see ANY reason for somebody to stay in a mobile home with a hurricane approaching.
If the shelters were full, then it's the county's fault for not opening more.
I've thought about and I don't believe in trying to outrun a storm by going in the same direction of the storm. If the shelters were full on Thursday, we probably would have headed inland, toward Okeechobee or Clewiston, and stayed in the car if necessary. You just can't stay on a barrier island or in a mobile home during a storm.
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