Pierre Ducharme/Reuters
Mobile home park in Florida, in Punta Gorda, was devastated as Hurricane Charley swept through the state. At least 10 people were killed
Posted on 08/14/2004 3:20:38 PM PDT by bikepacker67
PUNTA GORDA, Fla. - When Cindy Vallier returned home Saturday after Hurricane Charley, the bodies of the old couple across the road were lying in her front yard, covered in blankets. Staring at the old man's black wheelchair and twisted walker wedged under her husband's upturned truck, Vallier wonders how she can bear to move back to Crystal Lake mobile home park.
"Every time I walk down here, there's two dead people in my driveway," she said, envisioning the memory that will haunt her. She surveyed the twisted wreckage engulfing her home. It's what is left of her dead neighbors' doublewide trailer.
Crystal Lake, like much of Punta Gorda, is a scene of utter devastation. But like so many in this blessed and cursed part of Florida, Vallier knows she has no choice but to start again where she was.
"That was our home, that was our rental, that was our work truck," the 53-year-old disabled cleaning woman said, ticking off her list of ruined possessions. "That's all we got. I gotta move back here."
Vallier's neighbors were among 10 known deaths in this Charlotte County town nestled along the Gulf of Mexico. The victims' names were not immediately being released.
Vallier said the dead couple's grown son was thrown from the wreckage and was injured. He was found inside a closet of the trailer next door.
Charley's eye came right through Charlotte Harbor Friday afternoon, packing winds of up to 145 mph.
Dane Gomez, 28, was renting his parents' old trailer in the Baileyville neighborhood of Punta Gorda. This little uninsured mobile home was his first taste of real independence.
"I called it home sweet home," Gomez said as he combed the rubble in vain for his 3-year-old cat, Oscar. "I don't know why God intended for this to happen. It's not right. It's not fair. How do you get back what you lost?"
Many of those left homeless by Charley were retirees who came to Florida after a lifetime of sweat and toil. They awoke Saturday to find that their toil had only just begun.
Barbara Seaman stood in the wreckage of the clubhouse at the Windmill Village trailer park and gaped.
"This was so pretty," she said, standing by a marina choked with pontoons and pleasure boats.
The 69-year-old retired florist and her companion, Rudy Ricci, 78, returned Saturday to find most of their roof gone and their trailer twisted so badly the doors would not open. As they arrived, a great blue heron landed in the back yard - waiting for his usual snack of turkey hot dogs.
"Where do we go now?" Seaman asked. "What do we do?"
Off Florida Street, Karen Hull walked through a home littered with decapitated plaster figurines. She and her husband, Ed, had added a living room, a screen porch and a carport to their singlewide trailer in the three years they had lived there.
Now, they are back to square one.
"You know, what's here is the old home," Hull, 50, said with a rueful grin. "It was a nice place."
Her husband, Ed, stood nearby wearing a sweat-soaked T-shirt with the inscription: "Life is full of important choices."
It may be weeks before people in Punta Gorda get their power and water back. It will be much longer before they feel at home again.
Back at Crystal Lake, Vallier recalled the neighbors she lost.
She had cleaned home for the old woman many years ago, and she remembered the lady always tipped her. Vallier's husband, Clint Comstock, would sometimes help the old man, who was crippled with diabetes.
Vallier said the elderly couple had moved away from Punta Gorda to be closer to family. But they moved back about four months ago, because this was where the old man wanted to die.
"He got his wish," she said darkly.
Vallier's husband, who owns a tree-removal company, was too busy for sorrow.
He worked in the blistering sun to move what he could salvage into the only room of his house that survived - the bedroom. Scattered across the floor were programs from his father's memorial service in 1996.
The verse inside was oddly appropriate:
"God hath not promised
"Skies always blue ....
"God hath not promised
"Sun without rain,
"Joy without sorrow,
"Peace without pain."
He plans to rebuild on the same spot. And, unlike his wife, he doesn't think he'll be haunted.
"Life goes on," he said. "You've just got to get on with it, that's all."
At least some consideration should be given to where they are allowed to be erected.
Neither.
Just tired of the same old same old, that shows up on every single thread, these days. It adds nada to the discussion - just clutters up the thread.
Everybody here knows that the usual suspects will blame W; Little Tommy will be deeply saddened; and The Swimmer will know that it is five o'clock, somewhere.
It's been done to death. And, that is all I have to say about that.
With that attitude of your's toward Bush and your fellow freepers, it would be very interesting just to hear why you are here.
Reelecting President Bush and giving him a filabuster proof congress Congress, is essential for the survival of America at this time. If you can't see that, you need a new Optomotrist.
This was a local interview.A woman was there looking for her Mother to see if she was still alive.She was at her trailer and she was not there.She said she was leaving to search at the shelter and then go to were they were guarding the bodies.I missed the first part of the spot.
Pierre Ducharme/Reuters
Mobile home park in Florida, in Punta Gorda, was devastated as Hurricane Charley swept through the state. At least 10 people were killed
We do what we can. We aren't totally happy with the limited effect we have upon correcting the evils dejure either.
If you have ideas on how we may gain more power over the lying liberal media, and expose the scam artists within the Dim. party hiarchy-share them with us.
Not to seem hard hearted about the devastation that occurred but this person really needs to get a grip. The rest of the world faces death a lot more often that we do. Be an American and stay the course.
I'd like to know the ratio of those tied-down vs those not tied-dwn and the results after the hurricane. Tieing them down was grandfathered a few years back allowing for some to not be tied down.
I live in a trailer and do not live in a hurricane or tornado area, but I still wouldn't think of living in one without tieing it down.
Why ban them? As long as you get out when a hurricane or tornado comes, you can live just fine in a mobile home --- and say you had bought a $30,000 mobile home and it's totally destroyed -- a $1,000,000 mansion could easily have $30,000 damage done to it from a hurricane.
Maybe Vallier feels guilty for not thinking to help the elderly couple move to a safer location and now came back and saw them laying there dead.
This suggests to me that damages will be significantly less than had the storm continued on it's prior course to the Tampa Bay area.
Not to seem hard hearted about the devastation that occurred but this person really needs to get a grip. The rest of the world faces death a lot more often that we do. Be an American and stay the course.
Don't worry, her Hubby's doing that... she's just in shock, and understandably.
He plans to rebuild on the same spot. And, unlike his wife, he doesn't think he'll be haunted. "Life goes on," he said. "You've just got to get on with it, that's all."
Are you series?
I disagree on both counts. Hundreds of thousands of people live in mobile homes without ill effect, and they're able to live in a great home at an affordable price. Ban them, and you've created severe hardship for way, way too many people and further screwed up an already screwed up housing market. As for cherry-picking where they're allowed to be erected, Florida's mild climate makes it an idea place for mobile homes. Let people be responsible for their own decisions -- they don't need Big Brother telling them where and how they can live in mobile homes.
It could be hugh.
I agree with most of your remarks, but putting these these things near the coast is just plain stupid, imo.
LOL!
It's a shame these poor folks had to expire. I guess they had that liberal mentality, do nothing and you will be ok. I fail to understand why the authorities didn't evacuate these people? More than likely they refused to evacuate and this ensured their demise. I know it was Bush's fault.
"why the authorities didn't evacuate these people?"
I've heard some evacuations were 'mandatory' but I don't know what this means. I don't think anyone is arrested for refusing; one reason being the police don't have time. The other problem is when people choose to evacuate, they expect help with their property. I'm a volunteer fireman, and often too much is expected when thousands or hundreds of thousands are at risk and you're dealing in minutes, like a wildfire situation. Logistically, just communicating the danger is often all you can do.
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