Posted on 08/17/2004 7:20:17 PM PDT by mneville
PUNTA GORDA, Fla. (AP) - About 790,000 people remained without power in Florida in the aftermath of Hurricane Charley, and officials estimated it could take weeks to get electricity fully restored. At least 150,000 were without local phone service. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge was to study the damage in the Ft. Myers area Tuesday.
Some 2,300 people stayed in shelters, and Federal Emergency Management Agency director Michael Brown said 11,000 have already applied for disaster aid. Federal officials received 20,000 catastrophic housing requests - 10,000 on Monday alone.
But amid the misery, there were small signs of progress back toward normality Tuesday.
At 7:45 a.m., the U.S. flag was raised at the main Post Office in Punta Gorda as 60 employees said the Pledge of Allegiance, cheered and applauded. Then, they went to work for the first time since Charley struck on Friday.
(AP) Michelle Delgado, left, and Victor Padilla, right, tape together boxes of donated items as they... Full Image
"We're back in business," declared Postmaster Doug Burns.
Elsewhere in Punta Gorda, municipal employees Norm Broussard and Trevor Day went to work putting back up stop signs and street signs. The city is concerned the lack of signs could contribute to traffic accidents, Broussard said.
"Most of them are bent so we dig them out, straighten them up and dig them back in again," Day said. Others, Broussard said, "we're going to have to replace."
Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte were among the hardest-hit areas Friday, and 25 of Florida's 67 counties were designated federal disaster areas. Officials estimate Charley caused as much as $11 billion in damage to insured homes alone.
Early Tuesday, state emergency management spokeswoman Tameeka Forbes said the death toll had been raised from 18 to 19, but no further details on the new reported death were immediately released. Earlier, Charley killed four people in Cuba and one in Jamaica.
(AP) Norm Bearer, one of several who rode out Hurricane Charley on Ft. Myers Beach, Fla., reads the... Full Image
No phone. No running water. No ice to fight the heat. No diapers for the baby and no gas to fill the tank. For thousands who've lost their homes and creature comforts to Hurricane Charley, this is reality.
"The hard part is not being able to bathe and not having food and water unless I go out and look for it," said Tami Wilson, 48, while waiting in line at a "comfort station" for ice and water while her blind husband, Dewaine, waited alone at home.
"I just want something to eat," house cleaner Willie Mae Robinson said as she waited for canned goods and ice with several dozen others at an old train depot in Bowling Green, where temperatures soared into the high 80s. "I have something for today but I don't have anything for tomorrow."
"After you live through it, you can't imagine how desperate you get," said Barbara Winslow, who was waiting in line for diapers, food, water and ice at National Guard comfort station. "You don't have anything. If the end of the world came tomorrow, this is what it would look like."
Brown said it could take several weeks to find all the victims, and officials still had no count Monday of how many people remained unaccounted for, a mission complicated by toppled power lines, spotty phone communication and roads littered with debris. However, early estimates of hundreds of people missing are probably inflated.
(AP) Members of the Florida National Guard distribute food, ice, and water to victims of Hurricane... Full Image
In Fort Myers, trucks carted away palm fronds and the twisted remnants of metal gutters. Near the city's beach, bulldozers plowed down streets covered with an inch-thick layer of sand that looked like snow.
In other areas, overturned RVs were the only thing that remained in some parking lots. People returned to what was left of their homes to find what looked more like a junkyard.
Gasoline was precious, with lines of 40 cars at some stations. Lines also snaked through parking lots at food distribution sites. Bottles of water and bags of ice took on vital importance.
Frustrations began to emerge on a typically muggy day as people complained about the lack of power and access to their neighborhoods. Tempers flared at a bridge crossing to Fort Myers Beach when officers used a stun gun to subdue a man in a minivan who wanted to enter the area still closed to residents, WINK-TV said.
Law enforcement officials in DeSoto County said Monday six people had been arrested in Arcadia on burglary charges for alleged looting. County spokesman Sgt. Jim Troiano said some homeowners had posted signs warning looters to stay away.
Nearly 4,400 National Guard troops have been activated and nearly 2,000 insurance adjusters were handling claims. The American Red Cross established eight mobile kitchens and five feeding centers capable of serving 9,000 meals a day.
The owners of a convenience store in Port Charlotte opened without power, despite damage to the building. Owner Imran Siddiqi was using his cell phone calculator to tally purchases for a steady stream of customers.
Jeff Fields, 42, of Port Charlotte, was smiling as he picked up a six-pack of beer and four packs of cigarettes.
"It helps with the cleanup," he said.
...It is all Bush's fault -- the hurricane, loss of power, destruction of property, ect
Rule 2: Shoot looters
If we had a more sensitive president it wouldn't have happened.
My dear Ms. Winslow, if the end of the world came there would be no National Guard comfort stations and you, most likely, would already have been murdered by marauding bandits. Get down on your knees and thank God that you live in the most prosperous, and generous nation on the face of the Earth. We exist on this planet only by temporary geologic and meteorologic dispensation through the grace of God.
If I sound insensitive, it's not due to inexperience with hurricanes. We were without power and running water for 12 days in 1983 after Hurricane Alicia passed over our community. Suck in your gut, square your shoulders, help your neighbors and be thankful you and your family are still alive to miss these conveniences of life.
That's a darn shame. Without power, those 800,000 people won't be able to turn on their TVs and see John Kerry's tireless efforts to relieve the hurricane victims by getting his hair cut in Oregon and going windsurfing.
Here's a novel concept John - if you really care, why not have Teresa peel off a few bucks and spring for a free case of Ketchup to give to the needy or something?
"If your brother calls you because his house was just swept away in a hurricane, you tell him HOPE IS ON THE WAY!!!"
As a survivor of almost every hurricane that's hit south Florida (and a few that clobbered me in New Orleans) in the last 50 years, I concur with your comments. People need to shut up, get to work and when their lives are back to what passes for normal these days, thank God for what they have...especially their lives.
A big corporate client says they are without power in Orlando, and expect a week to get power back. Why has this not been reported on the national news? It's all about the coast.
My oldest and dearest friend lives near Orlando and I haven't heard from him in days after sending him greetings and thanks for absorbing the brunt of the storm before its inevitable trip to the NC Coast.
The last thing I wrote was the clean-up is the worst part.
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