Steve called about 9 a.m. to relate he had 100 mph winds there and was without power - 2 storm shutters had blown off. Has a battery-operated TV set, though, to get some news.
Said Kevin had just called him - no power - no TV - but has a generator.
Steve called again at 1 p.m. to say he STILL was under siege with 90 mph winds...even worse - it lifted part of the roof, and water was pouring in and through the walls and saturating the carpeted areas.
He and Sandy had retreated to a safe part of the house, but with no power fora/c, mold and mildew will quickly entrench. She is asthmatic and very sensitive to it.
This is a beautiful almost new house in an exclusive area - finally, their dream home. It can be a VERY LONG time before the insurance adjuster gets to them - and with hundreds of thousands of others hiring the contractors to do the repairs (in addition to NEW construction!), it is a grim picture.
There still are homes not yet fixed from LAST YEAR'S hurricanes in Florida!
It also blew down part of the tall wooden fence around the back yard for their adopted greyhound, installed just one week ago.
The house across the street from them had their entire roof torn off...
I tried to call Kevin's cell phone number, but got a recording, so I don't yet know his damage there.
Actually, Kevin in the eye of the storm had some intervals of relief as it went through, with calm open areas between bands.
Steve at the top of the worst of Wilma has had sustained high winds without any let up.
Am getting ready for another out of town trek tomorrow...might not post again until late afternoon or evening then.
Suicide bombings down, but far from over, in Iraq
BAGHDAD, IRAQ - It wasn’t on the scale of past attacks that killed dozens of people. But when a suicide bomber plowed his explosives-laden car into police in Baghdad, killing four people, it was a sign that insurgents are still working to wreak devastation in the capital.
Violence swelled elsewhere as well. A police colonel stepped into his car in Kirkuk with his two sons, headed to work in the morning, and a bomb went off, killing the three of them and two young girls in a car nearby. In all more than 20 Iraqis were killed in shootings and bomb blasts Sunday.
Still, with the toll among American service members in the Iraq war approaching 2,000 dead, the U.S. military said it has hampered insurgents’ ability to unleash more suicide bombings with a series of offensives this month in towns along the Euphrates River in western Iraq that disrupted militant preparations for attacks.
"We have interrupted the flow of the suicide missions into the large urban areas. Certainly, we have had success denying free movement of car bombs into Baghdad," Brig. Gen. Donald Alston told reporters in the capital.
"It is also a function of Iraqi citizens who have come forward and with their support we have found car bomb factories. We have found a series of large weapon caches," he said.
In Sunday’s attack, the bomber plowed his explosives-laden car into two police vehicles in downtown Tahrir Square at 11:30 a.m., killing two police officers and two civilians. U.S. troops swept into the scene in Humvees as a crowd of bystanders gathered around the smoking wreckage, tending to the 11 wounded.
In the past, Baghdad has been heavily battered by deadly suicide attacks, with a string of them killing nearly 700 people from April 1 to early September.
But amid an intensified security clampdown, suicide car bombings have been greatly reduced in recent weeks, and those that have occurred have caused fewer casualties. Across the country, they have fallen since the Oct. 15 referendum on a new constitution.
Sunday’s attack was the deadliest suicide attack in the capital since a Sept. 26 attack killed seven people near the Oil Ministry.
Roadside bombs hit three separate U.S. convoys in Baghdad on Sunday morning, wounding a total of five soldiers, a military spokesman, U.S. Sgt. 1st Class David Abrams, said.
The violence came after a week in which 23 U.S. troops were reported killed.
A suicide car bomber rammed into a U.S. military convoy Sunday morning in the northern oil-rich city of Kirkuk, killing two civilians and wounding 13.
Am glad that your family is alright and sorry to hear about the property damage.Your son will need to have the carpet removed as soon as possible even if they have to do it themselves.
The carpet padding can cause a mold that could ruin the whole house and everything in it.
Like I offered Lonestar, if they are really having problems getting things fixed I can always go there and fix it for them.
Winter is coming quickly here and if I don't win the election I'll be free to travel. Let me know Maggie.
My brother lives outside Orlando.