The eye passed directly over Punta Gorda, a city of 15,000 on Charlotte Harbor. At the county airport, wind tore apart small planes, and one flew down the runway as if it were taking off. The storm spun a parked pickup truck 180 degrees, blew the windows out of a sheriff’s deputy’s car and ripped the roof off an 80- by 100-foot building.
In DeSoto County outside Arcadia, several dead cows, wrapped in barbed wire, littered the roadside.
re: #1662
Is there any news from the little area of land SW of Punta Gorda?
After pouring through a bit of data, I am pretty sure the storm was cat 5 over that region.
Thank you everyone for all your prayers and kind words along the way - it made a very tense day a lot easier to manage.
I'm going to go home, drag my sleeping wife off the couch and get her to bed (just like I do every night), then I'm going to check on my beautiful kids, pet our four kittys and then treat myself to a nice, cold beer ... oh, yeah, and say a few thanks to the Good Lord for sparing us.