Posted on 08/14/2004 1:42:49 AM PDT by kattracks
PUNTA GORDA, Fla. - The death toll from Hurricane Charley rose early Saturday, when a county official said there had a been "a number of fatalities" at a mobile home park and deputies were standing guard over stacks of bodies because the area was inaccessible to ambulances.Wayne Sallade, Charlotte County's director of emergency management, said early Saturday that there were "a number of fatalities" at the mobile home park, and that there were confirmed deaths in at least three other areas in the county.
The eye of the worst hurricane to hit Florida in a dozen years passed directly over Punta Gorda, a town of 15,000 which took a devastating hit Friday.
Hundreds of people were missing and more were left homeless, said Sallade, who compared the devastation to 1992's Hurricane Andrew, blamed for 43 deaths, most in South Florida.
"It's Andrew all over again," he said. "We believe there's significant loss of life."
Sallade did not have an estimate on a specific number of fatalities. He said it may take days to get a final toll.
Extensive damage was also reported on exclusive Captiva Island, a narrow strip of sand west of Fort Myers.
President Bush (news - web sites) declared a major disaster area in Florida, making federal money available to Charlotte, Lee, Manatee and Sarasota counties. One million customers were reported without power statewide, including all of Hardee County and Punta Gorda.
The Category 4 storm was stronger than expected when the eye reached the mainland at Charlotte Harbor, pummeling the coast with winds reaching 145 mph and a surge of sea water of 13 to 15 feet.
Charley was forecast to spread sustained winds of about 40 mph to 60 mph across inland portions of eastern North Carolina and to dump 3 to 6 inches of rain beginning Saturday morning, forecasters said. Gov. Mike Easley declared a state of emergency.
In South Carolina, roads clogged Friday night as tourists and residents of the state's Grand Strand — beaches and high-dollar homes and hotels — heeded a mandatory evacuation order. Gov. Mark Sanford had urged voluntary evacuation earlier Friday.
At Charlotte Regional Medical Center in Punta Gorda, 40 people sought treatment for storm injuries. The hospital was so badly damaged that patients were transferred to other hospitals.
"We can't keep patients here," CEO Josh Putter said. "Every roof is damaged, lots of water damage, half our windows are blown out."
Among those seeking treatment was Marty Rietveld, showered with broken glass when the sliding glass door at his home was smashed by a neighbor's roof that blew off. Rietveld broke his leg, and his future son-in-law suffered a punctured leg artery.
"We are moving," said Rietveld's daughter, Stephanie Rioux. "We are going out of state."
At least 20 patients with storm injuries were reported at a hospital in Fort Myers.
A crash on Interstate 75 in Sarasota County killed one person, and a wind gust caused a truck to collide with a car in Orange County, killing a young girl. A man who stepped outside his house to smoke a cigarette died when a banyan tree fell on him in Fort Myers, authorities said.
At the Charlotte 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-foot-by 100-foot building.
Martin said he saw homes ripped apart at two trailer parks.
"There were four or five overturned semi trucks — 18-wheelers — on the side of the road," he said.
In Desoto County outside Arcadia, several dead cows, wrapped in barbed wire, littered the roadside.
The hurricane rapidly gained strength in the Gulf of Mexico after crossing Cuba and swinging around the Florida Keys as a more moderate Category 2 storm Friday morning. An estimated 1.4 million people evacuated in anticipation of the strongest hurricane to strike Florida since Andrew in 1992.
Charley reached landfall at 3:45 p.m. EDT, when the eye passed over barrier islands off Fort Myers and Punta Gorda, some 110 miles southeast of the Tampa Bay area.
Charley hit the mainland 30 minutes later, with storm surge flooding of 10 to 15 feet, the hurricane center said. Nearly 1 million people live within 30 miles of the landfall.
The state put 5,000 National Guard soldiers and airmen on alert to help deal with the storm, but only 1,300 had been deployed by Friday night, a state emergency management spokeswoman said.
At a nursing center in Port Charlotte, Charley broke windows and ripped off portions of the roof, but none of the more than 100 residents or staff was injured, administrator Joyce Cuffe said.
"The doors were being sucked open," Cuffe said. "A lot of us were holding the doors, trying to keep them shut, using ropes, anything we could to hold the doors shut. There was such a vacuum, our ears and head were hurting."
At 2 a.m. EDT, the center of the storm was in the Atlantic Ocean, about 190 miles south-southwest of Charleston, S.C., and moving north-northeast at 25 mph. Forecasters expected Charley to increase in speed. Maximum sustained winds were near 85 mph with higher gusts.
The center was expected to approach the South Carolina coast Saturday morning. A hurricane warning remained in effect from Cocoa Beach, northward to Oregon Inlet, N.C., and a tropical storm warning was in effect on the North Carolina and Virginia Coasts north of Oregon Inlet to Chincoteague, including the lower Chesapeake Bay south of Smith Point.
Spared the worst of the storm was the Tampa Bay area, where about a million people had been told to leave their homes. Some drove east, only to find themselves in the path of the Charley.
"I feel like the biggest fool," said Robert Angel of Tarpon Springs, who sought safety in a motel. "I spent hundreds of dollars to be in the center of a hurricane. Our home is safe, but now I'm in danger."
The fourth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, Danielle, formed Friday but posed no immediate concern to land. The fifth may form as early as Saturday and threaten islands in the southeastern Caribbean Sea.
___
Associated Press writers Mark Long in Fort Myers, Ken Thomas in Key West, Mitch Stacy and Brendan Farrington in Tampa, Vickie Chachere in Sarasota, Mike Branom and Mike Schneider in Orlando and Bruce Smith in Charleston, S.C., contributed to this report.
I was on Captiva just a few weeks ago on vacation, and marveled at the fact that, on either side of the road one saw nothing but multi-million dollar estates.
These "160 homes" we keep hearing about were not your typical cinderblock homes!
Oh you know the lawyers are already falling over themselves to find people to sue for this.
I tied it up real good and put out some fenders but I was just kidding myself about it being safe if we had a direct hit.
Well, theres always next week.
My father was an Insurance adjuster specializing Maritime insurance. He was usually the first called by his company to these sites.
I almost left Thursday morning to go to Palm Coast (just north of Daytona). When I saw that the 18 mile stretch was closed for a wreck, plus looked at the updated forecast, I decided it was more dangerous to try to leave than to stay. We had a good illustration of what can go wrong with the stretch being closed and if the storm coming across the Atlantic looks ugly later in the week, the baby and I are definitely going to see Grandma!
Here's a report that's over an hour old. ...looking for anything newer.
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refresh/MIATCPAT3+shtml/141203.shtml?
000
WTNT33 KNHC 141203
TCPAT3
BULLETIN
HURRICANE CHARLEY INTERMEDIATE ADVISORY NUMBER 21A
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL
8 AM EDT SAT AUG 14 2004
...CHARLEY NEARS SOUTH CAROLINA COAST...
A HURRICANE WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM NORTH OF ALTAMAHA SOUND
GEORGIA TO THE NORTH CAROLINA/VIRGINIA STATE LINE INCLUDING THE
PAMLICO AND ALBEMARLE SOUNDS.
A TROPICAL STORM WARNING IS IN EFFECT FROM THE NORTH
CAROLINA/VIRGINIA STATE LINE TO SANDY HOOK NEW JERSEY INCLUDING ALL
OF THE TIDAL POTOMAC...CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS.
A TROPICAL STORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT FROM NORTH OF SANDY HOOK TO THE
MERRIMACK RIVER INCLUDING NEW YORK HARBOR AND LONG ISLAND SOUND.
AT 8 AM EDT...1200Z...THE CENTER OF HURRICANE CHARLEY WAS LOCATED
NEAR LATITUDE 32.3 NORTH...LONGITUDE 79.7 WEST OR ABOUT 35 MILES
SOUTH-SOUTHEAST OF CHARLESTON SOUTH CAROLINA.
CHARLEY IS MOVING TOWARD THE NORTH-NORTHEAST NEAR 28 MPH. THIS
MOTION IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE WITH AN INCREASE IN FORWARD SPEED
DURING THE NEXT 24 HOURS. ON THIS TRACK...CHARLEY WILL MOVE ACROSS
THE MID-ATLANTIC COASTAL STATES TODAY.
MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 85 MPH WITH HIGHER GUSTS MAINLY TO
THE EAST OF THE CENTER.
HURRICANE FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 60 MILES FROM THE
CENTER...AND TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 115
MILES MAINLY TO THE EAST OF THE CENTER.
MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE REPORTED BY AN RECONNAISSANCE PLANE WAS
993 MB...29.32 INCHES.
STORM SURGE FLOODING OF 6 TO 8 FT IS EXPECTED ALONG PORTIONS OF THE
SOUTH AND NORTH CAROLINA COASTS NEAR AND TO THE EAST OF WHERE THE
CENTER OF CHARLEY CROSSES THE COAST. STORM SURGE FLOODING OF 3 TO
5 FEET IS EXPECTED IN THE REMAINDER OF THE HURRICANE WARNING AREA.
RAINFALL TOTALS OF 3 TO 6 INCHES ARE LIKELY ALONG THE PATH OF
CHARLEY ACROSS PORTIONS OF THE EASTERN UNITED STATES. THESE RAINS
COULD CAUSE LIFE-THREATENING FLASH FLOODS.
ISOLATED TORNADOES ARE POSSIBLE OVER PORTIONS OF COASTAL SOUTH AND
NORTH CAROLINA.
REPEATING THE 8 AM EDT POSITION...32.3 N... 79.7 W. MOVEMENT
TOWARD...NORTH-NORTHEAST NEAR 28 MPH. MAXIMUM SUSTAINED
WINDS... 85 MPH. MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE... 993 MB.
FOR STORM INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOUR AREA...PLEASE MONITOR
PRODUCTS ISSUED BY YOUR LOCAL WEATHER OFFICE.
THE NEXT ADVISORY WILL BE ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER AT
11 AM EDT.
FORECASTER AVILA/LAWRENCE
I heard there were gusts to 173 haven't been up long, just trying to catch up now. I agree when the storm hits land how in the world could you tell the difference.
Airport: Lots of planes flipped over, landing gears damaged.
Some collapsed buildings in downtown Punta Gorda. Debris all over the streets.
Sanibel Island on curfew between 7:00pm-7:00am.
I was surprised at how far behind NHC was yesterday.
How Stupid is this. Going outside to have a SMOKE in a hurricane. I feel sorry for this guys loved ones, but I can't feel any pity for someone this idiotic.
THat said, I do hope everyone who has friends and family they are waiting to hear from gets good news back. MY best friends Parents live between Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte right on the harbor. They livedin a mobile Home Park there and evacuated Friday Morning inland to a friends house. They have checked in this morning and are fine, but have no doubts thier Home is gone as it was within a couple miles of the Mobile Home park that the news is talking about.
MY parents live in a Motor Home in Okeechobee. They are currently with my Cousin in Stuart and are fine, but they have no idea yet what they will find when they return home. While thier home was about 70-80 miles inland from Fort Myers, they do know the power is out and that there are reports of wind and tornado damage in the neighborhood they live in.
Finally, My aunt & Uncle live in Daytona right on 95, about 2 miles from the speedway. They are without power and we have not been able to reach them on thier cell. We are hoping thier home did not take any or much damage as the storm passed through there.
I'm reserving my pity for myself and my cat - I'm going to be getting new houseguests (sis and her traveling menagerie) for a month or two until her place is back up to snuff :)
Mark for later reading.
Again, thanks for making this a positive thread.
any other friend or relatives in Florida? I want to stay away from them, since you seem to been a weather jinx! :-)
Seriously, I am glad that your loved ones are ok. The family in Daytona will be fine. There isn't much structural damage that way, but few people have power.
Great news!
It's incredibly cold hearted that anyone would imply they 'got what they deserved' I hope that noone does that here. You rely on what the weather experts tell you and decisions made by those in authority in the state. Our forecasters have become very accurate but they still can't know 100% if a storm will turn or how it will act.
President Bush had better move fast to declare a disaster area and get federal assistance in place. His father was slow to move on after Andrew and it hurt his reelection.
You called it. People need to take responsibility for their own lives. This will sound cold but there's no way I would've allowed my elderly granny to spend sit in her trailer during a hurricaine. I would've forcibly carried her out, put her in a car and gotten out. The sad thing is that some fool will try to blame Jeb Bush for this.
Yes, it is. She is much tougher than I am and she'll do OK. She's worried about her vintage Bentley (it was in the garage), but that's a thing and not a life and it can be repaired. (I know - I helped with the restoration work on it when she bought it in 1990).
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