Hurricane Charley: Aftermath: Major damage and loss of life.

[mikegeukes]

Hurricane Charley: Aftermath
Some newspaper links to Charley

ASSOCIATED PRESS:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/H/HUR...ER&SECTION=HOME (http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/H/HURRICANE_CHARLEY?SITE=TXKER&SECTION=HOME)

REUTERS
http://www.reuters.com/

UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
http://www.upi.com/

FLORIDA NEWSPAPERS:
http://www.news-press.com/index.html -Fort Myers
http://jacksonville.com/ -Jacksonville
http://www.keywestcitizen.com -Key West
http://www.floridatoday.com/!NEWSROOM/index.htm -Melbourne
http://www.naplesnews.com/ -Naples
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/ -Orlando
http://www.sun-herald.com -Port Charlotte
http://www.newscoast.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage -Sarasota
http://www.sptimes.com/ -St Petersburg
http://www.tampatrib.com/ -Tampa

I will add some other links to tv stations later on

Mike

[mikegeukes]

Hurricane Charley: Aftermath
Some links to local tv stations, national networks and local NWS offices.

LOCAL TV STATIONS:
Ft Myers:
http://www.nbc-2.com/ -Ft. Myers: WBBH Ch. 20
http://admin.winktv.com/public/ -Ft. Myers: WINK Ch. 11

Tampa
http://www.wtsp.com/ -St. Petersburg: WTSP Ch. 10
http://www.wfla.com/ -Tampa: WFLA Ch. 8
http://www.wfts.com/ -Tampa: WFTS Ch. 28
http://www.wtvt.com/ -Tampa: WTVT Ch. 13

NATIONAL NETWORKS:
http://abcnews.go.com/ -ABC
http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/home/main100.shtml -CBS
http://www.cnn.com/ -CNN
http://www.foxnews.com/ -FOX
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/ -NBC
http://www.weather.com/ -TWC

Give them time, the local National Weather Offices
usually will put some information on Charley Aftermath
so check back from time to time.

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE:
http://www.srh.weather.gov/jax/ -Jacksonville
http://www.srh.weather.gov/eyw/ -Key West
http://www.srh.weather.gov/mlb/ -Melbourne
http://www.srh.weather.gov/mfl/newpage/ -Miami
http://www.srh.weather.gov/tbw/ -Tampa

NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: ARCHIVES FOR CHARLEY
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2004/refre...ml/151432.shtml (http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2004/refresh/CHARLEY+shtml/151432.shtml)?

Mike

[mrobinson]

I know that in Punta Gorda there is a TON of damage. My Grandparents house is a total loss and my uncles didn't fare so well in Port Charlotte.

Sketchy reports I've gotten from my aunt thus far is the whole first floor was under water at one point, the roof is gone, a boat is in the stairwell and 2 of the exterior walls were ripped off.

When/If I get pics I'll post them assuming I don't head to FL to help my family clean up, then I'll post a ton of them.

My Grandparents evacuated about 2 hours prior to the storm hitting thank goodness.

[B Ozanne]

I am in Athens, Greece right now and can't click through all those links. Can somebody do some brief reports without links. The highlights?

[mikegeukes]

Early damage estimates have Charley at least 15-20 billion dollars,
there is loss of life and major destruction.

Siginificant loss of life is being reported at a trailer park.

How sad, my prayers goes out to those who are affected.

Mike

[Tim Vasquez]

Doing a search on that, the news feeds have a report of 3 dead in a NC trailer park from Bonnie (the previous storm system). This is not from the Florida hurricane.

[mikegeukes]

The death toll from Hurricane Charley rose early Saturday, when a county official said there had a been "significant loss of life" at a mobile home park and deputies were standing guard over stacks of bodies because the area was inaccessible to ambulances.
Source: Associated Press (from early this morning)
Major networks are reporting the story.

Mike

[Thomas Loades]

The reports we're getting here have said as few as 3 deaths and as many as 24. Though none would obviously be the best, since we can't have that I can only hope it's the latter.

The reporst have also said the winds were up to 140 mph — that may just be media sensationalism — what are they saying over there?

[Evan Bookbinder]

I've issued a lot of tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings in my career, but it really hit me personally yesterday.

Back on the graveyard shift Thursday morning I was scanning Southwest and other airlines for flights to go to SW Florida to chase the storm, however model data steered me otherwise. This wasn't an ordinary August thursday morning as we were sitting at a record 47 degrees and the front was surging toward the gulf. Strong upper level divergence with the approaching longwave and very very warm surface waters suggested a.) Charley was going to explode just before landfall ala Opal and b.) it was going to turn right much quicker than NHC had anticipated. My "chase" target ended up being Punta Gorda as a major hurricane...I think I said 940mb in IRC? (yes I have numerous witnesses to back this up).

A small problem arose with that forecast. My godparents (aunt/uncle) and my father both have houses in Punta Gorda, at 2 feet elevation, both on canals a mile from the Gulf. The thought of chasing quickly turned into panic as I am very familiar with this area and the thought of 10-15 feet of water coming up Charlotte Harbor (a VERY shallow water body) would have meant total devistation miles inland....nevermind the winds.

My dad still lives in Rhode Island and is renting out the house, but my aunt/uncle had just come back from the store with supplies and planned to hold down the condo when I called down there Thursday morning. Thankfully, I was able to plead for them to go to Boca Raton on the east coast and stay with my grandparents as they highly valued my sense of urgency and expectations for total devistation. My aunt just had surgery last week and my uncle is recovering from a bout with cancer, so you can imagine that convincing them to leave everything they own was quite a challenge. The convincing arguement ended up being "Hey, if it misses to the north, then the damage is fairly minor and you got to spend the day with your sister".

And so the story goes...my hurricane chase partner, one of the lead forecasters at the NWS decided to head down to FL (he was thinking cat 2 in Tampa like everyone else). I declined the invite as it would be pretty two-faced to evacuate my own family and then go down and get myself killed. Doug Keisling was also in FL at Tampa/St Pete.

Both Wes and Doug ended up practically across the street from each other...one at the hospital and one at the court house in Punta Gorda. Thank God, both are OK and I talked to both last night. Wes suffered a much more traumatizing experience as part of the hospital collapsed and numerous windows blew in, injuring numerous patients and staff who were huddled in the interior on the 3rd floor. He had been through both Andrew and Opal, and said the winds were FAR worse, even though it only lasted 20 minutes or so. This may be true as I've now heard that the hospital's anemometer clocked a 173 mph gust before blowing away. Furthermore, it's interesting to note that Punta Gorda's last observation had a 109 mph wind gust with a SLP of 997.4mb. This was only 15-20 miles NE of the center. This meant that another *50+* mb pressure fall had to occur in that short distance to acheive the measured SLP of 941mb, so by rough calculations...cat 5 winds in Punta Gorda were entirely possible.

There is total devistation there and it's nearly impossible to get in/out which is probably why I've seen so little footage of the worst damage. Based on what I've heard, the death toll is going to be a lot higher than what early reports have suggested. The only saving grace is that the NE winds ahead of the storm and barrier islands apparently spared Charlotte Harbor of the worst storm surge, which actually was worse farther south toward FMY.

Whether or not my aunt/uncle and father have anything to come back to remains to be seen. At least I know they're alive and material items can be replaced. Despite a perfect forecast, my uncle said it best last night during a tear filled phone conversation: "No matter how obvious it may seem to evacuate and spend a lousy day out of harms way, for many elderly residents along the coast, our homes are our children that they've worked all their lives for. Would you want to abandon your "child" that easily?"

Just some food for thought and a story. As an aside, we captured some incredible imagery with the upcoming StormLab 3.0 yesterday. Here's a glimpse of the concentric eyewalls that resulted in the rapid deepening of Charley just as it came ashore (you may need to use the image scrollbars to see the right half).

Evan Bookbinder
Springfield, MO

http://www.interwarn.com/images/punta_gorda_eyewall.jpg[/img]

[Tim Vasquez]

Mike Geukes is right on the Charley fatalities... Reuters is just now picking it up. I guess the news feeds weren't updated overnight.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?t...storyID=5975926 (http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=5975926)

[David Schuttler]

Sounds like more than 100 doa's last report I just heard

[Thomas Loades]

If that's true, then this would, I think, be the worst loss of life in a U.S. hurricane since Camille . . . whose 35th anniversary is creeping up.

[Aaron Kennedy]

The sad thing is I don't see any thing NWS/NHC could of done to improve the loss of life. Those that died stayed behind and took their lives in to their own hands. Supposedly there is numerous reports of loss of lives in mobile home parks. Hours before the hurricane landfall, local tv stations even mentioned the harm that this storm posed to these very same parks. What can ya do?

Aaron

[David Schuttler]

Found this statement from June 1st 2004
In Charlotte County there is no refuge sites with cat3 or higher

"June 1, 2004

According to the Charlotte County Emergency Management Office, none of these Refuge Sites are sanctioned by the American Red Cross. These locations will by opened as County-run shelters. Do not depend on a particular Refuge Site being open. Refuge Sites may or may not be opened depending on the size of the storm and the predicted landfall area. Charlotte County has no Refuge Sites if there is a Category 3 or higher storm affecting the area.



http://admin.winktv.com/public/x8583.xml

[Thomas Loades]

I wonder if there were "hurricane parties" here, too . . . it's been a while since a major storm on this coast, and the last one (?) at all was Irene in 1999 . . .

[Aaron Kennedy]

NBC-2 still has their feed online. Charlotte county EM just got off the phone said, they have thousands of homes destroyed. Half of the counties fire stations were also destroyed. They also mentioned that they think that based on what they have seen thus far, that Charley will compare to Andrew.

Edit: They just showed some video from the air.... whole mobile home parks are practically gone. They also said that Northern Captiva Island is now two islands.... a 400yard gap now seperates the two.
Aaron

[Thomas Loades]

They could take a cue from Ship Island, MS, and name the gap "Charley Cut." I don't doubt the 140-mph wind reports now. :(

And another TV station:
WKMG-TV Orlando www.local6.com (http://www.local6.com)

[David Schuttler]

Just saw the vid of the island split Captiva/Sanibel ?

http://waterbc.wm.llnwd.net/waterbc_netvideo

[Thomas Loades]

The last report I have is:

•estimated $6 billion damage
•15 confirmed dead
•>2,000 injured
•60 body bags ordered to Punta Gorda
•extensive damage to both trailer parks and neighborhoods of proper houses
•>700,000 homes without power

It seems that this was the most intense hurricane to strike FL since Andrew.

Most news stories here have commented on how no-one was really completely prepared because the storm was expected to strike further north, around Tampa. They also noted that over 2 million were ordered to evacuate, but less than half did. One could say that there was an element of complacency in residents, for there haven't been many strong storms — or just many, period — in the area for some time. The storngest to hit this part of FL before now was Donna in 1960. Between then and Charley, only 3 storms have hit this coast by approaching from the SW — Isbell (cat-1) in 1964, Irene (cat-1) in 1999, and Dennis (TS) in 1981. Other storms, like Gordon (TS) in 1994, Dottie (TS) in 1971, Floyd (cat-1) in 1987, and Andrew (approx. cat-3) in 1992 have only minimally affected this region: Charlotte and Lee counties. Also, the last really big storm to head right at them, cat-3 Elena in 1985, swung away at the last minute, which couldn't have helped.

[B Ozanne]

I am having a hard gauging what things are like down there since I am in Greece right now. Any comparisons to Andrew? Worse? I remember it took a few days before the effects of Andrew were felt.

[Mike Sharp]

:(
My heart goes out to all affected by Charley.
Looking at the on line links and other reports over here on broadband it is hard for those not involved to understand the severity of the situation.
I have heard from members of a Yahoo group I belong to who escaped with just minor damage.
Best wishes and hope day to day life gathers some form of routine soon.

[John Sickels]

My sister-in-law and her family live in Arcadia, about 20 miles inland. A tree came down and smashed their car, and they lost some shingles off the roof of their home, but otherwise they are OK (though without power and water). However, about 2 blocks away from where they live, whole neighborhoods were "levelled," and the downtown area is a "war zone" with rubble everywhere.

[RodgerHeckman]

Originally posted by B Ozanne
I am having a hard gauging what things are like down there since I am in Greece right now. Any comparisons to Andrew? Worse? I remember it took a few days before the effects of Andrew were felt.

I went through Andrew in '92. The comparisons to Charley as I see it are similar but on a much smaller scale. The damage path Charley created looks very much like Andrew, however since it hit a much lower populated area, Charley's eye was even smaller and the winds were weaker, the overall event is not as severe as Andrew. One thing I noticed so far is that not many of the homes and businesses had boarded up as compared to what other areas do on the east coast, and it seems as quite of few of the people in the path assumed the hurricane was going to Tampa.

This time around, with more direct media coverage and lessons learned from Andrew, it seems the victims are and will be soon getting the help they need to begin the rebuilding process and not have to wait days and days to get assistance.

[Caleb Lawrence]

16 now confirmed dead: http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?t...storyID=5979002 (http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=5979002)

Godspeed to those affected. This is a big loss, something I wouldn't have really expected.

I wonder if some of the people that didn't evacuate, couldn't. The economy is bad; maybe they were low on vehicle gas, no money for gas to spare, no resources to get anywhere and only able to hold up at home.

[rdale]

"I wonder if some of the people that didn't evacuate, couldn't."

No. The evac plan includes methods of mass transportation free of charge.

[mrobinson]

Evan, I'm sorry to hear that this has impacted your family as well. My Uncles and my Grandparents experienced total loss of their homes and all of their belongings. My Dad is down there now helping them dig through whats left with the hopes my grandma can locate some of her pictures and family heirlooms unharmed but so far no luck. I'm leaving for Florida on Wed to help out along with the rest of my family on my Dad's side.

I can relate to your feelings of panic when it seemed that Charley was not going to go north to Tampa but instead hit my family head on. Punta Gorda is/was one of the most beautiful places in Florida. :( My Grandparents evacuated, my Uncles didn't.. what a disaster.


How did your family's property come out?

[Richard Halter]

Hey Evan, I hope that your relatives have lucked out, though their houses were obviously in exposed places. I am very glad that you were able to convince them to leave - it was your discussion with me on IRC where I said "I think 955" and you came back with "bleep, it's gonna be 945" or something to that effect that kind of cranked up your intensity about the whole issue and I can understand why now.

Melissa, I wish your family the best as well. Have a safe journey, carry what emergency stuff you can with you, and I hope to hear some stories when you get back

I saved the 8 minutes of film footage that Doug Kiesling posted on WX-Chase, absolutely amazing footage

[Bridget Beddow]

I hope everybody's family down in Florida are okay. Mine were North of the area hit and didn't have to go through the effects like Punta Gorda. Hope your family is okay, Melissa.

[Morgan Palmer]

At 1am ET on Friday, my sister and her boyfriend decided to abandon their mainly glass (!) home in Valrico and head to Orlando.

Turned out they had to ride it out in ORL in the bathroom of their hotel room.

It took them about 8 hours to get back to Tampa, and they saw many folks with car windows busted out. And on I-4 all the way until they got about 30 miles from home, the road signs were bent at a 90 degree angle or worse, with many of the plywood signs looking like they had been put through a shredder.

Their business site is right on Tampa Bay, so they feel fortunate to have not lost the business!

mp

[Bridget Beddow]

That's good they were at least able to make it out of there in the event that something may have happened.

I would have been one of those to stick it out at the house. I wouldn't have been like that 15 years ago, but nowadays, I guess it's just out of stubborness from living around the people that I've lived around.

I don't think alot of the people who stayed behind really expected that it was going to be as bad as it was going to be. Charley really kicked into high gear just before hitting that coast.