East Coast People Hit By Charley, How You Doing?

Fla Gal · #1 08/14/04, 03:01 PM

Charley sure has wrought some damage here in Florida. How are all of you, north of Florida, that got the tail end of Charley? I hope it didn't bring bad things your way. Let us know how you're doing.

chickflick · #2 08/14/04, 05:41 PM

Dang! I was wondering that too... Where are they???? Dear, dear!! Hope they're only not here cause of maybe no electric for a little while and puter not plugged in!!

JulieNC · #3 08/14/04, 07:05 PM

Well, the interior of NC was spared more or less completely. Obviously, the coast got hit, but it doesn't sound like it was too terrible--certainly not as bad as Florida or South Carolina got it. In fact, it looks as if NC was pretty darned lucky this time around.

Fla Gal · #4 08/14/04, 09:04 PM

I've not heard much about the storm hitting the east coast north of Florida. Mostly the news is still talking about Punta Gorda and Pinellas County. The loss of life in this area is still at 15.

Glad to know you fared well Julie.

Meg Z · #5 08/15/04, 10:49 AM

Ya'll got the worst of it down there!

There's some property damage on the coast, but I'm only an hour inland, and a regular thunderstorm brings worse to us.

Hope the Floridians are alright. Has Moopups checked in?

Meg

Fla Gal · #6 08/15/04, 11:15 AM

Meg,

Glad to know your area wasn't hit and you're doing ok. For the most part Floridians are doing as well as can be expected after this type storm. Punta Gorda residents got the absolute worst of it and so many homes were destroyed.

Moopups checked in and let us know he couldn't take the shelter and went back home to set up camp under his desk with a mattress over it. He made it through ok and started a "Charley suvivor list" on the Countryside Families forum.

You can check out this thread here:
http://homesteadingtoday.com/showthread.php?t=54664

Meg Z · #7 08/15/04, 11:25 AM

Thanks, FlaGal, that was thoughtful of you!

Take care,
Meg

sapphira · #8 08/15/04, 02:06 PM

Friend of mine who lives in Orlando said they had plenty of warning for high winds from the hurricane but did not have but 2-3 hours warnings for the eye coming through.
They lost all their trees and were lucky, have a tin roof. Neighborhood is a mess, about 2 miles from downtown, trees everywhere, on houses, cars, etc.
No electric till whenever, no cell phones - tower damages etc, phone lines are up and running pretty much, NO traffic lites, and absolutley NO police will police the traffic - too much danger of getting run down. They are to treat every intersection with a lite as 4 way stop and it is not working. People are driving in "packs." Their daughter is too terrified to drive to work. Water is ok in most of Orlando but plenty of people do not have good water. The water coming through pipes is very very warm. A few people in Orlando were killed, but they went outside during the worst of it. They are cooking the freezer food as fast as they can and people are cooking on anything and everything and sharing with neighbors that do not have grill, and my friend has an elderly man next door that mooches off them anyway so they are feeding him. Everyone is cleaning up layers of debris all piled up around houses, and don't know what half of it is or where it came from. If you have lived in FLA a long time, NO excuses. When you see a storm anywhere near the peninsula, you tie things down and load into you carport or garage way way ahead of time. Sapphira

South of Forty · #9 08/15/04, 02:34 PM

Down here on the NC coast I almost had another eye go over the house. Only missed it by about 15 miles this time. We had much stronger winds than we were expecting down here- some gusts were reported at 85 mph. Not a whole lot of damage was done in my area-few roofs and shingles and signs came down- trees of course. The actual storm only brought 2 1/2 inches of rain because it moved throughh so quickly. When Floyd his it was so large and slow we had over 20 inches of rain in less than 20 hours.

We lost power this time for about14 hours-not bad at all.

I really feel for all the folks down Florida way that got hit. It literally takes months or years to get over a storm like that (if you ever do) and it can be a very stressful and depressing experience. If any of you need help on the mental or spiritual level to get through the coming days and weeks I highly advice you to not try to tough it out and get it. Espeacially for kids.

diane · #10 08/15/04, 02:46 PM

I was able to speak with my son via cell phone about 40 minutes after Charlie went through there in Fort Myers. The neighborhood was a total mess with trees mostly destroyed and lots of windows etc. blown out. He, having a major prepper for a mother, was totally prepared and taped his windows etc. and has food and water etc. put back for his family. It seems the towers inland must have been downed because now I can not reach him.

At least I know he made it through the storm safely.

Fla Gal · #11 08/15/04, 03:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by South of Forty

We lost power this time for about14 hours-not bad at all.

SOF,

You're right, 14 hours without electricity isn't all that bad considering some locations in Florida will be without power up to 7 to 10 days. I'm real happy to know there wasn't much damage nor a lot of rain in your area and you and your's fared well.

Some folks here were hit real bad and I hope they'll be able to rebuild their homes and lives with the least amount of stress and depression. It's got to be hard on them losing almost everything but their lives.

Quote:

Originally Posted by South of Forty

If any of you need help on the mental or spiritual level to get through the coming days and weeks I highly advice you to not try to tough it out and get it. Espeacially for kids.

I believe children are most often disturbed with thinking about problems like this and don't know how to express their feelings. To me, reassurance in words, to the children will help them calm down and help them be able to face the tragedy like troopers. A lot of times they take it better than adults do.

I had to tell my step-nephew about the death of his father (my brother-in-law) and the dear little 4 year old was wiping tears from my eyes and asking "Please don't cry". Children can be great support for the adults if allowed to. With their innocence (sp?) they can contribute a lot to adults feeling better.

South of Forty · #12 08/15/04, 04:18 PM

"You're right, 14 hours without electricity isn't all that bad considering some locations in Florida will be without power up to 7 to 10 days."

You have that right. After hurricane Fran blew through here several years back, I went with out power for 9 long days. Being on a well with no easy acess to fresh potable water didnt make it any easier. Nor did the 90 degree temperatures. I almost hugged the Florida Power and Light linemen that finally got our power restored.

As an aside- there were power crews here after Fran from all over the country to restore power and they always traveled in truck caravans to the different areas to restore lines, poles,and power. Folks were so eager to get their power back, that they literally pulled to the side of the road to let them pass when they saw them coming - just like emergency vehicles. I guess in a way they were.

Fla Gal · #13 08/15/04, 04:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by South of Forty

Folks were so eager to get their power back, that they literally pulled to the side of the road to let them pass when they saw them coming - just like emergency vehicles. I guess in a way they were.

In this case I'd have to say they were emergency vehicles and worthy of being yielded the right of way. They were there to help out with the emergency but didn't have the flashing lights to go with it.

I believe folks did the right thing by giving them the right of way. The people getting out of the way of the truck was a way of giving respect to the drivers, the neighbors and themselves.

Ain't it great when so many work together to get a job done, even if their part is to get out of the way and let the experts go on and take care of the job?