There were many fatalities in Punta Gorda. Punta Gorda is 17 miles north of North Fort Myers.
The electricity's out all over Lee County and probably will be for days.
I still haven't heard from my family, but I'm sure they're fine. My sister's house is way out in the sticks on the flood plain that runs from Charlotte to Lee, so I know she wouldn't have stayed in her house. My brother and his family and my folks live two blocks apart in Tropic Isles. They might have gone over to North Fort Myers High School. So far no one is answering over at our church, Tropic Isles Baptist.
Evidently ain't none of my people learned how to use a telephone.
With a shotgun sitting on a chair beside him, Terry Frye sits in front of his home, which was devastated by Hurricane Charley in Port Charlotte, Fla. early Aug. 14, 2004. Frye scrawled a note on the wall behind him to protect his home and scare off looters.
UPDATE:
Mr. Cracker just called to tell me my sister-in-law called. She said the phones had just come on five minutes before. Her and my brother's family had been in their house the whole time, but the phones hadn't been working. She called to ask if my parents were with me. Uh, no...
So my folks hadn't swung by the two blocks to my brother's house to say where they were going, and they hadn't even left a note at their own house.
She called back a few minutes later to say that Mom and Dad were at her house now. They had gone to my sister's. The one that lives on a dirt road on a flood plain out in the boonies. Nobody could believe that they had gone out there as that would be nuts. I said they're crazy and inconsiderate, but Mr. Cracker is more charitable and said they had a lot on their minds.
So, the 'rents are home, safe and sound. Hallelujah.
UPDATE II:
The mayor has instituted curfew and banned the sale of alcohol. Governor Bush is in Fort Myers today, and President Bush will be arriving tomorrow.
Posted by floridacracker at August 14, 2004 06:43 AMI get “all circuits are busy at this time” or “your call can not be completed at this time” or “your call can not completed as dialed” when I call over. When I call my husbands cell it goes straight to voicemail, but he said yesterday that a cell tower went down. I’m betting more than one!!
Keeping good thoughts for your family.
Posted by: Cindy at August 14, 2004 09:01 AMYeah, I've gotten every permutation of that message as well. Or it just flat rings busy. Or it just rings and rings.
My sister's number goes straight to voice-mail, but I know her place must be pure-dee flooded.
My family is just fine, I'm sure. I'm just mad that they didn't come over the Alley to my house if they were gonna go anywhere, and if they were gonna evacuate to somewhere else, that nobody bothered to tell me where. I'd never for a million years have thought they'd evacuate. You'd have to use dynamite to get mom and dad out of their house.
Posted by: Donnah at August 14, 2004 09:19 AMGlad to hear your family is ok. This is the first good news I've heard after the storm. I do not understand why people do not heed evacuation warnings in anticipation of a Cat IV hurricane. Regardless of where the morons on the Weather Channel say it is going to go. Alicia in 1983 was headed straight for Corpus Christie, Tx. The night before landfall it made a hard right turn and went to Galveston. Tropical storms are unpredictable. People should heed evacuation orders when they are given.
Posted by: Cryptomaniac at August 14, 2004 04:33 PMForgive me. I live on the left coast where we don't deal with these things (we just get earthquakes, massive brush fires, mud slides and floods (if you're by a river). What is a ban on the sale of alcohol going to do? If it's to prevent a bunch of drunken looters--wouldn't you want to ban it before, too? When people are sitting around with *nothing* to do but drink?
Not being sarcastic. Just ignorant.
Posted by: James at August 14, 2004 10:00 PMGlad you made it OK; banning booze is a little excessive- imagine hosing two feet of mud out of your lounge sober.
Been through three cyclones here- they're certainly interesting; one that hit Rockhampton in 1948 saw my grandmother ordering my uncle up on the roof to bang in some extra nails- he weighed about 10 stone, and came down (with most of the roof) two streets away. The '76 one saw our boat wedged in next-door's wall.
And people thought I was mad when suggesting you should stock up on booze. Mad I tell you!
Good hearing alls well.
Shame is I'm becoming old enough I can see the sense in keeping beaches closed, and homes protected at the publics minor expense until things are back to normal.
With some of these floods you'll get large amounts of farm runoff combined with septic tanks being flooded out. It all runs out in one great big wash and can gather in the local waters for days to come. I'd be suprised if they weren't already checking water quality for bacteria what with that sludge station thats been built recent right on Charlotte Harbor.
Posted by: IXLNXS at August 15, 2004 12:38 AMGlad to hear everything is okay for you. My power is finally back online here in Orlando.
I love the pictures you've got, as well.
Posted by: Jason Kallini at August 16, 2004 02:13 PMGlad to hear it, Jason, and thank you for the compliment.
Ix-Right now the water system in Fort Myers at least, is holding its own. You're right about the run-off.
Posted by: Donnah at August 16, 2004 11:28 PM