I’m disappointed in Charley. All this prep work and it didn’t even come close!!
Of course my tongue is firmly planted in my cheek. Indeed, after spending the last day over the Gulf of Mexico, Charley made a sudden jog toward the mainland after reaching North Fort Myers (50 miles directly south of here) and started moving NNE on a path which took it through Punta Gorda, Arcadia and onward toward the Magic Kingdom (which it reached by 9pm; thankfully the theme parks had closed by early in the afternoon). It’s expected to head out to the Atlantic Ocean by tomorrow morning.
Ended up leaving Cam and Melissa’s shortly after 7:30pm; snappd a few pictures before I went inside. Things looked pretty much the same as they did before when I left: wet, and maybe a few extra leaves on the ground. [Update, 8:23am Sat]: It looks like Sarasota had a few road closures.
![[picture: Aug 13]](http://krishengreenwell.com/blog/pictures/aug-2004/charley-fri/post/IMG_5102.jpg)
One of the Sarasota-based ABC reporters drove down to Boca Grande to see what he could see. I think he’s lucky he didn’t see a tree on his hood. [Update, 10:01am Sat]: View map showing relation of Boca Grande to me and to Charley’s path. By the way, if anyone’s still disillusioned about doing all that hurricane prep work and then having it miss them, have a look at this Holiday Inn in Punta Gorda (be sure to check out the video).
![[picture: Aug 13]](http://krishengreenwell.com/blog/pictures/aug-2004/charley-fri/post/IMG_5120.jpg)
These kids thought it would be a good time to go swimming.
![[picture: Aug 13]](http://krishengreenwell.com/blog/pictures/aug-2004/charley-fri/post/IMG_5123.jpg)
A nice little shot showing the relationship of the storm to where I live. For those who don’t know — I live just in-between the white square and the “S” of Sarasota.
![[picture: Aug 13]](http://krishengreenwell.com/blog/pictures/aug-2004/charley-fri/post/IMG_5126.jpg)
NBC affiliate out of Tampa trying to look all serious. Apparently they were bobbling things all day, hanging up on all sorts of callers “for their safety”. Whoops! I love live TV.
![[picture: Aug 13]](http://krishengreenwell.com/blog/pictures/aug-2004/charley-fri/post/IMG_5127.jpg)
This is about as bad as it got in Sarasota.
![[picture: Aug 13]](http://krishengreenwell.com/blog/pictures/aug-2004/charley-fri/post/IMG_5128.jpg)
One of the main drives for the apartment complex. Looks pretty much like it always does after it rains.
![[picture: Aug 13]](http://krishengreenwell.com/blog/pictures/aug-2004/charley-fri/post/IMG_5129.jpg)
Earlier in the day the apartment complex staff went around and overturned the picnic tables.
![[picture: Aug 13]](http://krishengreenwell.com/blog/pictures/aug-2004/charley-fri/post/IMG_5132.jpg)
Tree debris.
![[picture: Aug 13]](http://krishengreenwell.com/blog/pictures/aug-2004/charley-fri/post/IMG_5136.jpg)
This little guy didn’t seem to be phased by the whole thing.
![[picture: Aug 13]](http://krishengreenwell.com/blog/pictures/aug-2004/charley-fri/post/IMG_5142.jpg)
Back at my place. Everything’s still fine, hooray!
![[picture: Aug 13]](http://krishengreenwell.com/blog/pictures/aug-2004/charley-fri/post/IMG_5143.jpg)
Didn’t move an inch. Box was a little soggy though.
![[picture: Aug 13]](http://krishengreenwell.com/blog/pictures/aug-2004/charley-fri/post/IMG_5146.jpg)
Extra water for the toilet etc.
![[picture: Aug 13]](http://krishengreenwell.com/blog/pictures/aug-2004/charley-fri/post/IMG_5150.jpg)
MaskingTapeMan.
![[picture: Aug 13]](http://krishengreenwell.com/blog/pictures/aug-2004/charley-fri/post/IMG_5158.jpg)
Looking NE, 8:09pm. Can you believe I got to see the sunset? Maybe a decent Friday the 13th after-all. Pretty cool thing about the weather here is it’s so volatile, you could get dumped on, and 15 minutes later it’s all clear.
![[picture: Aug 13]](http://krishengreenwell.com/blog/pictures/aug-2004/charley-fri/post/IMG_5159.jpg)
Looking to the SE, 8:09pm.
Post Charley
Comments
6 responses to “Post Charley”
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glad to read you’re safe and well, krishen. looking at the news today it looks like some places got hit very hard. here’s hoping for a mild rest of the hurricane season for this year.
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Thanks Jim. That video from Boca Grande really put things in perspective. I actually had to go back and revise the tone of this post afterwards (which was a little too tongue-in-cheeky).
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whoa!….. a very close encounter with a monster! Glad it all worked out for ya, I was thinking about you as I watched the weather news!
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Thanks Denis, you’re not kidding. This thing left a serious trail of destruction in its wake. Of course, a lot of that has to do with the fact that it went through an area with a lot of mobile homes (read: anywhere in Florida). I was talking about this earlier tonight. One of us posed: if only they were in low-income housing — an actual building — instead, the death count would surely be lower. Probably so. I think there are so many mobile homes simply because at the coldest time of the year, it’s still almost Victoria summer, so you don’t really need thick walls to keep in the heat. And hurricanes run over Florida rarely enough that what you end up with is basically the lowest common denominator — cheapass, flimsy tin cans. Doublewide if you’re ‘luxe.
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You got lucky. My aunt and uncle live in Punta Gorda. They had no warning. Aunt Bee was out out town. Uncle Doug barely had time to grab the dog and run.
Luckily his house was the only house not leveled on his block. So they have some of their stuff. They will still have to tear down the house due to missing a missing roof.
The worst part is that the boat he spent 12 years building is floating upside down. He thinks it might be salvagable. We’ll see. -
Cliff, wow. I have been seriously humbled by the video images I’ve seen out of Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte. The damage is unbelievable. Best of luck to your aunt and uncle. How old is his house? I’ve heard that the ones built to the newer building specs (post ’96 i think) fared much better than the older ones.
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