Well I wasn't there this day...but being a South Florida resident, that was the beginning of a nasty 2 years in Hurricane Land!
I had considered going to Disney to escape Charley when there was still a chance it might have been coming to South Florida - if it was going to be a Cat 4 or 5, I'd get out of the way (Cat 3 is my limit for staying in the path). But then Charley started jogging for Tampa, and we stopped worrying down here. Of course, it didn't obey the forecasters, and tracked south, sparing Tampa but giving Port Charlotte area a black eye, and a surprising knock to Orlando in the middle of the state.
I had little time to stop worrying though, since Frances then began tracking right for us...and that one didn't steer away. After she slowly ambled her way over the Florida peninsula over a nearly 3-day period, we were left with trees down all over town and in my yard, and power was out for 8 days through 90+ temps and humidity. It was pure unfiltered h-e-double hockeysticks.
I'd had enough after cleaning up all the downed branches and trees, digging 3-solid-feet of leaves from my pool, and sweating through a miserable oven of a house for a week. Disney - here I come! I managed to book a few weeks out at Old Key West, just to get away.
Disney was definitely messy. Charley had done some damage - trees still down, lots of missing landscaping, etc. And Frances did extra damage...taking out yet more trees and roof tiles...and leaving lots of flooded areas in the forests. But they were typical Disney - handling it like it was nothing, and doing an amazing quick cleanup job.
Of course, the fun wasn't over yet - I arrived at Disney just in time to hear about a certain Hurricane Jean spooling around in the Caribbean and headed our way. At first, it looked like it was going to jog north and float into the North Atlantic...but instead, it did a nice, tricky 360 degree turn and got right back on track for...my house! Which of course was unprotected 200 miles to the south because I had just gotten away from Frances' cleanup. So patio furniture was back out, garage brace was off, light posts hadn't been dismantled, etc. I kept a close eye on the forecast each day when I returned to my OKW villa...and started to hear and see Disney's preparations for another possible strike. They were telling folks which buildings were the safe gathering spots, and talking about provisions for food, water, and places to sleep if anyone felt uncomfortable in their hotel rooms. It was very well done.
Unfortunately, I had to cut short my stay by one day and leave what probably would have been a much more pleasant place to spend a hurricane. Because I had to rush south the day Jeanne was to come ashore, and batten down the house. Talk about a strange drive home! The Florida Turnpike was bumper to bumper for well over 100 miles...in the northbound direction. Mass evacuation...again...from South Florida (funny that 2 of the 3 times people evacuated South Florida for north central Florida, the hurricanes affected them worse where they evacuated TO than had they just stayed home!). Southbound? Empty. Not just a handful of cars...I'm talking about nuclear-holocaust desolate. Me. No other car. In nearly 200 miles home, 5 other cars went in my direction - 2 were FHP patrol cars, and 3 were FPL electric trucks. Most gave me very strange looks (ah...sir...I think you're going the wrong way...you're headed INTO the hurricane!).
I made it home at noon, tucked everything away at the house, and by 4pm, the first squall lines started blowing and raining. By 8pm, the good 'ol power was out again. I went to bed...having been through one hurricane the month before, this just felt like routine. Luckily, Jeanne was smaller in diameter than Frances...so though it tracked to the precise same landfall spot, our effects down in South Florida were much less than Frances. We still had additional branches down, but Frances had cleared a pretty good path already. We had no power for 4 more days.
What a year that was...with Ivan affecting the Pensacola region, Florida got beat up! That was a once-in-a-hundred-years year! Or maybe twice in 100 years...since 2005 delivered Dennis to the Pensacola region, Katrina to South Florida, Rita to the keys, and then our big nemesis here in South Florida - Wilma. Wilma was nasty to our area...worst blow in 50+ years. We thought all the trees down the year before would mean there'd be nothing left to blow down - Wrong! Wilma took roofs off, knocked down alot more trees, delivered flooding, broke windows, blocked roads, and knocked out power for up to several weeks (9 days for my neighborhood). For months, commuting to work was like Russian Roulette...since intersections had no lights (even when the power was restored...the lights themselves were gone!). My 40 minute commute became 1 1/2 hours or more. After a few weeks of that...I went to Disney again!
Luckily, we had time to sleep, and then get in the van and make a big western loop around the region.
When we got to the beach, the water was all churned up and nasty from the storm, so between the argument on the trip and that, it wasn't a great day at the beach.
