A Little Vero News

[PamOKW]

I found this from a Vero newspaper reporter who was posting informally on their chat boards. It sounds promising for Vero. However, I don't think the resort can/will open until power and water are restored to the area. Currently, it sounds like only residents are being allowed on the barrier island so I don't think they'd let Disney guests come yet.

Here's part of what he posted:

To clear up as much as I can without targeting specific communities and subdivisions, I went over to the barrier island Monday and saw just about every home sustained some sort of damage from minor stuff like shingles to major flooding and roof damage.

If you live on the barrier island, you will have to probably have some construction to do. However, I am happy to report the majority of structures withstood the wind and water and are definitly livable. There are a ton of trees and debris everywhere, and officials do not know exactly when power will be back up. Could be at least a week. Only 13 percent of FP&L customers had power and about 50 percent of City of Vero Beach utilities customers had power Wednesday afternoon. County be several days, or weeks, before power is restored.

Most have water and sewer.

I defined McCollum's "substantial" damage as what I said above. You can get access to just about anything in IRC. HOwever, not much as power and you have to show PROPER ID to get on the island.

To squash rumors, the Ocean Grille is standing proud. Just minor cosmetic damage - and this includes many other island landmarks. However, the Gables is condemned. The building, unfortunitally, did not do well with the winds.

Other places like Disney and the inlets faired very well against Frances.

The beach is nothing but dirt, and many close roads to Jaycee and Humiston beaches were partially washed away.

 

[Beth]

Where is the Gables, Pam?

...There near the Ocean Grille and the Driftwood?

 

[kweaver]

Interesting.

We haven't been to VB yet, but I just made reservations for an April Spring Break trip. Even with some fairly major damage, I figured the resort would surely be open by then

Does anyone know if/how any beach restoration is done after a hurricane? Is this something to worry about in the long term at VB?

 

[CRobin]

Here is the latest from the Orlando Sentinel

Looks like it may be awhile....

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news...09,0,4668058.story?coll=orl-newsaol-headlines

 

[kathleena]

Thanks for the update and the link to the article. Wonder why the reports are it would reopen on the 10th?

And noted in the article that they said they are rebooking guests for future visits - but yet there were the reports of them not going that for folks booked leading up to the hurricane.

Interesting.

 

[PamOKW]

Originally posted by Beth
Where is the Gables, Pam?

...There near the Ocean Grille and the Driftwood?

I looked it up and The Gables is a little south of the Ocean Grill -- roughly equal with SR-60. The entire building has been declared uninhabitable. That's got to be rough on the owners.

 

[gjw007]

The sad part about the Orlando post is the Disney workers who are without work. Although they probably will get unemployment, it doesn't cover much (in Maryland when I had received a layoff notice, it was $250 per week maximum). They might be able to get some temporary work with the clean up crews. It always amazes me that company will say that its employees are its most valuable resource and yet they will be the first to face the losses. How sad! How typical!

 

[tonyswife]

Originally posted by gjw007
The sad part about the Orlando post is the Disney workers who are without work. Although they probably will get unemployment, it doesn't cover much (in Maryland when I had received a layoff notice, it was $250 per week maximum). They might be able to get some temporary work with the clean up crews. It always amazes me that company will say that its employees are its most valuable resource and yet they will be the first to face the losses. How sad! How typical!

From the article...

"Elia said the company was working to give the displaced workers temporary relief assistance."

This sounds encouraging. I have been worried about the VB CMs. Hopefully Disney will come through with the assistance as implied in the Orlando article.

 

[gjw007]

tonyswife

Hi, I did see that in the article about some assistance as well but my experience with that has been that it has been very limited. Now granted, some of the employees are probably glad to have the time off to clean up their own homes. The best assistance would have been to keep them working. I had thought of the people who had bad experience and think of actions like this and the effect it has on staff morale. This sometimes gets translated into how they affect guests.