Sorry! Charley

[damo]

I'm glad to hear you guys are all safe. We are here in California watching the news reporting the damage. I was worried!

We go to Magic Mountain tomorrow and then on to Mummy. I'll be thinking about you!

 

[cc1954]

Hello all you wonderful DISers!

My power finally came back on at 12:37 this am. My family and I have not had power since around 2 pm on Friday. We braced for the hit (I am 17 miles inland from Ft Myers beach) and thank god, we were spared from the major damage.

I had plenty of candles, an oil lamp and oil, batteries, and all of the things that the "pundits" tell you to have on hand (first aid supplies, etc.). What they don't tell you is how, in this day and age of instant gratification, you can live without TV, internet and

information!

I have a radio that takes 6 C batteries, and that was our major lifeline. We never lost our "landline" telephone - but what most people do not think about is that cordless phones require power - many people in my neighborhood were borrowing my "plug in". As an old military trooper, I have 3 plug ins - I have no idea how many of my neighbors used them - we just kept going from house to house, letting everybody call family, etc. to let them know how we fared.

I personly only lost some of the screen panels on my pool cage. It is astounding to see the local coverage of the people only 15 to 30 miles away in Cape Coral, Sanibel, Port Charlotte, etc. We got really scared with the sounds of the storm, but the fury of the front end missed my area.

I hope we hear soon from Motherflethcher. Flyfly and others - my prayers that they are all safe and that their homes are flying to God just as I type this info to all of you.

 

[bjakmom]

So glad to hear that your family is safe and starting to recover !

I'm also watching to hear from the others and praying that they are safe ! - stay strong - hopefully everyone across this amazing and generous country watching your plight from the comfort of their own fully-functioning and intact homes will start sending you guys whatever you need to fully recover - right now that means $$ - no donation to the Red Cross is too small - every penny will help!

 

[thedisneymom]

So very happy that you and your family are alright. I am so sick with worry about Motherfletcher, Flyfly etc. I feel as if I know them forever. Hopefully just a power outage. It's no fun Dis'ing when you are worried about Dis'ers.

 

[Notatourist]

I'm alive. Survived it well.

 

[h20jag]

Glad to read from ya'll (central Floridians) that have posted. Good to hear things are OK. Hope there's no heartaches nor hardships happening to anyone.
Sure is an awful lot of regulars normally here that haven't showed up yet. All prayers out to you folks & those affected by this week-ends' nasty weather.

 

[A Mickeyfan]

Originally posted by cc1954
Hello all you wonderful DISers!

My power finally came back on at 12:37 this am. My family and I have not had power since around 2 pm on Friday. We braced for the hit (I am 17 miles inland from Ft Myers beach) and thank god, we were spared from the major damage.

I had plenty of candles, an oil lamp and oil, batteries, and all of the things that the "pundits" tell you to have on hand (first aid supplies, etc.). What they don't tell you is how, in this day and age of instant gratification, you can live without TV, internet and

information!

I have a radio that takes 6 C batteries, and that was our major lifeline. We never lost our "landline" telephone - but what most people do not think about is that cordless phones require power - many people in my neighborhood were borrowing my "plug in". As an old military trooper, I have 3 plug ins - I have no idea how many of my neighbors used them - we just kept going from house to house, letting everybody call family, etc. to let them know how we fared.

I personly only lost some of the screen panels on my pool cage. It is astounding to see the local coverage of the people only 15 to 30 miles away in Cape Coral, Sanibel, Port Charlotte, etc. We got really scared with the sounds of the storm, but the fury of the front end missed my area.

I hope we hear soon from Motherflethcher. Flyfly and others - my prayers that they are all safe and that their homes are flying to God just as I type this info to all of you.

You got your electric back before me! We got our electric & water back at noon today...our phone lines came back at 7:30 tonight. I am in Cape Coral. Much of the Cape is still without power. There are many damaged homes here... some deemed "not safe to live in". My house has some damage, but I do not have to leave. I was never so happy to take a shower as I was today!!! This storm went from heading to Tampa as a catagory 2 storm to hitting Lee/Charlotte as a catagory 4 in an hours time! I have never been so scared as when they announce that we had 60 minutes to prepare for the hit... I had been somewhat prepared but not for that, especially not mentally prepared. I knew we had a chance of the high storm serge, but never did I think the winds. My house is a concrete block house & boy did it shake!!! We did survive & my family is unhurt...just some property damage. I feel lucky compared to many many others.... even just one block south of me.

I also want to make a comment about people being worried about their vacation plans... I know you all didn't mean to sound so insensitive, but next time (I hope there won't be another scare for a long time), try to word it differently... I have to agree with Slacking & want to thank Bev for stating how us Floridians in the path of Charley were feeling.... we all were on edge. It was just your vacation that was going to be ruined.... it was & is our lives, homes & property that have been. I would rather have rain on my vaction than in my house

 

[cc1954]

Amen, A Mickey Fan! My friends and I are so grateful, but also - I do not think if you have not happen to you, you really can't relate!

I am watching the local news - i know they are really not carrying it nationwide, since I now have my "Dish" back. The devastation is horrid, and it is really being under reported!

Please know that anything you see and hear is probably true. I know they have declared martial law in Charlotte County, and the National Guardsmen there have posted "You loot, we shoot" signs. I could never have imagined all of this!

 

[RC Fan]

I have been watching all weekend too, wondering how the Florida Dis'ers were doing. I just got back into work to my computer and I sincerely hope you guys are all alright!

 

[bratray]

hello

really happy to hear that all our fellow FL-diser's are doing well

i can only imagine the feeling of helplessness that comes with a storm of this magnitude!

praying that everyone else that was effected by this horrible storm will find the strength and faith to overcome this terrible hardship

 

[eyecndi]

I live about 2 miles from Universal and we are just fine. It sure was a scary thing to go through. 100 Mile and hour sustained winds through Orlando. We lost power for about 7 hours but we were the only ones in our area that had power on Sat and Sun. Went out to find out how everyone else faired and it really does look like a WAR zone everywhere. We were very lucky but there were so many that weren't so lucky.

This is about the common theme to most central florida neighborhoods this weekend.

 

[Flyfly_Eclipse]

I think everyone's prayers helped in my case. With the eye of the storm passing just a mere 20 miles south of home, we got away with no power for a day (but were not home to witness it), and some very, VERY minor damage. Hard to believe that towns so far in-land, like Orlando got it MUCH worse than we did here in Venice, FL when the storm hit at it's strongest point...we drove past Punta Gorda, Port Charlotte, and North Port on the way home from Fort Lauderdale...and then went to Orlando from there. The damage we witnessed from the roads just makes me realize how lucky we were. I hope other DIS'ers were just as lucky...

 

[Selina]

We have been following the news in the UK. Glad you are okay. Haven't seen Spidey on the boards - but have only just come on today.....have you seen him at all Flyfly?

 

[Jiffy]

No I haven't...I just missed him at Universal a week from last Thursday...we were at the same show, and even in the same row for the GYR, but in different sections However, I haven't heard him on these boards in a couple of days...I hope everything went okay for him and his family.

Ooops!! This is Flyfly under her mom's screen name again

 

[Selina]

I've had a look around - he's not about. Hope he and is family are okay. Can't remember where he lives either - but I thought it was in the Ft Myers Beach area.
Maybe the powers still out for him and he can't get in touch.

 

[A Mickeyfan]

Originally posted by Selina
I've had a look around - he's not about. Hope he and is family are okay. Can't remember where he lives either - but I thought it was in the Ft Myers Beach area.
Maybe the powers still out for him and he can't get in touch.

Not sure if Barry is from Ft Myers Beach. I think just the Ft Myers area....either way, there are parts of Ft Myers that are still without electric. My town still has many area's without electric. In fact, there is a section that got theirs back on Sat (before I got mine) but have now lost it again today at about noonish. There has been no reason given for this either.... I am wondering if mine will stay.... I cannot say how Barry's house is, but I can tell you that there has not been any deaths except for the one in North Ft Myers during the storm (and his name wasn't Barry) & just one yesterday on Pine Island, which isn't where he lives....sorry to put it so bluntly, but there was no other way of saying that. I do not think that there has been any serious injuires, at least the news haven't announced it. I would like to say that he hasn't been online due to the lack of power... The news has just said that they hope to have all of Ft Myers electric back by Wed. Hope this helps you all... If I hear anything else & I still have electric, I will let you all know...

I would like to add one other thing, if you would like to help out down here, contact your local red cross to see what you can do. Punta Gorda & Port Charlotte are destroyed & can use all of the help possible. So if you or anyone you know may want to help, please do so... they need everything!

 

[sltrawick]

Charley was just awful, but I'm glad that our fellow board members are OK!

 

[cc1954]

Just so you know - I just saw a posting from Spideyhulk on the thread marked "Check in" sounds like he had a rough time.

Hope everything gets better for him from here on!

 

[Motherfletcher]

We made it! Just got power back on. I have no idea how people lived in south Florida without air conditioning. It took us 3 chainsaw hours to be able to get into our driveway. The kids and I evacuated to the safety of the the storm's eyewall in Kissimmee. My wife tried to go with us but the hospital demanded she stay. She kept our Lab for support. We all pulled through but the dog turned gray overnight! I'm fixing to post a trip report but I need to warn those who experienced devastation that the report will be be very light hearted. It is not to lessen anyone's loss during this tragic event but to search for the humor in it.

 

[the Dark Marauder]

*******WARNING! LONG POST*******


Yes, I, too, have returned. I just got power restored at 3pm. It was on and off yesterday-mostly off. Phone service was bad as well. It was back around 10am today and was off-and on (again, more off than on) yesterday. Here's how I fared:

Friday: got home, started filling up bottles of water and posting on here. Took pics of everything in the house on my camera and my mom's. I even got video. I even too the time to put some rechargeable batteries on their respective chargers. Power went out around 7:30. Things were okay until my mom and I saw something fall to the ground: SHINGLES! We started moving things into my mom's closet (safest part of the house). I heard water dripping in the house in my sister's room. We had to get as much out of there as we could. Plus her ceiling began bowing. In my room, insulation was falling out and getting everywhere. We took as much as we could away & into safety. When it calmed down, I took some pictures of the internal damage. My sister was called and when she heard what happened she was frantic-some of her most valuable stuff (all her writings since 1993) was still in her room. I had to run in there and get some boxes out just to ensure its safety. Eventually it calmed enough to go outside and look. OH....MY....GOD... A piece of the roof from my sister's room was ripped completely OFF by the storm. There were shingles everywhere. The giant tree behind out house fell away from the house, into the tree behind it. The tree in front of our house broke. Our mailbox got knocked over. Other nearby houses took little/no damage, while others lost a lot of shingles. Then, around 1130pm, the ceiling in my sister's room collapsed. There was now a giant hole in the house.

Saturday: I wasn't able to go to work because of the hurricane damage. I looked around and took lots of pictures. Large water spots were forming on the garage ceiling. I assisted my neighbor in putting a temporary covering (the plywood that was ripped off of the roof, plus a plastic sheet) on the house. There was no cell phone service, so my mom and I had to travel towards Haines City to get service. There were also HUGE lines at the nearby grocery store and convinence store. It was so odd walking into Publix and seeing so many shelves barren. The cars were also moved out of the garage. And to make things worse, water started leaking into the kitchen.

Sunday: I still couldn't go in to work because more repairs were needed. More pictures were taken, more plastic covering was put on the house, and pieces of ceiling collapsed in the garage. A lot of internal cleaning was done. I found a small radio that operated on 3 AA batteries in my room and that became our primary source of information. Threw out almost all the food in the fridge.

Monday: Went to a relief station where each family was given 2 bags of ice and a box with 3 gallons of water. I had to travel towards Celebration just to find gas. Power and phone were on and off, so I used the on periods to get my cell charged. At about 445pm, power was gone again. I also moved my stuff back into my room & set it up properly. Went to Sam's to get batteries, bottled water, and bread

Today: Phone was restored. I went to a comfort station and picked up 4 bags of ice plus 2 gallons of water. I also stopped at Wal-Mart to get the following: more water, charcoal and a small charcoal grill, a new mailbox, a shovel, and a battery operated alarm clock. I also had my first hot meal since the storm at the on-site McDonald's. At 3p, power was restored.

My mom and I had been surviving on water, peanut butter sandwiches, nutri-grain bars, and plain tuna sandwiches. Now things are getting back to normal for us...