What is the "real deal" on the Orlando/Kissimmee area?

[C.Ann]

As some of you know from my trip-planning thread my lake neighbor here (who now has a year-round home in Florida) will be joining us when we go to Disney in December.. She plans on taking a bus from Ft. Pierce up to the Orlando area and we will pick her up from there.. However, when she called the Orlando bus station last week to get the number for the Kissimmee bus station she was told that it was closed "due to damage from the hurricane"..

So now I'm wondering.. What's the "real deal" about the damage sustained in that area? (Sorry if I'm asking for info that has already been posted, but I haven't had time to check out the boards for the past week and a half or so..)

I just read something on the News & Rumors board about Disney providing housing and $$$ for CM's who lost their homes or had significant damage and I'm totally confused..

Did buildings and such actually get destroyed in the Orlando/Kissimmee area?

Thanks for any info you can provide..

 

[TennVolTony]

Originally posted by C.Ann
As some of you know from my trip-planning thread my lake neighbor here (who now has a year-round home in Florida) will be joining us when we go to Disney in December.. She plans on taking a bus from Ft. Pierce up to the Orlando area and we will pick her up from there.. However, when she called the Orlando bus station last week to get the number for the Kissimmee bus station she was told that it was closed "due to damage from the hurricane"..

So now I'm wondering.. What's the "real deal" about the damage sustained in that area? (Sorry if I'm asking for info that has already been posted, but I haven't had time to check out the boards for the past week and a half or so..)

I just read something on the News & Rumors board about Disney providing housing and $$$ for CM's who lost their homes or had significant damage and I'm totally confused..

Did buildings and such actually get destroyed in the Orlando/Kissimmee area?

Thanks for any info you can provide..

That area took a very big hit....Many homes were completely lost....many more so badly damaged they are being condemed...

 

[suzannews]

Yes, buildings and houses were destroyed. A few people I work with have damage in the tens of thousands of dollars to their homes. Another has had their home labeled unlivable and it will have to be bulldozed and start from scratch. Many went days and even a week or more without power and phone. On the news today, they showed that there are still some without power and phone service. I read in the paper that the Kissimmee greyhound station is closed indefinetly. I hear downtown Kissimmee took a very hard hit. I used to live about a mile from downtown Kissimmee but haven't been back over in that area since the hurricane. The cleanup and getting things back to the way they were before the storm is slow but it will happen. We are now watching Hurricane Frances and waiting to see where she will go, forcasts are that she could be near south or central Florida by this weekend. We are hoping for a northerly turn.

 

[Dancind]

Suzannews, we were talking to some people there, and they told us that Clermont is the best place to plan on moving to, because it's higher ground. Same people told us not to consider Kissimmee due to flooding danger. This was before the hurricane, seems like they were right. Was Kissimmee so bad because of winds or because of flooding? And how did Clermont fare?

 

[C.Ann]

Oh my goodness!!!!! I am SOOOO sorry to hear all of this! I honestly had no idea.. Can anyone provide me with links to newspaper articles and such about the damage?

Wow - I am really stunned.. I can't believe the area took such a hard hit.. Was anything badly damaged in WDW?

I'll pray for all of you Florida residents that Frances turns back out to sea.. So sad..

 

[PoohnPglet]

Wow - I am really stunned.. I can't believe the area took such a hard hit.. Was anything badly damaged in WDW?

My parents are in Colorado and they were stunned as well. I think it was because most of the national news coverage focused on the Port Charlotte/Punta Gorda area. But there really was substantial damage here as well. (I live in the Winter Park area.)

As for WDW, I went and stayed there for a few days after the hurricane while waiting for my home to be livable again. And although I could see that there were trees down and such, there was nothing closed off due to damage that I could see. And what was down was quickly and efficiently being taken care of by the groundskeepers. I doubt that you will even notice anything by now.

Unless Frances pays a call. I sure hope that doesn't happen. Keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[charlie,nj]

I was at WDW in the BWI during hurricane Charley. (giving live DIS reports on the CB)

Like the posts said WDW only had a few trees down here and there.

On our drive to the Port to catch the Disney Wonder on Sunday August 15th we saw the real damage along 528 (the bee line) Over by the airport just a few miles away from WDW..motels had their roofs ripped off. All of the billboards were ripped to pieces. The trees along 528 were cracked in half.

WDW lucked out.

 

[suzannews]

Originally posted by Dancind
Suzannews, we were talking to some people there, and they told us that Clermont is the best place to plan on moving to, because it's higher ground. Same people told us not to consider Kissimmee due to flooding danger. This was before the hurricane, seems like they were right. Was Kissimmee so bad because of winds or because of flooding? And how did Clermont fare?

We love Clermont. We do have rolling hills which are very uncommon in flat Florida. However, we were just very, very lucky that we didn't get a direct hit from the hurricane like Poinciana to the south and Kissimmee to the east. We could have been very easily the ones without power and phone service for days. Kissimmee took a direct hit with most of their power poles snapped in half like tooth picks. My subdivision has under ground power lines so that may help us in the event of another storm coming this way.

Go away hurricane Frances, you are not welcome here.