Fun with Hurricane Charley

Connecting For Results #54
August 27, 2004
Copyright © 2004 by Bill Dueease

My life perspectives and life priorities were forever changed on Friday the 13th 2004. I live and work in Fort Myers, Florida. My wife called me at the office at 12:30 PM to ask me to come home because of the impending arrival of Hurricane Charley. Having lived in the part of Florida that hurricanes bypassed, having personally withstood the full wrath (including having the eye pass directly over our house) of hurricane Alisha (a category 3) in Houston and after looking outside to see bright sunshine, I told her to relax, we would be missed again. In fact, the latest hurricane report from the National Weather Service had stated that Charley was only a weak category 2 and was headed towards Tampa, which would have resulted in little impact on our area. She called again at 2:13 PM, even more anxious than before, and I reluctantly agreed to come home right away, even though the skies were only partly cloudy. By the time I arrived home at 2:45 PM things were much different. We had already lost power and phones, and the winds were picking up. My wife, my 13-year-old daughter, my 17-year-old son , and to my surprise a 17 year old boy we knew from New Jersey greeted me. He had been evacuated from Sanibel and was going to ride out the hurricane at our house. Soon our neighbors across the street and their two teenage kids also came to our house to ride out the hurricane. We had a house full. Our only contact with the outside world was our old battery powered radio.

Charley fooled the Weather Service and us.

Much to our surprise the local radio stations, that were still operating, reported that Charley had not only jumped from a slow moving category 2 to a category 4 (the strongest is a 5, like Andrew), but it had quickly turned right heading East by Northeast, towards us. Hurricanes just do not travel east; they go west and at worst north. Charley was breaking all of the rules. Unfortunately, the National Weather Service was out of touch and was still reporting it as a weaker storm headed towards Tampa. When we heard from the local stations that it hit landfall at an island not that far away, we knew we were in for it.

Local weather stations called it right.

The local radio stations were manned by TV reporters who had access to accurate Doppler Radar images of the storm, but their reporting was a bit frustrating, if not comical. They kept saying over the radio that the eye was there, or here, (evidently thinking everyone had the TV) and we did not know what they were talking about. Occasionally, they gave a location that really helped. Picture us in a dark house, hovering around the radio switching stations trying to get the news. Shades of the 1940's.

We felt Charley's wrath.

We experienced the stronger backside winds and we were much too close to the eye to escape punishment. For over two hours we could only react to the fury of the winds and watch our three story pool cage get blown away and reel as huge limbs of our old oak trees just broke off like match sticks. We were sure our many picture windows were next and that would lead to our roof being blown away. We could only gather in the safe parts of the house and hunker down. By our estimation we felt numerous wind gusts over 100 MPH. Mother Nature was in full control of our lives, our belongings and our future. Being this helpless was not fun.

We checked for personal damage.

After it passed, we were very relieved and even elated because we had not experienced any injuries or real serious damage. Especially after having such strong winds last for so long. We could only marvel at the destruction and even more at the lack of damage, where it was expected. Our house, and cars were spared. My personally planted avocado tree and several of my orange trees were completely uprooted. A huge oak tree was blown over our tennis court fence, and the yard looked like a war zone. My neighbor had a tall pine tree get blown down and it missed their house by only ten feet. They also sustained pool cage damage, but their house was also spared.

We felt that we were extremely lucky to have so little damage, and we figured that the direction of the winds was our savior. If the winds had blown from any other direction we would probably have been toast.

We toured the neighborhood.

We all piled in our SUV and toured our neighborhood to view the results of Charley. Other neighbors came out of their houses and we stopped to talk and even meet neighbors for the first time. Relief, exhilaration, thankfulness, compassion, and camaraderie of having experienced such a devastating force were felt by all of us. We were part of a history-making happening. Yet, there was no panic, no wailing, and no crying; just relief and an undercurrent determination to forge forward.

We saw many huge trees completely uprooted and many blocked our roads. Much to our pleasant surprise, several hours after Charley left, the fire department was using a bulldozer to move two massive trees from our subdivision road that was blocking any exit for approximately 15 households. Wow!

We survived under trying conditions.

Thank god my wife had the forethought to get water, ice, batteries, gasoline and other supplies before I arrived home. We really needed them the next six days. We had no air conditioning, no running water, no phones, or lights. We tried to sleep in our house the first two nights, and found that the heat and humidity made it very difficult to go to sleep. We opened our doors to let the breeze cool us. But, much to our surprise the mosquitoes took advantage of our open door policy and had diving practice on any exposed skin they could find. That made me wonder about how Mother Nature works. Where could these mosquitoes have possibly hidden to be protected from hurricane winds for over 5 hours? How could they have possibly survived? Evidently many did survive and they came out very hungry. We were their main meal for two nights, and they are thriving.

We got lucky!

Then we got lucky. (Our definition of lucky had really changed by now) The brother of our neighbor had left town and his home had power and water. We were invited to stay overnight in cool air conditioning, fresh beds and take a shower for the first time in days. What a joy! They even had a contraption called TV. Watching their TV was a sobering experience. This is when we learned how devastating Charley really was. Nearby towns, Sanibel, Cape Coral, Pine Island, Punta Gorda, Matlacha, Port Charlotte and others felt the full fury of Charley. Homes, trailers, and buildings in these towns were totaled. The numbers are staggering. Over 2,000,000 people lost power. Over 135,000 people were left homeless. The Islands of Fort Myers Beach, Gasparilla, and Sanibel received a surge of water that flooded all first floors and the islands were sealed off to anyone for days. Charley was the second most destructive hurricane in US history, behind Andrew.

Ice became the golden commodity. We had to buy it daily because we used it up so fast. People waited in line for an hour to buy a Burger King, or to get gasoline.

We stayed in friend’s homes for five nights to avoid staying at home and suffering through the heat and mosquitoes. They opened up their homes to us and moved their kids around so we could have a bed. We gladly contributed our wine stash to the party and the meals we had together were fun. The office of The Coach Connection was not damaged, but it lost power for six days and Internet connection for 10 days. Living without electricity, or running water, or the Internet was a very humbling experience. Talk about changing perspectives. I have a much greater appreciation for the many utilities that I use every day without thinking about it. When they are gone and gone all around you at the same time, boy did we miss them. Our home had power restored in seven days and the phones returned in eight.

Driving became a new adventure.

Most of the traffic lights were down and every intersection became an intense unpredictable four way stop, when police or National Guardsmen did not man it. At first, drivers were very cautious and courteous at these intersections, but as time, heat, and frustrations mounted, courtesy and caution dwindled. Even after 9 days, some intersections on main roads have no lights or police, and we approached intersections with great trepidation and anxiety to pass through safely.

Survivors and newcomers helped each other.

I marveled at how well everyone helped each other. I was greatly moved when my neighbor surprised us on Saturday night with 5 bags of ice for our family. They hit the jackpot at a Publix and bought ice for both families. We celebrated our ice coup, and I am forever grateful for such a generous gesture. We used the pool of another neighbor to cool off, and my wife was instrumental in getting them electric power later on.
The local papers have published countless letters, thank yous, and articles reporting so many different ways people helped each other through this mess. Store clerks have offered their homes and ice to total strangers, supermarket employees loaned their cell phones to Germans to call concerned relatives back home. People who have suffered themselves found ways to help others who needed it more, and asked for nothing in return. Firemen and police went door to door to check on the safety of people and provided free ice and cold water. Total strangers showed up and cut downed trees and cleared debris for nothing then disappeared. Power company workers and clean up crews arrived from countless other states and worked 16 hour days without breaks over the weekends, in 95 degree weather and constant afternoon rainstorms, to clear lines and restore power. In fact, they had over 32 massive crew trucks descend on our little neighborhood of 120 lots to clear untold trees and restore power in only several hours. Sure they were paid, but they kept at it under very difficult conditions without complaining and they are still at it as I write, restoring power in very heavily hit areas. Insurance adjusters and FEMA inspectors came from all over to pitch in and start the recovery process. The area is recovering rapidly, only because so many people gave of themselves, for so long, without seeking rewards.

The national media ignores people helping people to report negative news.

Unfortunately, these constant, generous and wonderful gifts made by so many strangers to so many others have not made the national news. I guess it is easier to sell turmoil in Iraq, glamorize the resignation of the Governor of NJ, and report the infinite details of the Peterson trial than to waste one reporter or one column in a magazine or a national newspaper, or one TV crew to report the thousands of generous caring good deeds performed daily in South West Florida. Good things just don’t get the media attention. Well folks, you can be proud to know that there are many thousands of people down here doing wonderful things for each other, even if the US media ignores the truth. Frankly, my faith in my fellow man has been greatly renewed because of what I have seen, felt, and heard about.

The adjustments we made.

The life adjustments we made on the fly to survive and exist during and after the hurricane were fairly spectacular. Things we would have been inconvenienced about or would have shown impatience or frustrations in doing before, we gladly did. For example, when the ice dispenser on the refrigerator did not previously work properly, we might have been bothered. Now we were thrilled to find ice at the third store we visited. My patience has been greatly expanded, and I hope it remains at this level. I drive with more patience, and the little things no longer seem to bother me. How neat!

What we still have to do.

We are the lucky ones, yet we are still recovering from the damage. It will take many months to return to the same levels we had before August 13. We will have to deal with FEMA, contractors, completing cleaning up the yard, continuing to fix the bloody chain saws that break during tree removals, adjusters, pay bills, organize the yard debris, and recover from missing at least a weeks worth of work. But, all of this will happen in due course, and we are very grateful that these are the only problems we have before us.

Sharing a new perspective.

In the meantime, the next time you get perturbed at missing a traffic light, or the ice machine on your refrigerator fails to work properly, remember, you could have been here, and would have been thankful to have ice or to have traffic lights to pass through safely. Hurricane Charley did a number on a lot of people, but Charley is gone, and we are coming back.

We welcome your opinions and comments.

Bill Dueease
Editor
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