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October 4, 2004
Copyright © 2004 by Bill Dueease
Since the last newsletter about my own personal experiences
with hurricane Charley, we have also endured hurricane Francis, and
anxiously watched hurricane Ivan as it was originally headed our way
then veered off west and missed us. Then we also experienced the arrival
of hurricane Jeanne.
Charley caused serious damage to our area and wherever it went. Francis
caused less damage for us, with power outages lasting only 2-4 days,
and with only some flooding. Others north of us felt considerable flooding
and increased winds from Francis. Ivan missed us but caused serious
wind and water surge damage where it landed at Pensacola, Florida and
points north. Many areas in Florida, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina
and elsewhere suffered wind and heavier flooding. Jeanne followed the
same path Francis did and we were hit once again with wind, water and
outages.
The people in Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte just 20 miles to the North
of us felt the full wrath of Charley and almost the whole county suffered
serious, if not total, destruction. Then Francis came and blew off the
tarps covering the roofs of buildings with roofs, and dumped a lot of
rain on the now porous partial homes and buildings. Then Ivan threatened
the area for days with its category 5 winds but luckily it veered west.
And just when the Punta Gorda people thought it was clear, along came
Jeanne and through back winds and high tides caused serious flooding
from the Peace River rising five feet over flood stage. The Punta Gorda
area, which is only 20 miles north of Fort Myers, got slammed three
different times. It could have just as easily happened to us in Fort
Myers. We are on connecting watersheds.
I participated in our church's day effort to clean up just one mobile
home park near Punta Gorda after Charley (and before the other hurricanes)
and saw the overwhelming destruction. We picked up and stacked tons
of aluminum and Styrofoam (yes at least a ton of Styrofoam) at this
one single trailer park. Not to mention the tons of trees we cut up
and stacked.
Several hundreds of people have died and tens of billions of dollars
in damage has been caused by these four natural forces of nature. It
will take many years for the hard hit places to be rebuilt and restored.
We now live in the 21st century and have progressed so far in science,
communications, space travel, medicine, and technology in the past 50
years that new breakthroughs in these areas are becoming almost routine.
We have landed on the moon several times, driven remote controlled rovers
over the surface of Mars, opened up the genetic secrets of living organisms
(including humans), become connected to the world with hand held computers
and cell phones that allow us to talk or write to almost anyone. We
can even see their pictures, almost like the Dick Tracy wristwatch.
We can sit at home on our computers and view real time satellite pictures
of the weather (and the hurricanes, which I watched closely, especially
Ivan) and view what the rovers see on Mars.
Yet, we are still at the complete mercy of the weather. The four hurricanes
that hit Florida this year operated completely on their own. We had
NO CONTROL over the weather. We could only "hunker down" and
ride out the hurricanes, or escape to higher less windy ground. What
is fascinating are the reactions of the people so greatly affected by
these uncontrollable weather events.
I have noticed how people in Florida and elsewhere in the US, who take
the brunt of these storms, sometimes several times over, eventually
rise back up to live again. Few people complained about the hurricanes,
because there is no one on earth to complain to. Only God can affect
the hurricanes. He has His plans. People down here have shown a genuine
toughness, resiliency and camaraderie in weathering the storms together.
Looting, and other attacks on each other have been very rare. Giving,
and mutual support, both psychologically and physically has been rampant.
There exists a calm determination to survive together and a very common
perspective has risen: People who have suffered are exhibiting gratitude
and thankfulness. They feel this way because they know that their neighbors
have suffered much more.
The organized, and even spontaneous, team efforts to clean up and repair
the damage caused by each hurricane has been massive, continuous and
very productive. Worker ants are considered by many to be the hardest
working, the most team oriented, and most productive creatures on the
earth. However, they have been surpassed by the thousands of hard working
highly spirited and very caring people, who have performed rebuilding
miracles over the past 45 days.
Teams of power crews, phone crews, tree removal crews, insurance adjusters,
FEMA inspectors, and suppliers of scarce necessities (like ice, generators
and chain saws) arrived almost instantly after Charley from approximately
23 States. Seeing truck convoys of these crews from so many States was
very moving. We cheered, and offered them water, ice, food and whatever
gratitude we could when they showed up. What's fascinating is how much
food, water, ice, etc. these crews brought with them that they gave
to hurricane victims, out of their own pockets. They worked tirelessly
to clean up and repair the overwhelming carnage caused by Charley, under
awful conditions.
Local and out of the area Fire Departments galvanized their troops and
went into the damaged areas. They cleaned up the mess, repaired damaged
facilities, searched for the injured and missing, provided emergency
medical care and provided needed supplies (like water, ice and food).
AS VOLUNTEERS! Police, and firemen took control of roadway intersections
where traffic lights had ceased operating, to direct traffic, and emergency
crews.
Then these same crews moved on to the other areas in Florida to assist
others to recover from the other three hurricanes. They are continuing
to rebuild on an emergency pace as I write this newsletter. Neighbors
helped neighbors and went across town or into other counties to help
others get back on their feet, who were more devastated by the storms,
without being asked and without seeking anything in return. A hearty
thanks was more than enough reward.
The "We are in this together" teamwork and spirit has been
remarkable, and only man can rise above the forces of nature through
his cooperative emotions and effort. That has been happening in Florida,
every day since August 13, 2004.
I am so thankful that I live in The United States, especially because
of the morals, attitudes, generosity, integrity, and actions of my fellow
Americans.
Adversity has been said to bring out the best and the worst in man.
I feel blessed to have been surrounded by so many people who exhibited
the very best during our mutual time of suffering.
We welcome your opinions and comments.
Bill Dueease
Editor
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