Hurricane Charley: A Retrospective

I promised you a play-by-play of Hurricane Charley. So here it goes:

Friday, August 13, 2004 (Friday the 13th)

Sometime in the early morning hours: The first outer rain band passes over central Florida. I was fast asleep. The only reason I know this is because the pavement and streets were all wet when I woke up.

7:45 am: I arrived at work a little early in anticipation of needing to leave a little early due to the inclimate weather forcast. I checked online for the latest cooridinates and forcast. It was located between Cuba and Key West. The winds had picked up a bit to upgrade it to a Category 3 Hurricane. The storm was forcasted to travel west of Orlando. I continued to check updates every hour.

11:30 am: Received a weather advisory email stating that Orange County has upgraded from an Inland Tropical Storm Wind Warning to an Inland Hurricane Wind Warning. This is not a good thing.

1:00 pm: The Orange County Sheriff issued a statement to have everyone off the roads by 2 pm. Therefore C&P shut down the office and everyone cleared out. I do get paid for the last 4 hours :) It started sprinkling outside.

2:00 pm: The National Hurricane Center issues Charley's latest coordinates, wind speeds, pressure, and projected path. Sustained winds had picked up to 145 mph, making it a Category 4 Hurricane. The course had also changed. The storm had made its easterly turn earlier than initially forcasted and would make landfall near Ft. Myers, Florida. Also, if continued on this course, it would make a direct hit on Orlando.

2:33 pm: A dark heavy squall line was racing towards my aparment. The second wave of strong thunderstorms hit; this time, sprouting tornadoes. Thankfully, none of them were near me, but the wind blew pretty hard. The storms didn't last long, only a matter of minutes. Then it was quiet.

4:00 pm: The eye of the hurricane made landfall near Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte (just north of Ft. Myers). Along with it came 125 mph winds and a 15' storm surge. Buildings were being ripped to shreds and/or becoming submerged in the rising flood waters.

5:45 pm: The phone rang. I though it was my mom continuing to check up on me. It wasn't her. It was some telemarketer. I'm like, "uh, I can't talk right now. I'm waiting for a hurricane." Well, I didn't say the part about the hurricane, but he did hang up. I looked at my caller ID to see that he was calling from New Jersey.

6:00 pm: The third rain band came through. There were no strong winds with this band, just more heavy downpours.

6:30-8:45 pm: Waiting, waiting, waiting. The news and weather people said that the storm was headed right for my backyard. But as I looked outside, all I could see was a dead calm. No wind. A light drizzle fell from the gray clouds that had blanketed the skies all day.

8:45 pm: The winds quickly picked up out of nowhere. The news and weather people said that now was the time to take cover. I took shelter in my bathroom bunker. It is the safest place - and interior room on the lowest level (my apartment is on the first floor). The winds continued to pick up in pace, ultimately to sustained winds of 77 mph (like driving down the freeway - but I never go THAT fast :) ) and gusts of about 100 mph! I could hear the howling wind through the vent in my bathroom. It was just like the sound that comes from blowing over a bottle opening. I could hear what sounded like sheet metal waving in the wind. I thought that the roof was blowing off, but I think it was just the driving rain hitting the roof. I could hear my front door rattling in the wind (I had it locked and deadbolted). My ears started to pop from the rapidly dropping pressure as the eye of the storm neared Downtown Orlando. The power kept going on and off for a good half hour before finally going out for good. While sitting in the dark (with the exception of my headlight flashlight) and the wind whipping about outside, I became startled when my fire alarm went off. This worried me because if there was a fire, I couldn't go outside in the middle of a hurricane. I wearily stepped outside of my bunker to assess the situation. I could not smell any smoke or see any flames. I tried to find a way to turn it off, but there was no reset button or anything. It must have somehow been triggered from the outside pull, because as I looked out of the peephole, that alarm (which had a light on it) was also going off. I wanted to take a peek outside, but I could not even open my door. The wind pressure was holding it shut. Eventually (after about 20 minutes or so) the alarm shut itself out. There was no fire, which is good because if there was, I don't know how a fire truck could have gotten there in the middle of the storm.

10:30 pm: The winds died down a bit to just a few strong gusts every now and then. I left my bunker and took a look around my apartment (from the inside). No windows were broken. No water had come in through my patio doors (which was one of my biggest concerns). I took a look out of all my windows, but there wasn't much to see due to the darkness. I would have to wait until morning to check my car. It was eerily quiet with no more wind and no power - just silent darkness. Nothing to do but go to bed.

Saturday, August 14, 2004 (Day 1 of the Aftermath)

I was awakened by the early morning commotion coming from my open bedroom window (no electricity=no a.c.). My neighbors were walking about assessing the damage. I could hear all the news helicopters taking off from the nearby Executive Airport. None of it bothered me, though. I just went back to sleep. Since I was a bit anxious to see what kind of footprint Charley had left behind. I got up around 10:30 (rather than the usual noon). The power was still out. I first checked my car - no harm done. There were some leaves and debris stuck to it, but not broken windows, dents, or scratches. I took a stroll around the entire complex to assess the damage. I have to say that I was a bit surprised (but glad) to see that the extent of the damage was fairly minimal, especially compared to some of the reports that I had heard about on the radio. There were several uprooted trees and shrubs, but they all fell away from the building. Of course there were sticks and leaves EVERYWHERE. I also noticed that all the lounge chairs were in the bottom of the pool (but I think they were put there on purpose). The only "building" damage was some missing shingles and soffit vent - very minor. I wish I could say the same for the surrounding neighborhood. I took a quick drive "around the block". Several large trees were down (some on houses, some just missed, some blocking roadways). Many businesses' canopies and signs were ripped off and/or mangled into a wad of twisted metal. The structural integrety of most buildings seemed to be intact. I was surprised to see that many street lights were back on and businesses had power. Some were even open for business. I went back to my apartment to find that power had been restored. It wasn't even noon. Although, the power was back, I didn't have cable, so I couldn't watch tv, but I could watch dvds. I went to the Sat. night service at church. I had to take a few detours due to down trees blocking the road. The church didn't have power, but they had a generator running a few lights. It was really nice. There were only about 20 people there for this candlelight service. After church, I came home to watch a couple more movies before going to bed.

Sunday, August 15, 2004

I slept in again (my favorite thing to do on weekends). My cable came back. So now I had everything: water, electricity, phone, internet, and cable. I can't say the same for many area residents. It could be over a week before everything is restored. I went to church later that afternoon to help clean up the grounds (in the rain). Sunday evening, I went to the movies and say "Princess Diaries 2". It was cute, but not as good as the first one.

Monday, August 16, 2004

Well, full power had been restored to the office, so it was back to work. Several people didn't make it in because they were busy cleaning up around their own homes.


Things are slowly getting back to normal around here. There are still thousands of people with out power. Some don't have running water either. Many traffic lights are still out, and some roads are still blocked, which makes driving a bit more complicated.

I have survived my first hurricane (it probably won't be my last). I can say that this was the worst natural disaster I have ever witnessed first hand. Could I do it again? Sure. I learned a lot about myself and how to better prepare for such an event. Do I WANT to go through another hurricane? Not particularily. I'm good until next season.