Originally Posted By Doobie This topic is for discussion of the August 19 article: Hurricane Charley - A Personal View at <a href="News-ID508620.asp" target="_blank">http://LaughingPlace.com/News-ID508620.asp</a>.
Originally Posted By Daisy Duck Well, Rebekah & Doobie, now that we have experienced our first hurricane, we can now call ourselves true Floridians. Or so I have been told!!! I have been in Sarasota when we were so supposed to get direct hits, but ended up only getting rain, so this was my 1st hurricane, too. The experience was much the same in Hunter's Creek which is just down the road from Celebration (well maybe 5 miles or so <G>). We lost some decorative trim off of our apartments and had a few broken windows as well as quite a few trees down. The fence was also down in several places. It amazes me that I have not seen any palm trees down -- just a few branches from them. It is the oak trees that came down. The palm trees look more fragile, but I guess looks can be deceiving. I was actually outside about 8:15pm (with my apt blocking much of the wind) to try to take some pictures. Then my power started flickering on and off about 8:35 and went off for good about 8:45. I hit my 2nd bathroom, which I had prepared as my safe place, about that time. I ventured out a couple of times but went back pretty quickly. I live on the 2nd floor and I have cathedral ceilings, so the wind was echoing thruout my living room and kitchen. I was also by myself. I was fine until the power went off and I lost the TV and radar and couldn't see where the storm was. The radio helped some, but didn't totally make up for it. And when the back side of the storm came thru, it was so much quieter, it was eire. The winds were only 30 - 40 mph then. At first I thought it was the eye, but it went on too long. Then they said it was the backside on the radio and that the eye had passed farther east. I was also one of the lucky ones as far as power goes. I got mine back at 5:20 on Saturday morning. I have friends who live northeast of Orlando who still don't have electricity. So, as far as Orlando goes for vacationers, there isn't a problem. It is on the outskirts where the problems still are. The Florida Power, Progress Energy, phone company and other professionals have worked wonders with getting Orlando and the surrounding areas back to normal -- or at least as close as you can after something like this happens. -- Susie
Originally Posted By TDLFAN I wish I could say the same for BellSouth... my phone service is still out.
Originally Posted By usedtobesmileyface I'm so glad you guys are safe! it breaks my heart to see all those beautiful trees uprooted like that!! I wonder if there is any hope of them being replanted?
Originally Posted By Labuda Glad you guys are all safe! As for the video, WOW - gives me a greater respect for Mother Nature.
Originally Posted By GalDisney I, also experienced Charley, my first hurricane. I am in Daytona Beach, just a few miles from where the I4 ends(or begins). When Charley reached here it was a category 1 hurricane. Sustained winds were over 80 MPH. In the apt complex where I reside, there are many oak trees and pine trees. Alot of them were completely fallen and some even torn from the roots. Some had fallen on parked cars. But luckily most damage was just fallen trees, etc. I lost electricity and phone service just a few minutes into Charley. I was looking outside and I could see transformers "blowing up" one after another. It was like the 4th of July! But luckily, power in my community was restored in less than 24 hours. The winds and rain were fierce. i had never experienced anything like it. I only wish it was daytime when Charley hit here so I could have seen more. It is kind of funny, when I left Anaheim in December to move to Florida I was joking with my friends and family, saying, watch, the first year I am in Florida, Daytona Beach will experience a hurricane..and Voila!!! Daytona has not experienced a hurricane in many years and I arrive and it happens..lol But I am lucky that Category 4 Charley did not come off the Atlantic Ocean and hit the daytona area , if that happened daytona would be looking like Punta Gorda now. Hopefully, hurricaneds will stay away for the remainder of the season,, We still have a long way to go as hurricane season runs until Nov 30, with the height of the season being August and Sept. so lets all hope and pray that this is the worst we see.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN Scratch post #3. My phone service was restored this morning!! Now if I could have my few roof shingles replaced, we'd be back to normal here.
Originally Posted By Trinitys Ghost TDLFan - My jaw dropped when you said you had no phone service. Mine came back up late Saturday (guess I was lucky). Curious..do you live east or west of the Mouse? That might help clarify it for me (I'm east, by Universal).
Originally Posted By Chrisrails This was my second hurricane, the first one was Andrew, back when I lived in Ft. Laurderdale as a teenager. We didn't lose our power or phone service, during Charley. It did give us a bit of a fright though. Mrs. Chrisrails and I were both okay.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN ^^Good to know Chrisrails!! >>Curious..do you live east or west of the Mouse?<< East of WDW and Hunter's Creek.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 We had some friends that have a condo not too far east of WDW and they took some heavy damage ( roof/windows ) - and the amazing thing ( to me ) was that in the few days it took them to get down there, they already had mold damage...........not being a native Floridian as many of you are-- is it normal that that could happen that quickly ?
Originally Posted By meomi Hey Diasy, I was in Sarasota too. Nuttin happened, I didn't lose my power, in fact I was writing a paper for a class. I guess I was really lucky. Someone at my office lost his house though in Port Charlotte. I have been through quite a few storms though, because I have lived here almost my whole life. This was the first one I wasn't prepared for though. M
Originally Posted By teri Celebration did just fine. 5 miles east of Celebration is like a war zone. 90% of the homes in Poinciana sustained heavy damage - that is over 10,000 homes in a working class area. Celebration residents have sent convoys of SUVs and pickups with donations, ice, water and food over to Poinciana, raised money for tarps to cover roofs, sent volunteers to Give Kids The World and a retirement village. The Hunter's Creek area sustained quite a bit of damage as well. Celebration has underground utilities and buildings were specified to withstand hurricane force winds. If you drive through Celebration today, most of the trees that can be salvaged have already been put back upright. And when school starts on Monday, we are going to have about 1200 kids coming back to school from the poorest, hardest hit area of the county, through the pristine Celebration neighborhoods that were barely touched. It will be interesting.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN >>And when school starts on Monday, we are going to have about 1200 kids coming back to school from the poorest, hardest hit area of the county, through the pristine Celebration neighborhoods that were barely touched. It will be interesting<< Ain't that facinating?? This coming from a stuck up faux community that not too long ago was fighting to have those same poor neighborhood kids banned from attending school on Celebration soil.. Wow, how times have changed... Maybe we need more hurricanes thru Florida to bring out the best in people more often.
Originally Posted By Doobie <<< stuck up faux community >>> The people here (including myself) look pretty real to me. And they tend to be much nicer than to make comments like this. Doobie.
Originally Posted By Dave Susie, It's been a really long time and I'm glad to see you posting on LP. So did you move down there permanently or just commuting back and forth?
Originally Posted By teri <<<The people here (including myself) look pretty real to me. And they tend to be much nicer than to make comments like this. Doobie.>>> I agree with both of you, TDLFAN and Doobie. My rose-colored glasses broke a year ago when I moved here. Yes, there was a serious problem when they put a regional high school into Celebration, which had been advertised to all of us as a town with a small, innovative school within walking distance of everyone's home. The first 3 months were chaos, and we still have work to do. But things really did change for the better, and the change came last spring, long before the hurricane. When school opened this month, everyone was on board and psyched, and very optimistic. There is nothing faux about it. And if you saw how much the people here are doing to help, you would be amazed.
Originally Posted By teri I take back one thing.. many of the trees that were put back up right this week just got blown over in a major thunderstorm this afternoon. :::sigh:::
Originally Posted By DDMAN26 Glad to hear everyone is okay. Thankfully I've never experienced a hurricane. I have been a part of my fair share of tornadoes though.
