Not to downplay Frances...

[k-man]

But she was no Charley. At least not here in Orlando. Minimal damage here, which is a great thing! Even hours of sustained wind anywhere from 30-60 mph are no match for even ten minutes at 100-105 which is what we experienced during Charley.

I know that there will be damage and it will affect more people, but Central Florida held up really well. Now of course we need to keep an eye on Ivan

[Patrick99]

But she was no Charley. At least not here in Orlando. Minimal damage here, which is a great thing! Even hours of sustained wind anywhere from 30-60 mph are no match for even ten minutes at 100-105 which is what we experienced during Charley.

I know that there will be damage and it will affect more people, but Central Florida held up really well. Now of course we need to keep an eye on Ivan

No, she was not. I'm sorry if it seems insensitive, but I am sick and tired of our newspeople ranting and raving as if the second coming of Andrew (or Charley for that matter) came ashore.

Also, for that matter, I'm sick and tired of being told how dangerous it is to go outside. I have been doing my very best to rebel against that the whole time. I would really like to know why it's dangerous even in the slightest, with an offshore tropical storm force wind and no danger of storm surge, to go jogging on the beach. A grown man will not be "swept away" as so many of these hysterical news reporters and politicians have wildly been claiming.

Mark my words, even in the hardest hit areas, power will be restored, roads will be cleared, things will be up and running again in a relatively short time. You won't have vast stretches of suburbia needing a TOTAL REBUILDING as you saw after Andrew. Heck, even in more central and northern sections of Dade County that weren't as hard hit as South Dade, it still took *weeks* to restore power. I don't think this will be seen in the aftermath of Frances. I think the residents of Palm Beach and Martin counties will be pleasantly surprised at how quickly things get up and running.

[MBryant]

The type of damage may be less severe and over a much broader area, but the real danger is from the uprooted trees falling on power lines which may or may not be live or may come alive as they restore transmission service.

It it true that noone in Charlies path would compare the two, but millions were affected in a mild to moderate way with Frances while (only) thousands were affected in a severe way with Charlie.

[Guest]

people don't realize how much better it was that it slowed down. Even though it lasted longer, if itr had kept its speed it would've hit as a cat 4 most likely, and caused much worse damage.

[canegrl04]

Frances,for all intent and purposes,is a non issue now.All focus should be on Ivan.It will cut down on the number of posts on the board if we just stick to Ivan

[huricanwatcher]

canegrl04 bite your tongue... its an issue to anyone who is just finally looking and getting outside to see the extent of the damage, dont downplay a thing

[canegrl04]

Sorry abou that.I'm just aittle annoyed at posts like "Frances 1000 miles wide.Frances getting stronger..... When a more dangerous hurricane is on its way.I didn't mean to down play the afects on peoples lives

[southerngale]

Not to mention, Frances will be making landfall again and affecting more people.

[huricanwatcher]

Everyones entitled at this point..... let em all rant and rave.......

[melhow]

hmmmm....aren't you in TEXAS, where it is DRY, and WARM, and not blowing your trees down in your front yard?

You want annoyed, try having a month and a half of torrential rain, followed by a week of preparations for one hurricane, then another week of preparations for another hurricane, then being stuck inside for two days in "wait and see" mode, then being stuck inside for the actual storm (which feels like it will never end) and then have someone who is half-way across the country deciding what is a non-issue. Hello....Frances is CURRENTLY f-ing with a lot of folks. You are so interested in IVAN, maybe he will pay you a visit while I am waving to ya from across the Gulf and sucking on a cold one on the beach.

[Canelaw99]

Be nice folks. All of us in FL are dealing with, or have been dealing with Frances for what...? A week now? I know that I, personally, was evacuated from my house and forced to stay with my in-laws (:eek:) for over 4 days. I was just as happy as anyone to be able to come home today. Now, though, Frances has been downgraded...yes, she's still dumping rain (heck, I've had rain and strong winds here in Homestead all afternoon), winds, etc. on a lot of FL...yes, there are power lines down, trees uprooted, etc. However, we ALL need to work on the clean-up and get it done as quick as possible beause Ivan is a potential threat to us, again, and we do need to quickly shift our focus from Frances to Ivan. Just my opinion.

And, yes, I'm quite sick of seeing the 24/7 news coverage on Frances, personally....