Damage Reports from Wilma in Florida

[TampaFl]

NWUS52 KTBW 241538
LSRTBW

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL
1138 AM EDT MON OCT 24 2005

..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..

1000 AM TROPICAL STORM BRADENTON 27.49N 82.58W
10/24/2005 MANATEE FL AMATEUR RADIO

MINOR DAMAGE AT THE VISTA DEL LARGO MHP. 1 CARPORT WITH
ROOF DAMAGE. 4 MOBILE HOMES WITH AWNING DAMAGE.


&&
TIME OF DAMAGE ESTIMATED.
$$

BSG

[TampaFl]

NWUS52 KTBW 241552
LSRTBW

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL
1152 AM EDT MON OCT 24 2005

..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..

0600 AM TORNADO LAKE JOSEPHINE 27.40N 81.44W
10/24/2005 HIGHLANDS FL TRAINED SPOTTER

PORCH TORN OFF AND SHED DESTROYED AT A HOME.

[TampaFl]

NWUS52 KTBW 241335
LSRTBW

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL
935 AM EDT MON OCT 24 2005

..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..

0930 AM HURRICANE FORT MYERS 26.63N 81.85W
10/24/2005 LEE FL EMERGENCY MNGR

REPORTS OF DAMAGE INCLUDE NUMEROUS LARGE LIMBS DOWN AS
WELL AS DAMAGE TO POOL CAGES...ROOFS AND SIDING. PEAK
WIND GUST THUS FAR REPORTED WAS 79 MPH AT SOUTHWEST
FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT AT 828 AM EDT.

[TampaFl]

NWUS52 KMLB 241250
LSRMLB

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MELBOURNE FL
850 AM EDT MON OCT 24 2005

..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..

0735 AM TORNADO FLORIDANA BEACH 27.95N 80.50W
10/24/2005 BREVARD FL EMERGENCY MNGR

TORNADO REPORTED TO HAVE FLATTENED A HOME ON HIGHWAY A1A
IN FLORIDANA BEACH. HIGHWAY A1A BLOCKED BY DEBRIS.

0745 AM TORNADO MELBOURNE 28.11N 80.64W
10/24/2005 BREVARD FL EMERGENCY MNGR

DAMAGE TO APARTMENT COMPLEX NEAR INTERSECTION OF HIGHWAY
192 AND JOHN RODES. POWER LINES ALSO REPORTED TO BE DOWN
IN THE AREA.

[KBBOCA]

Can this be stickied? Thanks. It will be helpful to have just one thread for damage reports.

[terstorm1012]

http://blogs.herald.com/herald_hurricane_reports/

From the Miami Herald.

[KBBOCA]

Here's an excellent round up of damage news so far from the Miami Herald. I was astounded by the news that at one point Wilma's eye was touching 5 COUNTIES in Florida! That's HUGE!

----------

Clean up begins; one dead, power out, heavy damage

By MARTIN MERZER, JENNIFER BABSON AND WANDA J. DeMARZO

mmerzer@herald.com


After crashing through the back door and racing through the state, Hurricane Wilma relinquished its hold on South Florida this afternoon and moved into the Atlantic Ocean -- leaving behind severe damage, millions without power and countless insurance claims.

One man was killed in Coral Springs when he was struck by a falling tree, authorities said. There were no other confirmed reports of casualties.

The storm's vicious winds de-roofed homes in western suburbs and shattered windows in downtown office towers, raining glass on streets below. In the Florida Keys, sea water severed U.S. 1 around Mile Markers 31, 73 and 110. Traffic lights were down throughout South Florida.

Regionally, Wilma inflicted much wider, though thankfully less intense, damage than Hurricane Andrew. At one point, Wilma's eye simultaneously touched five counties. President Bush declared 20 counties of Florida a major disaster area.

''The damage is pretty much throughout the county,'' said Carlos Castillo, Miami-Dade's director of emergency management.

More than 2.5 million customers were without power through the southern half of the state, including 1.8 million in Miami-Dade and Broward and the entire city of Homestead. All but 5,000 of the 59,000 customers in the Florida Keys were without power.

Utility officials said full restoration could take weeks. Home repairs will take months -- or years.

''I guess I'm going to be one of several hundred thousand looking for a roofer,'' said Susan Schur, who lives in the Devon Aire subdivision in Kendall.

Miami International Airport and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International will be closed for the rest of today.

Miami-Dade police made six arrests for looting by Monday afternoon.

Hundreds of windows blew out of office buildings in downtown Fort Lauderdale, primarily in the courthouse area, and in downtown Miami, particularly along the Brickell Avenue business corridor.

''It looks like an explosion,'' said Carmen Rodriguez, who lives in the Brickell area.

All the windows -- 14 stories worth -- were blown out of the Broward County School District building at 600 SE 3rd Ave., in Fort Lauderdale. Biology worksheets and all manner of school district paperwork were strewn on streets near the building.

More than 100 windows blew out of South Shore Hospital in Miami Beach. A 10-story, unoccupied glass-encased tower was on the wrong end of a wind-tunnel created by luxury condo towers built across the street along Biscayne Bay.

The first window surrendered just after 7:30 a.m. For the next two-and-a-half hours, they popped out one by one. Soon, furniture, slabs of drywall and shreds of yellow insulation flew through the jagged openings.

''I looked outside, it was raining glass,'' said Ralph Cellazo, the building's plant manager. ``It's gutted now.''

In Sunny Isles Beach, at the Fort Apache Marina, two aluminium warehouses filled with hundreds of boats collapsed in a heap of twisted metal and fiberglass.

''The building was flat like a pancake,'' said Milton Greenspan who lives in a nearby condominium building. ``The whole thing collapsed.''

Another boat storage facility collapsed in Deerfield Beach.

At least two construction cranes collapsed, one in Hallandale Beach and one in Miami Beach.

''I think it is a blessing to be alive, '' said Miguel Cabral, who narrowly avoided being struck by the falling crane in Miami Beach.

State officials said Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami lost part of its roof, but hospital officials told The Herald they had a leak in one stairwell, it was repaired and the facility sustained no roof damage.

State officials also said that every hospital in Miami-Dade, Broward and Monroe counties was relying on generator power.

Many roofs were severely damaged in Pompano Beach, Coral Springs, Carol City and elsewhere. Fire stations reported major damage. Water mains broke and residents of Tamarac, Plantation and Pompano Beach were advised to boil water before using it.

Wilma is the eighth hurricane to strike or brush Florida in 14 months. Officials in Broward called it the worst to hit that county since Hurricane King in 1950.

''Broward took a hard hit and almost every city is reporting severe damage,'' said Carl Fowler, a spokesman for the county's emergency operations office.

Wilma landed along the southwest Gulf Coast as a major Category 3 storm and swiftly rolled its front half and then its eyewall and then its eye through the region.

Just when much of South Florida thought it might be in the clear, the back side of the storm attacked. The storm carved through the area with lightning speed -- making forward progress at 25 mph.

Sustained, extraordinarly powerful gusts roared from the west and southwest into Weston, Sunrise, Pembroke Pines and other western suburbs.

In many cases, what the front half left behind, the second half took away. Barrel tiles peeled off like paper, often slamming through the windows of parked cars. Trees toppled and pool screens collapsed. Rain seeped into many homes.

Jose Fuentes, director of regional services for the South Florida Water Management District, spent the night and day monitoring the smallest rise in canals and tidewater. Then, he received and unexpected and unwanted update.

''My neighbor called and said an avocado tree just went through my carport,'' said Fuentes, who lives in Coconut Grove.

Wilma's powerful eyewall moved over Fort Lauderdale and all of Broward. It also hit many parts of Miami-Dade. At 11 a.m., after hours of misery, the storm's top winds still blew at 105 mph.

According to the National Weather Service, gusts of 116 mph were reported just off the coast of Key Biscayne, 102 in Lake Okeechobee, 101 mph at Palm Beach International Airport, 95 mph at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, and 85 mph at the National Hurricane Center in West Miami-Dade and in Opa-locka.

Broward officials said they had unconfirmed reports of a 120 mph gust in Pompano Beach, 108 mph in Dania Beach, 105 mph at the Fort Lauderdale courthouse and 100 mph at the Miami Dolphins training camp in Davie.

The Florida Keys came under particularly intense attack. Instruments measured wind gusts of 120 mph at Cudjoe Key, 101 mph at Sombrero Key and 74 mph at Long Key.

Key West International Airport, the city's only airport, suffered modest damage. At one point, five feet of storm surge stood near the entrance and as many as three feet of water were on the runway.

The terminal was largely untouched, though a modular building that housed Cape Air was destroyed, according to airport director Peter Horton. The airport's tower was damaged, as were 100 cars in the airport's parking lot.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Navy said the runway at Naval Air Station Key West's Boca Chica facility is under water and workers are assessing the damage.

''We have a real disaster here,'' Key West Police Chief Bill Mauldin told a Key West city commissioner. ``We are in sad shape right now.''

As the storm raged, authorities in Miami-Dade said conditions compelled them to stop responding to most 911 calls for help. At the hurricane center, forecasters lowered storm shutters over the doors. The blue-green glow of electrical transformers exploding lit the sky over Miami International Airport.

Roof damage, downed trees and significant street flooding were reported in the Fort Lauderdale suburb of Weston, which sat directly under the worst part of the eyewall.

Fences and screen enclosures blew away in Cooper City. At least one office building in Pembroke Pines lost its front door, leaving the lobby flooded.

In the initial hours of the storm, a 250-foot construction crane collapsed onto coastal State Road A1A in Hallandale Beach.

''It was spinning around, counterclockwise,'' said Stu Rabin, who was watching from a nearby apartment building. 'I was like, `Holy cow!' It was bending, bending to the north, and in five seconds it went 'Boom!' ''

Another construction crane collapsed at the Oceania condominium at 1624 Collins Avenue in Miami Beach.

''I heard this loud crash,'' said Cabral, who was almost hit by the crane. ``I looked behind me and heard sparks.''

In downtown Miami, the headquarters of law firm Greenberg Traurig, a highrise at 15th and Brickell Avenue, took a terrible hit from the storm, said Rodriguez, the Brickell resident.

''About 80 percent of the windows have blown out,'' she said.

Looking down on the street from her condo, Rodriguez said she could see at least three feet of water on the street on Brickell Bay Drive. ''The one car on the street has water almost up to the window,'' she said.

The leading edge of Wilma's first touched the mainland at Cape Romano as a major, Category 3 hurricane. Landfall came just before 6:30 a.m., about 20 miles south of Marco Island along the lower Gulf Coast in a largely uninhabited area.

Wilma's maximum winds were measured at 125 mph at landfall, making it a strong Category 3 hurricane.

Then, the eye rolled across the state, largely along Alligator Alley, and moved through populated areas of Broward and Miami-Dade.

Four tornadoes were reported around the state, including one that caused some damage at the Kennedy Space Center.

Power outages continued to spread -- minute by minute, block by block.

In Miami-Dade, significant outages were reported in Kendall, Miami Gardens, Coral Gables, Hialeah and North Miami Beach, according to officials at the county's emergency operations center.

The city of Homestead, which generates its own electricity, was completely without power.

Repair crews, including those in 1,000 utility trucks waiting to the north, cannot be deployed until winds fall below 30 mph -- which could be late this afternoon.

In Weston, power repeatedly blinked on and off. In the Falls subdivision, residents could be heard cheering ''F-P-L, F-P-L,'' every time electricity returned.

In the Keys, damage reports were spotty, but flooding on the Atlantic Ocean side of Key West was extensive, according to Billy Wagner Sr., Monroe County's senior emergency manager. Some reports mentioned four feet of water in the city.

''They're getting clobbered all the way up the Keys,'' Wagner said.

He also said flooding in Marathon was worse than during Hurricane Georges, which pounded its way through the Florida Keys in 1998.

A massive storm tide -- up to 18 feet -- occurred along the Gulf Coast in south Collier County. Roads to Marco Island, Everglades City and Chokoloskee are believed to be flooded.

Forecasters warned that some causeways in Miami-Dade could be flooded by three to five feet of water later this morning.

Around the region:

• Some parts of Key West were believed to be under at least four feet of water, with at least 30 percent of the city severely flooded, but officials could not get outside to accurately assess the situation.

''There is flooding in New Town. The worst is by the high school,'' said Michael Haskins, a spokesman for the city.

Power was out in Key West and other areas of the Keys and parts of U.S. 1 and other roads were believed to be impassable. A water main break in Key West sharply reduced water pressure and triggered concerns over water quality.

Officials at Monroe's primary Emergency Operations Center in Marathon and the EOC in Key West were operating on generator power. Cell service was out in many areas.

Power lines sparked a fire at the home of county Administrator Tom Willi on Summerland Key, but firefighters were not yet able to respond to the scene because of weather conditions.

• Also in the Keys, waves of water turned parts of Marathon into mammoth pools.

At the Pelican Motel Trailer Park, three cars were completely submerged, and water had risen almost to the halfway point of most trailer homes.

''It's amazing,'' said Steve Ferrise. ``It happened so fast -- in just 15 minutes.''

Because the water shorted out so many electrical wires in nearby cars, even submerged and empty vehicles had windshield wipers and alarms going off, on their own.

• In Naples, just north of the point of landfall, blasts of wind brought down stoplights, picked apart a few trailers and sent one garden shed skittering over U.S. 41.

Sheets of peeled-off aluminum siding flew through the air. Some trees toppled and palm fronds littered the streets.

• In Fort Myers, a little farther north, curtains of rain lashed the area, flooding parking lots and invading low-lying buildings.

The roof at one Lee County Fire Department station lifted off, and Lehigh Regional Medical Center was forced to move patients into different rooms when wind damaged the roof, said David Kainrad, a spokesman for the Lee County Emergency Operations Center.

Nearly 400,000 homes were without power in the region.

• In Immokalee, a rural town about 20 miles from Naples that is heavily populated by migrant workers, there were reports of ramshackle trailers being knocked down, something community leaders feared and expected.

Thousands of illegal workers live in substandard trailers there, and though labor advocates prowled the streets with passengers vans and bullhorns until shortly before midnight Sunday, not everyone could be coaxed out, said Melody Gonzalez of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.

By one estimate, only half of the people living in the trailers sought safe shelter.

• In West Palm Beach, bands of heavy winds arrived before dawn, cutting power to some of the city's oldest neighborhoods.

Following Frances and Jeanne last year, Wilma is the third storm to damage Palm Beach County. And, as in the rest of the state, residents are extremely tired of this sort of thing.

''I don't know how much more we can take,'' said Lowell Farber, owner of Seaside Shutters. ``This is good for business. But I don't want this anymore. People are scared.''

• In Martin County along the East Coast, near where Wilma was forecast to reach the Atlantic around noon, the pre-dawn darkness brought swift gusts of warm damp air, seasoned occasionally with sprinkles of rain.

Wind whined in the massive communications tower above the emergency operations center. Underneath it, in a bunker banked with sod, emergency management workers watched the progress of the storm or prepared for the aftermath while others caught a few minutes of sleep -- preparing for a busy day.

• In Palm Beach County, five shelters operated on generator power after the electricity failed.

About 5,000 people were staying in 17 Red Cross shelters as of 7 a.m. in Palm Beach County.

[cycloneye]

This thread will be moved to the hurricane aftermath forum and sticked there.

[Recurve]

Personal observations from the Upper Keys:

Storm surge of 5 to 6 feet, possibly higher, with battering waves covered yards and low-lying neighborhoods on the bayside of all the Keys. In Key Largo, commercial docks and marinas were destoyed. Nothing was left of the dock and finger piers at the Caribbean Club. Other areas and facilities with damaged or destroyed docks are Key Largo Park community picnic area and the Upper Keys Sailing Club. The Islamorada Village Hall was flooded and offices have been temporarily relocated. Many small motels have lost their docks and waterfront facilities; rooms near the bay may have sustained water flood damage.

The saltwater surge has killed or damaged landscaping at residences and resorts. Non-native plants were mostly killed; some native plants will recover. Coconut palms appear to have withstood the surge and salt well.

Electricity has returned to most of the Keys outside of the City of Key West, which has its own generation and distribution system and electric company.

Archived bulletins from Monroe County EOC:

http://www.monroecounty-fl.gov/Pages/MonroeCoFL_EmerNews/

Visitors should be sure to check with motels and resorts before coming to the Keys to find out about damage to rooms and other facilities.

Gas is currently available in the Upper Keys, though spot shortages have been reported and lines of a block or so have been seen this week outside most gas stations.

Excerpts from Recovery report on 10/25:

Although the core of Wilma passed to the north of the island chain, officials are initially reporting significant impacts to the infrastructure. However, they add, there appears not be major catastrophic structural damage thus far.

The main electricity transmission line from Miami to the Keys is activated, said Tim Planer, CEO of the Florida Keys Electric Cooperative. He added that about 5,000 of 31,000 Co-op accounts in the Upper and Middle Keys were restored late Monday morning including Mariner’s Hospital, the Publix in Key Largo and a number of residences. Crews are assessing the extent of damage in the Cooperative customer service area.

The Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority reports a main waterline break in the City of Key West. Officials are working to identify the problem in order to effect repairs.

Key West International Airport Director Peter Horton reports his facility's runway is under water, but expects the water to recede. He also said the Key West terminal was in fine shape, with only a few inches of water on the floor. A modular building, that housed offices for Cape Air, has been destroyed.

Monroe County Sheriff's deputies are on patrol and county fire-rescue service has resumed from the Seven Mile Bridge south through Key West.

The biggest issues in the Keys are due to storm surge, as officials had warned.

City of Marathon fire chief Hans Wagner reports several structure fires are burning at the time of this advisory. He also says surge flooding is continuing to rise from the back side of the storm.

At least 40 percent of the City of Key West is dealing with flooding issues, according to city manager Julio Avael.

People driving vehicles through flooded neighborhoods in Key West are adding to the damage, pushing wakes of water further into already flooded homes.

City officials also are urging residents to call 305-809-1108 to report damages to their own property and to public infrastructure: trees down, low water pressure, power lines down. Gathering that information as quickly as possible will help the city to obtain assistance from state and federal agencies, McPherson said.


Additional Information and Resources:
Monroe County Emergency Information: 1-800-955-5504
Monroe County Situation Report: http://www.monroecounty-fl.gov
National Hurricane Center Web site: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov
Monroe County Sheriff's Office: http://www.keysso.net
County Public Access Television: Channel 76 on cable
Florida Keys Tourism Council: http://www.fla-keys.com

[Molly Bloomberg]

All large trees gone. Huge tree on house, in pool and through fence.
Roof damage, shutters & awning gone, fences destroyed, front of house damaged.

There is no way to 'prepare' for this.

[RoadRenegade]

The St Johns River here near Lake Harney is still rising and expect more rain today. River has just passed flood stage.