Hurricane Charley Anniversary thread - 8/13/04

[TheShrimper]

Charley was nothing. I dont mean to disrespect the individuals that were effected by him, as I was one of them. A cat 2, even a 1 moving at a slower rate of speed, would have caused much greater damage here in SW Fla. There was no storm surge, so to speak, not even close to the 12-17 foot that was forecasted. Yes, the winds were devistating, but only in a small path which Charley traveresed. The windfield was just too small for Charley to be considered a devistating hurricane. Again, I was effected greatly here on Pine Island, but it could have been a hell of alot worse with a slower forward movement and an expanded windfield. With that scenario, you would have brought 150,000 people into the picture, just in Cape Coral alone. Add Ft. Myers south to Naples into the picture, and you have unrivaled problems and devistation. Granted with it's forward speed, inland areas were also effected, but not to the degree if Charley was slower and larger.

[recmod]

Hurricane Charley was the single most terrifying and life-altering meteorological event that I ever lived through in my 45 years. Living 20 miles north of Orlando in Seminole County, the eyewall of Charley went directly over my home. Winds were measured in my local area gusting to 100mph with a central pressure of 981mb (28.97). Damage to my neighborhood was extensive with power out in most areas for 2 weeks and longer.

As many of you probably know, I made a website of my personal experiences with the hurricane trio of 2004. Here is the link to my page on Charley:

Hurricane Charley

I also created a photo montage around my local area comparing what the region looked like immediately after the hurricane and how things had improved 6 months later:

6 Months After Hurricane Charley in Seminole County

There is also a digital scrapbook I put together of all the Orlando Sentinel newspaper articles that appeared before and after the hurricane:

Orlando Sentinel Hurricane Scrapbook

Other than the media photos section, all the photographs were taken by myself.

--Lou

[Extremeweatherguy]

Charley was nothing. I dont mean to disrespect the individuals that were effected by him, as I was one of them. A cat 2, even a 1 moving at a slower rate of speed, would have caused much greater damage here in SW Fla. There was no storm surge, so to speak, not even close to the 12-17 foot that was forecasted. Yes, the winds were devistating, but only in a small path which Charley traveresed. The windfield was just too small for Charley to be considered a devistating hurricane. Again, I was effected greatly here on Pine Island, but it could have been a hell of alot worse with a slower forward movement and an expanded windfield. With that scenario, you would have brought 150,000 people into the picture, just in Cape Coral alone. Add Ft. Myers south to Naples into the picture, and you have unrivaled problems and devistation. Granted with it's forward speed, inland areas were also effected, but not to the degree if Charley was slower and larger.

Where on pine island do you live? North Pine Island saw devastating Cat. 3+ winds, like that in Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda, whereas southern Pine island only received Cat. 1-2 force winds. That would make a huge difference.

Also, I don't see how inland areas would have been affected more with a larger, slower storm as you said. It was Charley's small size and fast speed that allowed it to remain a strong cat. 1 as far NE as Orlando and Daytona Beach. A slower and larger storm would have weakened much faster and would not have been the major storm Central FL experienced.

BTW: Being the 4th (at one point 3rd...before Wilma) costliest storm to ever affect the United states is "devastating" IMO. It doesn't take a large storm surge to be "devastating". If that was the case, then that means Hurricane Andrew would just be another "typical" storm too.

[Extremeweatherguy]

Hurricane Charley was the single most terrifying and life-altering meteorological event that I ever lived through in my 45 years. Living 20 miles north of Orlando in Seminole County, the eyewall of Charley went directly over my home. Winds were measured in my local area gusting to 100mph with a central pressure of 981mb (28.97). Damage to my neighborhood was extensive with power out in most areas for 2 weeks and longer.

As many of you probably know, I made a website of my personal experiences with the hurricane trio of 2004. Here is the link to my page on Charley:

Hurricane Charley

I also created a photo montage around my local area comparing what the region looked like immediately after the hurricane and how things had improved 6 months later:

6 Months After Hurricane Charley in Seminole County

There is also a digital scrapbook I put together of all the Orlando Sentinel newspaper articles that appeared before and after the hurricane:

Orlando Sentinel Hurricane Scrapbook

Other than the media photos section, all the photographs were taken by myself.

--Lou

Yes, I remember seeing your website in the past. Wonderful work! Thanks for adding it to this thread.

[DanKellFla]

And everybody asked, "Where is Punta Gorda?"

[TheShrimper]

I live in Bokeelia. It is the nothernmost point on Pine Island. Yes there was devistation here, but mainly due to tornados or microbursts. Some house's escaped unscathed, while others 100 yards down the road were flattened. A slower moving storm that brought tidal surge into the picture, would have been so much worse. I have seen water in Bokeelia and Pineland, encroach 10 times worse in tropical storms, than it did in Charley. There was no surge here, period, and that is factored into the equation of Charley's devistation. As far as part 2 is concerned, the impact of Charley on the coast, if on a slower approach and even weaker, would have escalated the dollar damage. The money is on the coast, not in Punta Gorda, Arcadia, Wauchula, Bartow and so on. If Charley was moving slower and it's windfield was larger, even at a cat 2, then you bring Naples, Bonita Springs and much of Lee County into the crosshairs. That would overide any damages incurred in the rural areas along the Peace River Charley traversed. Drive down RT 17 towards Winter Haven and note the sparcity of urbanization. What happened in Orlando, well I do not know, but what ever did happen damage wise, would have been superceeded by the damage here on the coast, if Charley was slower and larger.

[TheShrimper]

By the way, I was in South Dade County Aug. 24 1992. We are not talking about trailer parks being destroyed there, but EVERYTHING. That is what everything should be weighed upon. From just south of Kendall Dr. south to Florida City, there was nothing standing higher that 20 ft. tall after Andrew. Any vegitation that managed to escape the wrath, was stripped. You can still see signs today of the effect.

[Sanibel]

A boat storage warehouse was smashed in and stripped like a tin can in Bokeelia.


I regret not riding Charley out because our house was mostly intact except some rips and tears. But only a fool would ride out a potential category 4 bullseye on a barrier island with an elevation of 4-7 feet.

I saw steel I-beams twisted like putty in Punta Gorda.

[caneman]

A boat storage warehouse was smashed in and stripped like a tin can in Bokeelia.


I regret not riding Charley out because our house was mostly intact except some rips and tears. But only a fool would ride out a potential category 4 bullseye on a barrier island with an elevation of 4-7 feet.

I saw steel I-beams twisted like putty in Punta Gorda.

And huge metal lightpoles all along 75 snapped in 1/2. Just because he was small didn't make him devastating and because he was moving so fast he tore thru 200 plus miles of Florida. Sorry Shrimper but he was every bit as devastating as a slow mover as a slow mover would not have affected people that far inland as it would have weakened before it got too far inland. I was in Kissimmee at the time. NEVER EVER NEVER EVER thought I would ride out a Hurricane like that there nor see the damage I saw.

[Extremeweatherguy]

A boat storage warehouse was smashed in and stripped like a tin can in Bokeelia.


I regret not riding Charley out because our house was mostly intact except some rips and tears. But only a fool would ride out a potential category 4 bullseye on a barrier island with an elevation of 4-7 feet.

I saw steel I-beams twisted like putty in Punta Gorda.

And huge metal lightpoles all along 75 snapped in 1/2. Just because he was small didn't make him devastating and because he was moving so fast he tore thru 200 plus miles of Florida. Sorry Shrimper but he was every bit as devastating as a slow mover as a slow mover would not have affected people that far inland as it would have weakened before it got too far inland. I was in Kissimmee at the time. NEVER EVER NEVER EVER thought I would ride out a Hurricane like that there nor see the damage I saw.

Exactly. A weaker, and slower storm would never be the same. Charley produced 3+ billion in damages in just the Orlando area alone, something that would not have happened in his scenario. Sure, the surge may have been a few feet higher in a large Cat. 2, but in all honesty, I doubt the higher surge would make up for the wind damage done across the state of Florida all the way to Daytona Beach.

[MGC]

I'll trade ya'll Charley for Katrina...any takers. I was driving to the supermarket when I heard the upgrade to Cat-4. I had just left home an hour earlier and as I recall Charley was like a low end Cat-3. I about dropped my coffee when I heard the radio announcer say the winds were 145mph. Talk about a bad situation, a hurricane bombing just before landfall.....MGC

[caneman]

I'll trade ya'll Charley for Katrina...any takers. I was driving to the supermarket when I heard the upgrade to Cat-4. I had just left home an hour earlier and as I recall Charley was like a low end Cat-3. I about dropped my coffee when I heard the radio announcer say the winds were 145mph. Talk about a bad situation, a hurricane bombing just before landfall.....MGC

Come MGC you can't compare th 2. Katrina produced surge in an are known for flooding problems with many people that thought"Hey, I'll just ride it out". I'm talking pure wind. Pure wind which traveled FAR inland - this storm for pure wind was one of the worst ever. Even though it was 10 miles wide take that times oh 150 miles inland. While most storms moving slower would stop producing that kind of damage at say 50-75 miles inland.

[Extremeweatherguy]

I'll trade ya'll Charley for Katrina...any takers. I was driving to the supermarket when I heard the upgrade to Cat-4. I had just left home an hour earlier and as I recall Charley was like a low end Cat-3. I about dropped my coffee when I heard the radio announcer say the winds were 145mph. Talk about a bad situation, a hurricane bombing just before landfall.....MGC

Come MGC you can't compare th 2. Katrina produced surge in an are known for flooding problems with many people that thought"Hey, I'll just ride it out". I'm talking pure wind. Pure wind which traveled FAR inland - this storm for pure wind was one of the worst ever. Even though it was 10 miles wide take that times oh 150 miles inland. While most storms moving slower would stop producing that kind of damage at say 50-75 miles inland.

yes; big difference. Charley (though small in size) brought wind gusts to 100mph+ along it's entire 170-200 mile path through Florida, while Katrina brought a 20 foot+ storm surge to areas of the northern Gulf. It is wind vs. water.

Here is a good comparison:

CHARLEY
Surge: 7-11 feet
Wind: 150mph landfall (75mph+ through entire 200 mile FL path)
Size: Small

KATRINA
Surge: 23-28 ft.+
Wind: 130mph landfall (75mph+ up to about 70-90 miles inland in MS)
Size: Large

[Brent]

When it blew up into a Cat 4 things were about as crazy as I've ever seen them. It seemed the entire Internet slowed to a crawl when the news spread about it(I know most weather sites were completely down or VERY slow for hours).

[southerngale]

I'll trade ya'll Charley for Katrina...any takers. I was driving to the supermarket when I heard the upgrade to Cat-4. I had just left home an hour earlier and as I recall Charley was like a low end Cat-3. I about dropped my coffee when I heard the radio announcer say the winds were 145mph. Talk about a bad situation, a hurricane bombing just before landfall.....MGC

Come MGC you can't compare th 2. Katrina produced surge in an are known for flooding problems with many people that thought"Hey, I'll just ride it out". I'm talking pure wind. Pure wind which traveled FAR inland - this storm for pure wind was one of the worst ever. Even though it was 10 miles wide take that times oh 150 miles inland. While most storms moving slower would stop producing that kind of damage at say 50-75 miles inland.

I'm not sure why everything has to be compared to Katrina anyway. Someone else's misery doesn't make another's go away.

[boca]

True Wilma was miserable to me and all the other people that have blue tarps across South Florida.

[quandary]

Charley was nothing. I dont mean to disrespect the individuals that were effected by him, as I was one of them. A cat 2, even a 1 moving at a slower rate of speed, would have caused much greater damage here in SW Fla. There was no storm surge, so to speak, not even close to the 12-17 foot that was forecasted. Yes, the winds were devistating, but only in a small path which Charley traveresed. The windfield was just too small for Charley to be considered a devistating hurricane. Again, I was effected greatly here on Pine Island, but it could have been a hell of alot worse with a slower forward movement and an expanded windfield. With that scenario, you would have brought 150,000 people into the picture, just in Cape Coral alone. Add Ft. Myers south to Naples into the picture, and you have unrivaled problems and devistation. Granted with it's forward speed, inland areas were also effected, but not to the degree if Charley was slower and larger.

If Charley had hurricane forced winds 200 miles across and crawled along like Frances did, I'm sure it would have been far worse for the people of the SW Florida coast. However, it did not, and it still produced 15 billlion dollars in damage, more than any storm except Katrina, Wilma and Andrew.

Not sure what you're saying shrimper... please try to make some sense. How can the storm be too small to be considered devastating hurricane when it was the 4th most devasting of all time and 2nd at the time? How can the problems be unrivaled even if Charley was much larger? Certainly Katrina rivals them.

[Normandy]

You can't compare Katrina to Charley, because it just would not be fair. In terms of the scope of damage, that is. Look at it this way....Biloxi was 40 miles from where Katrina's eye crosses the MS/LA coast. It was devastated. The farther west you went, it went from devestation to obliteration. Charley only leveled structures within a 5 mile radius, while Katrina leveled structures across two states (And AL had some bad damage as well).


And put Charley's winds with Katrina? Game over.



That being said, Charley was still a very severe storm and caused severe severe damages, which at the time it hit had not been seen since Andrew.
I think Shrimper you should show a little more respect for Charley.

[caneman]

You can't compare Katrina to Charley, because it just would not be fair. In terms of the scope of damage, that is. Look at it this way....Biloxi was 40 miles from where Katrina's eye crosses the MS/LA coast. It was devastated. The farther west you went, it went from devestation to obliteration. Charley only leveled structures within a 5 mile radius, while Katrina leveled structures across two states (And AL had some bad damage as well).


And put Charley's winds with Katrina? Game over.



That being said, Charley was still a very severe storm and caused severe severe damages, which at the time it hit had not been seen since Andrew.
I think Shrimper you should show a little more respect for Charley.

One hit a highly populated are while another did not. Had Charley hit the Tampa Bay area exiting thru Orlando(they would havebeen even closer to max force winds) or Jacksonville, you would be talking about catastrophic damage with an economy that would still be in ruins. But it didn't. Each will be remembered seperately. One for wind, one for flooding.

[george_r_1961]

Charley was nothing.

Posts like that make me want to scream. Im not even gonna compare Charley to Katrina, Rita, or any other storms. They were ALL bad.

There was widespread severe damage across FL. Look at the pictures and videos again. There was also significant damage further north; even southeast VA recieved flooding rains and some TS force winds.