I saw the id "Sanibel" and remembered there was a guy who lived on Sanibel Island who went through some of the 2004 hurricanes- Frances? I know he was giving us a good update on the hurricane up until he lost electricity, I believe.
We went through Gustav here and was without electricity & sewer for two weeks. We tried staying, going to our neighbor's for the bathroom. but my 12 year old daughter who uses a wheelchair is not supposed to remain in heat over 80 degrees so we went to an out of town hotel that normally charges under $50 a night, but were charging $100 at that time- but because the lower rate was considered a discount, they did not break any laws according to the attorney general's office (I checked). They had electricity but no cable so that was an extra rip-off. If I could have found a different place, I would have gone to it, but most of BR was without electricity including the hotels. FEMA paid $80 a night because of my child's disability and a local charity group kicked in the rest. FEMA would have bought us a generator which would have been ok had the sewer worked.
Before we moved into the hotel, I drove around with the kids a lot using the a/c in the van. Once I saw a line forming in a Walmart parking lot, and to my then 14 year old son's dismay, I got in it, not even knowing what it was for. We got a bag of ice and some wipes for my daughter. If they would have had her size diapers, we could have gotten that. We stayed in line about two hours and the Salvation Army fed us bologna sandwiches and soft drinks. The kids had their gameboys so I don't know what he was complaining about. I told him that one day, when he was very old, he could tell the story of how "after a hurricane, we waited for two days in a line and all we got was one piece of ice and an old sandwich!"
