Charley Advisories

[Aimless]

So glad to hear you are ok. I'm north of you in Volusia and was lucky to get power back fairly early. Several friends from Deltona have moved in with me for a while as thier home was badly damaged and is expected to be without power through the weekend. All my downed trees were removed yesterday and I can get in and out of my driveway again! Hang in there, it gets a little better everyday.

[Josephine96]

I know I'll eventually be getting lights back.. It's just a matter of when and how long lol

[furluvcats]

These pictures are heart wrenching...

[caneman]

Hurricane Charley came on shore in SW Florida on the afternoon of Friday the 13th of August 2004. He destroyed parts of Punta Gorda and then began his assault on the local area. Including the area I live in of Kissimmee/St Cloud. Here is a look at some of my own personal damage reports from the naked eye.

PRELIMINARY HURRICANE CHARLEY STORM REPORT
THURSDAY AUGUST 19TH 2004
NJN WEATHER CENTER

CITY LOCATION TYPE OF DAMAGE
Kissimmee/Main St Historic Theatre destroyed by winds
Kissimmee/192 Numerous Traffic Lights knocked off poles
Kissimmee/192 Chevron gas station awning lifted up, later collapsed
Kissimmee/John Young Pkwy. Heavy Tree Damage at 1st Baptist Church
Kissimmee/ BVL Numerous Roof Damages
Kissimmee/BVL Gas Station sign picked up and thrown probably about a 1/4 mile
Kissimmee/ all over Numerous Signs blasted out
Kissimmee/ Lakeside Estates Power Lines down, some crashed into houses
Kissimmee/Valencia CC Trees blocking college entrance and exit
Kissimmee/ BVL Reported Tor touchdown at Wal Mart store

St Cloud 10th St.. Numerous mobile homes damaged or destroyed
St. Cloud 192 Heavy Damage to restaurant signs, some blown down by strong winds
St Cloud St Cloud Hospital Part of roof ripped off

A city wide curfew remains in effect for the city of Kissimmee, this is only a preliminary report and a full report with an article above will be published when my power is restored. Judging by the damage.. I believe Charley was a strong Cat 2.. borderline Cat 3 when he came through here

Hi Josephine,

I evacauted to Kissimmee from Tampa Bay, in retrospect doesn't look so smart now but I know it was the right thing to do. I will attest to everything you're saying here. From the Hotel I stayed in, I saw a transformer blow. A fence get blown away, and a huge sign get blown out. And then in the rear of my Hotel saw an iron fence shaking violently around the pool. It rained so hard and sideways that water penetrated every first floor room . We lost power very early into the storm. I have lived in Tampa Bay for 27 years and been thru many strong T.S.s, near miss Hurricanes and have never seen anything like this. Was told sustained winds were 105 mph with gusts to 120 mph. On top of that we had to deal with numerous Tornado warnings. LEft in the dark so I couldn't visually see trees knocked down but see many signs that were twisted like pretzles.

[Josephine96]

I will also admit.. I saw either a power line come crashing down.. or a transformer blowing off in the distance..

I was just sitting by the window watching the storm and suddenly 2 huge green flashes in the sky occured.

By then.. I knew Charley was really here and things were going downhill quick so I went and hid in the bathroom for about 2 hours

[michaelwmoss]

I think as time goes on, we are going to see more and more footage from this Hurricane.

It is totally incredible these people are still alive. Praise The Good Lord!!

[CaptinCrunch]

And yet those people will rebuild right there and wait out anouther Hurricane.

[CaptinCrunch]

Crazy Fools, and I would do it too, if my wife woulden't kill me first

[michaelwmoss]

Wonder what it would be like to be in one like Camille. 200 MPH WInds!!

[clearwater]

As to the re-building, why on earth not?

Unless we're going to abandon the entire state, we really can't avoid the risks due to hurricanes.

[Hou~TX~Mama]

Those photos are unbelieveable. It amazes me how one house can be totally destroyed and the house next to it will be untouched.

[vbhoutex]

Those photos are unbelievable. It amazes me how one house can be totally destroyed and the house next to it will be untouched.

Indeed it is amazing. I think that sometimes this is due to a tornado coming through also. Again I will allow someone with more knowledge to correct me here, but there are usually quite a few small tornadoes accompanying landfall hurricanes, especially to the right of the eye. I know during Alicia we had two confirmed tornadoes just in my neighborhood.

[Stormsfury]

Wonder what it would be like to be in one like Camille. 200 MPH WInds!!

You wouldn't survive ...

[ssmith]

Here's a few photos as Charley passed SoEastVa.
http://www.buckroebeach.net/charley.html

Sam

[michaelwmoss]

Unfortunately, alot of people didn't survive. What a whale of a storm!!

[michaelwmoss]

Nice pics!! Still looked very intense even that far up North!!

[TS Zack]

Hope you get back up soon. I am finally back! Looking forward to the pictures.

[TS Zack]

As much as I would like to know. I probably wouldn't live to tell the tale.

[ChaserUK]

Good grief is all I can say - speechless really. Have to say I agree there must have been tornado damage in some of those pics. Also is there not a chance that some of the damage was caused by additional vortices like those contained within Andrew when he came ashore?

[cape_escape]

I know here in Cape Coral, there was a confirmed tornado and also a water spout. We are about 30 miles south of Punta Gorda. From what I've heard, the tornado caused a lot of the damage in teh Cape.