These are some personal thoughts, recollections, and photos for those friends and family who might be interested in the events of the last few days in Orlando and its encounter with Hurricane Charley. The main message I have to give to all is that we were lucky and even blessed. Though there was widespread damage throughout Florida, I am amazed that there were not more fatalities. While any loss of life is tragic, you only have to look at the aftermath images on TV and wonder how we avoided much more loss of life. The fact that I am able to create and publish this web page from my house three days after the storm passes is a miracle. This site was thrown together very quickly, so forgive me if it doesn't hold up to my normal web standards. I wanted to record my thoughts while they were still fresh in my mind.
Timeline
Thursday, August 12: My school, IADT, announces that it will be closed Friday due to the threat of Hurricane Charley. At this time,everyone is predicting Tampa as the landfall point, which means the storm should be heading to the north of us. Growing up in Central Florida, I have heard dozens of such warnings. However, something about the path of this storm, coupled with the fact that another Hurricane (Bonnie) just hit the panhandle earlier that week, makes me feel a little uneasy. I take a few precautions and fill up the car with gas on the way home. I even went to the grocery store and picked up a bunch of bottled water and some canned goods (a precaution I have never taken in Florida). The grocery store is not the least bit busy and I feel a little silly. Still, the fact that I am on well water means that with no electricity, my water pump doesn't work...
Friday Morning, August 13: My friend John wakes me up with a phone call. We talk about the storm, which appears to be strengthening. A little nervous, I actually pull down my storm kit from the closet and do a quick inventory. I have sterno, battery powered lanterns, candles, etc. I discover I have enough batteries to fill all my devices, but no extras. I get worried about being without power for a few days and draining batteries, and decide to try to find more. It's still only 7:45 AM, but the shopping scene is different, now the grocery store is re-stocking their water supplies, and there are NO D-batteries anywhere. A third stop at a CVS is successful. I buy 8 D-cells, which is the last of their supply.
Friday Afternoon, August 13: My friend John and I talk about the eastward change in Charley's course. The edge of excited energy we had earlier starts to turn to anxiety. Charley's winds are being estimated at 140mph. I start to check on people. My neighbor Debbie has left town, but my neighbor Billy is still at his place. He's worried about the 100-ft short-wave antenna anchored to his roof. He's pretty sure that the antenna won't survive high winds and knows that if it goes, so will some of his roof. I tell him to ride it out at my place. Someone we had talked to had mentioned the option of going to a shelter. I remember that I once asked my Dad about our roof. He told me that the way he had the roof strapped, a wind would have to take some cinder block off to pull it away. I tell Billy I feel safer in my house than a shelter. The first storm bands from Charlie fly through Orlando. I see some winds and a little rain, but the clouds fly past so quick, its really a non-event.
Friday Evening, August 13: It's pretty calm around my house even past 7PM. I step outside and see Billy at his house two doors down. I told him to not wait too long to head over, because Hurricane Charlie was moving to the N-NW really fast. Around 7:30-8PM, I hear from my friend John, who lives south of me near Kissimmee/St. Cloud. John is already getting blasted by winds. Things remain calm at my place, and Billy and I sit under my patio past 8PM, watching a relatively bright sky. Things gradually darken, and when a strong gust of wind comes out of nowhere and bends the top of the trees, we head inside. Even then, the rain was just beginning to fall.
Friday Night, August 13: The winds accelerate pretty quick. As I close curtains in different rooms, and can see limbs already falling out of the maple tree in my neighbors yard, but they are falling in my yard short of the carport where my car is parked. As I close the curtains in the front living room, we hear the first big gust of wind, and Billy says he saw the living room windows buckle. The winds continue to howl, but for a while, they really didn't feel stronger than a bad thunderstorm. Our lights flicker a few times, but Billy and I continue to watch local TV. The news on the TV is not good. Hurricane Charley is moving really fast, which I know means that the winds won't have as good a chance of diminishing. Also, Charley continues to make a beeline to downtown Orlando (my house to downtown is around 8 miles as the crow flies) I peak out the small window in my door, and can see the horizon continuously lit by strange green flashes. (We find out later that the green glows are from exploding power transformers and substations.) At about 8:45PM my cousin Danny calls me from North Carolina. Even as we speak, I can hear the occasional noise of debris or limbs blowing about. I tell him there have been bad winds, but as far as I know, we are still OK and still have a roof.
The wind continues to intensify and howl, and Billy and I can hear snapping and slapping noises outside, but none of it sounds very close to the house. At the worst of it, I hear a strange humming noise from the attic, kind of like a kazoo... Just before 9:30 Channel 6, the local TV station 2 miles from my house, announces that they are on the edge of the hurricane's eye. Billy and I look at each other. The wind is howling, but we still have power and TV. A few minutes later, Channel 6 announces they have lost power and are running on generators. My power flickers maybe a dozen times, but keeps coming back on. Channel 6's radar picture, zoomed in to Orlando, shows the western edge of hurricane-force winds moving over Pine Hills to Winter Park, a line that almost directly covers my house. I take a quick walk around the house, hoping to not see any flapping curtains anywhere. I notice the old-style barometer we've had on the wall as long as I can recall. I never remember the barometer registering anything in the area marked "stormy". The barometer reading is almost pegged at the lowest marking at 29.05 inches. My cat is huddled up on one of her cushions on my bed. I pet her and tell her everything is OK; she gives me a look that says "No, it isn't..."
Shortly before 10PM, I lose my cable TV signal, but still have power. After a short while, the winds die down completely. When Billy and I first step out, we get an eerie "Twilite Zone" kind of feeling when we see that our block is the only lit area as far as our eyes could see. We check the power lines in front of our house, all seem intact. We walk down the street to Billy's house. We soon notice Eunice Avenue blocked by a massive tree, which makes it that much more surprising when we discover Billy's house intact, antenna and all. Billy's van seems fine where it is parked, but the shed in the neighbor's yard a few feet away was carried about 25 feet to the other end of the house. Only after checking all this out, do I discover the worst damage around my house - I find myself looking at the roots of my pecan tree that had fallen over, taking out the surrounding chain link fence and completely covering the neighbors shed. In the light of morning, I see just how lucky we were.