Looking into the eye of danger.... a killer hurricane....Charley

[Mike 99ACR]

Thanks for the prayers for us in Tampa. Now pray for Lakeland and Orlando. We were very lucky. They had the eye coming as a direct hit where I live. Now just rain and some wind, with it to the east of us.
News just reported a huge building be used for shelter with lots of people,in Arcadia got ripped apart scarying people and causing panic.

Good luck Larry,John,Lee,and everyone in its path I wish you the best.

 

[98MODMTR]

Wow! What a huge stroke of luck for us Tampa folks. I didn't get as much as a drop of rain, let alone a gust of wind and I live on the Saint Petersburg side of the Tampa Bay. Hell, I watched the sunset tonight coming home from work. Ward, how did you guys fair down there?

 

[kgrif]

Cuda man, how bad was it in Bradenton?????

 

[Cudaman]

Thanks for the prayers for us in Tampa. Now pray for Lakeland and Orlando. We were very lucky. They had the eye coming as a direct hit where I live. Now just rain and some wind, with it to the east of us.
News just reported a huge building be used for shelter with lots of people,in Arcadia got ripped apart scarying people and causing panic.

Good luck Larry,John,Lee,and everyone in its path I wish you the best.

Arcadia is just 30-35 miles to the due east of me. Fair amount of wind and rain, BUT nothing that I excepted when the eye heading straight at me. Luckily it passed me on the back side which is the easier side.

I lost power for six hours in my part of town(east of I 75). It has how just been restored ...I have heard of reports of many lives lost where Charley came on shore(mostly in trailer parks in Punta Gorda).

I hope Larry Macedo and John Canal and Bindy and the "North Florida Posse" are OK.

Cudaman

 

[99 R/T 10]

I tried to call Larry, couldn't get an answer. I'm guessing everybody and their mother is trying to call too. Hope all is well.

 

[Cudaman]

I talked to Larry about a 1 1/2 hours ago....he was home with his family. It was blowing up 80 mph and kept having power outages, but said everything was "OK".

I am going to try to contact the North Florida members to see if they are OK.


Cudaman

 

[CHAD]

Roll call please from you guys in the affected zones. Everyone ok? Anyone need anything? Larry, Bindy, John, others?

We were very lucky on the coast from Sarasota on up.

Chad

 

[Cudaman]

I just talked to Larry Macedo......He left his family in the storm to drive to his shop to check on the status of the shop and all his customers cars ....all the cars and shop is OK. The shop and surrounding area had lost power, but the battery back up on the alarm system was functioning properly. He did a check of it to make sure that it would do its job in the event it was needed to.

He was also in touch with Bindy late last night at the storm has partially passed through Orlando. Bindy is OK.

I talked to Steve "The Greek" Salease last after the storm had passed and he is OK as well.

Neither Larry nor I have been able to get in touch with John(Fuelman)Canal. Hopefully John is OK....but we do not know for sure.

Cudaman

 

[Cudaman]

Some pictures of what we almost looked like:

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Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (right) joins other officials in the Governor's Briefing Room at the Emergency Operations Center in Tallahassee, Florida Friday, August 13, 2004 as Class 4 Hurricane Charley is minutes away from hitting the shores of southwest Florida.

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An emergency official examines the interior of the Turner Center in Arcadia Friday afternoon after it partially collapsed from damage cause by Hurricane Charley. The center was being used as a hurricane shelter.

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Steve Brooks looks out the window from what's left of his mobile home at the Biehl Slip-Not mobile home park in Punta Gorda on Friday after Hurricane Charley passed by destroying most of the park.

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A fallen house looking west onto the Gulf of Mexico lies damaged by Hurricane Charley after the storm passed through Fort Myers Beach on Friday.

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Cheryl Prather, of Fort Myers Beach, holds her cat, Lestat, and watches as a home next to hers burns down after Hurricane Charley passed through the area on Friday.

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A renter bows his head as a fire from a home next door approaches his apartment after Hurricane Charley passed through Fort Myers Beach on Friday afternoon. He evacuated his belongings along with four other people. Witnesses said they heard explosions inside but were unsure what caused the fire.

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A massive storm surge washes across the grounds of the Diamond Head Resort on Fort Myers Beach, the waves crashing into an outdoor bar

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Debris from a rooftop, downed power lines and upended street signs litter Estero Boulevard on Fort Myers Beach after Hurricane Charley waded ashore Friday, packing 145 mph winds.

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Smaller airplanes at the Charlotte County Airport were left heavily damaged Friday by high winds from Hurricane Charley

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Visitors at the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista crowd Main Street USA to exit the park after it was announced that it was closing due to Hurricane Charley on Friday.

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The roof of a garage is blown off onto Charlotte County Sheriff's cruisers from winds of Hurricane Charley Friday in the parking lot of the Charlotte County Airport.

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Traffic on northbound I-275 in Tampa moves slowly Thursday as coastal residents and visitors flee the path of Hurricane Charley.

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A waterspout drops from the clouds over the Gulf of Mexico prior to Hurricane Charley reaching land near Sanibel Island in Fort Myers on Thursday.

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Tropical Storm Charley, lower right, over the Caribbean Sea, and Tropical Storm Bonnie, upper left, over the Gulf of Mexico, are shown in this NOAA satellite image taken at 7:45 a.m. EDT, Wednesday, Aug. 11.

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An elderly man walks by a destroyed mobile home in the Harborview Park Saturday morning in Port Charlotte, Fla.

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Mickey Pariseau pulls a friend's belongings out of the Windmill Village mobile home trailer park on Saturday in Punta Gorda, one day after Hurricane Charley passed through the area.





Many were not as lucky as us!!!!!



Cudaman

 

[BadVenm]

We hope everyone is doing ok for the situation. Prayers go out to all.

We were in Miami yesterday about 2:30 pm, landed in pretty heavy winds. We were on the ground about 45 min and left.

We saw Charley twice, it came by north of Grand Cayman Thursday while we were on the Island. All we got was high winds and rain, power outages, some broken trees and busted up docks. Then we left there Friday am and followed Charley to Miami.

Charley was only a Cat 1 when it was in the Caribbean, it picked up much strength and power before landing in Florida.

Hope all is as well as can be! Our thoughts are prayers are with all of you.

 

[garolittle]

Wow! Incredible pictures. Florida is in my prayers.

 

[Cudaman]

Just an update ...finally got a hold of John Canal, he,family and his business are OK.

Although I talked to Gary Sautis(Vern Hill's driver) who lives in south Daytona he and his wife are OK, BUT when Charley came thru it spawned a tornado. His house has numerous trees on it and into the roof. He has not had power since midnite and they do not except it restored for a week. His neighborhood is described as a "war zone". he has been saw up trees off his house since sunrise and we spoke to him at 1:00 pm.

Gary, I am glad you made it thru with your health, Good luck to on your cleanup.

Cudaman

 

[Cudaman]

We are still having problems ...Very heavy rains and some tornados still popping up.

Cudaman

 

[Larry Macedo]

WOW! It was scary driving to the shop last night after Charley passed through our area. Power outages everywhere, including our shop. But, the good people @ FPL (you know who you are) got our power up and running this evening. It's always nice to have friends in high places! On my drive here last night and today, it's pretty evident people don't know how to drive when a traffic light is out. They just haul a$$ right through it and don't treat it as a 4 way stop. The first intersection I came to last night was riddled with car debris since an H2 and a compact something tangled. The H2 obviously won that battle.
Last night it was too dark to take in all the carnage, but on my drive in today it was pretty evident that system packed some amazing energy. Billboards, roof's, signs, street lights, traffic lights, awnings, fences and mostly tree's were down all over. The good news for us is that our shop was unscathed and everyone can feel at ease if your car is in our shop. The fantastic news is that all of us are still in one piece and will live to fight another day!

 

[Shelby3]

WOW! It was scary driving to the shop last night after Charley passed through our area. Power outages everywhere, including our shop. But, the good people @ FPL (you know who you are) got our power up and running this evening. It's always nice to have friends in high places! On my drive here last night and today, it's pretty evident people don't know how to drive when a traffic light is out. They just haul a$$ right through it and don't treat it as a 4 way stop. The first intersection I came to last night was riddled with car debris since an H2 and a compact something tangled. The H2 obviously won that battle.
Last night it was too dark to take in all the carnage, but on my drive in today it was pretty evident that system packed some amazing energy. Billboards, roof's, signs, street lights, traffic lights, awnings, fences and mostly tree's were down all over. The good news for us is that our shop was unscathed and everyone can feel at ease if your car is in our shop. The fantastic news is that all of us are still in one piece and will live to fight another day!

Larry, Glad to hear you and the family made it through unscathed....oh and the cars too!

 

[SneakyPete]

we in south florida got lucky and didnt get any rain, a few wind gusts and thats it.

Its amazing how a few inches on a map can mean the difference between life and death and total destruction.

let us know if anyone need any assistance.

 

[Cudaman]

we in south florida got lucky and didnt get any rain, a few wind gusts and thats it.

Its amazing how a few inches on a map can mean the difference between life and death and total destruction.

let us know if anyone need any assistance.

I know everyone is very appreciative of everything that you have done and also the computer guru of FP&L have done to keep the power flowing and rerouted to keep your special customers with electrical service.

Cudaman