Punta Gorda is a beautiful place. It is a page out of 40 years ago -
easy going and slow paced. At 11AM the eye was predicted to roll over
the top of my house - about 200 miles north of Punta Gorda. The problem
was the storm was basically parallel to the coast and any small
deviation of the track would make a huge difference in the point of
landfall. They pretty much had all of the Tampa bay area evacuated.
>From living in FL for 19 years the one thing I have found out is
hurricanes are very unpredictable and pin point prediction is
impossible. You can see them coming for 5 days but still can't
determine the exact track.
This was a big one - the biggest in the gulf maybe since Cammile and it
may have been bigger than Cammile. It was between Hugo and Andrew in
intensity. The only good news was it was moving fast so wasn't over any
one spot for a long time.
My heart goes out to your parents. As many of us in FL can say this
morning - "for the grace of God go I."
Truman
nina bomar wrote:
To my surprise, I turned the news on tonight and there was my
parent's town in Florida being flashed across the screen as being
devastated by the hurricane. They live in Punta Gorda and I'm here in
So CA. I immediately called my mom and she was without electricity,
but obviously still had telephone service. She said that she and my
dad were fine and there dog was okay too. Her house had a lot of
exterior damage and their screen covered pool room was trashed. She
said that the entire structure caved into the pool. She said that they
hadn't been evacuated because it was not suppose to come close to her
area and apparently the winds shifted suddenly and they were told to
stay in doors. The winds reached 150 mph! She and my dad and their
dog huddled in the bathroom for more than an hour. She said it was
scary and sounded like the whole house was going to blow down. They
announced on the radio afterwards that the entire town was basically
flattened and power may not be restored for more than a week. I
couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it on my T.V. and then heard that
it was right smack dab in the center of their town. All the residents
were ill prepared because of the sudden shift in direction,
therefore the death toll is high. A lot of folks live in mobile home
parks and they were creamed by the high winds. I feel bad for my mom.
She is calm and has already called her insurance company to report the
damages! Her main concerns were losing all the food in her freezer,
which is always stocked to the brim. She also said that their air
conditioner blew of it's foundation pad and ripped all the wires off
from the house. The weather is blistering hot with that awful humidity
and being without A/C is a nightmare. My mom refuses to open her
windows because she said all the mosquitoes will come inside.
My parents left
California a few years ago and my mom was so happy that she would never
have to experience another earthquake. Well I asked her tonight which
was worse. She replied, "they are both awful"!.
Nina
-- "It is necessary to be noble, and yet take humility as a basis
"It
is necessary to be noble, and yet
take humility as a basis.
It is necessary
to be exalted, and yet take modesty as a foundation."
