Goodbye Charley

The good news is that Charley made landfall well south of Manatee County. We had a little rain, a little wind and that was it. East Manatee may have gotten more than we got here in West Bradenton, but we were relatively unscathed. My parents came through once again. Charley is a now a category 1 hurricane and back out over the Atlantic. He's moving at 25 mph and headed toward South Carolina, which was buffeted last week by TS Alex.

The bad news is that Charley made landfall. I wish all those in Punta Gorda and Charlotte County well and hope our fellow bloggers in that area, and their friends and family in that area, are uninjured and with no property damage.

I am hearing that President and Governor Bush have declared Florida a disaster area making those with damage eligible for federal and state funding for rebuilds and repairs and housing while those rebuilds and repairs are being done. Apparently the damage is severe and deaths are reported in several areas. A federal mortuary team has been dispatched to aid with recovery of bodies and recovery teams are either in Charlotte County or on the way.

What I'm seeing on Fox News right now reminds me of the reasons why evacuations of mobile home parks are necessary. Mobile homes have their place, but they aren't built for 75-100 mph and higher winds. I had been entertaining thoughts of living in a mobile in my "golden years." Now I want poured concrete all around - floors, ceilings, and walls.

I've lived in Florida for all but eight years of my life. I've been through numerous hurricanes including Donna and Betsy in the 60's. I saw on TV, and heard from friends who went to help, the damage that Andrew and Opal did. But, I've found that when you don't experience a hurricane first hand for some time, you tend for forget just what a hurricane is capable of doing.

A lot of the problem with this storm is that it was predicted to make landfall in Tampa Bay, so while people further south took precautions, but no one was expecting landfall in Punta Gorda. This is not to place blame on anyone. Hurricanes are unpredictable. The weather service makes its predictions based on the best information they have: weather conditions such as jet streams and high and low pressure systems, radar and fly-throughs. With a large storm, radar takes some time (several hours) to make sure that "little jog" is an actual change of course and not just a "little jog." Predicting weather is not, by any means, an exact science. And until it is we can expect damage, and unfortunately, sometimes loss of life.