Charley

[Spartan]

I havent seent Charley mentioned much.... and since he is making landfall for the second time around Myrtle Beach, I figure I should show this for some perspective:

First Landfall:

Second Landfall:

[BigCityAttitude]

My family lives in Citrus County, where Charley was headed. He eventually curved and made landfall around Punta Gorda instead. There's supposedly a great deal of loss of life.

[Neo]

Very powerful storm when it hit Florida...a tragedy. Hopefully the loss of life was minimal. I heard on the news this morning they've already put the numbers at around $15 billion in damage and this hurricane was the worst to hit in over 40 years in that part of Florida.

[monsoon]

[monsoon]

[Cotuit]

We're anticipating the possibility of Tropical Storm force conditions here in Rhode Island tomorrow.

The remnants of Bonnie and soon Charley are wrecking havoc in Vermont where the Phish farewell concert is happening this weekend. Route 91 is jammed and police are turning people away because the airfield is so waterlogged.

[BigCityAttitude]

The remnants of Bonnie and soon Charley are wrecking havoc in Vermont

Quite true

[wolfdawg54]

Lucky in Jacksonville! We only had winds reach about 60 to 75 mph. Poor Sanibel Island is underwater right now. They still can't get to the island. The reports that are heard only come from areas where the eye wall brushed. Maybe 200 people are unaccounted for in the Punta Gorda area.

[Allan]

My grandparents have a winter home near Punta Gorda. Fortunately, it seems that they lucked out - only some downed tree limbs and a lot of rain.

[Allan]

My grandparents have a winter home near Punta Gorda. Fortunately, it seems that they lucked out - only some downed tree limbs and a lot of rain.

[Scott]

Let me tell you the story

Of a man named Charley

On a tragic and fateful day

He put ten cents in his pocket,

Kissed his wife and family

Went to ride on the MTA

Charley handed in his dime

At the Kendall Square Station

And he changed for Jamaica Plain

When he got there the conductor told him,

"One more nickel."

Charley could not get off that train.

Chorus:

Did he ever return,

No he never returned

And his fate is still unlearn'd

He may ride forever

'neath the streets of Boston

He's the man who never returned

[Scott]

Oops sorry different Charley!

EVERYBODY SING ALONG!!!!

Now all night long

Charley rides through the tunnels

Saying, "What will become of me?

How can I afford to see

My sister in Chelsea

Or my cousin in Roxbury?"

Charley's wife goes down

To the Scollay Square station

Every day at quarter past two

And through the open window

She hands Charley a sandwich

As the train comes rumblin' through.

Chorus:

Did he ever return,

No he never returned

And his fate is still unlearn'd

He may ride forever

'neath the streets of Boston

He's the man who never returned

[Cotuit]

When I worked in Quincy and took the T to work, Charley was my nickname.

[ElGobernador]

So now we got Earl coming our way, huh?

Earl is a kinda funny name for a storm, but I won't think lightly of it. I thought Floyd was a dumb name, but Floyd certainly surprised everyone.

I think eastern N.C. is still trying to get over Floyd, and it hit 5 years ago!

[wolfdawg54]

We got lucky with Floyd too! It almost hit us, like Charley.

[Cotuit]

Earl is a kinda funny name for a storm

Our last big hurricane in Southern New England was named Bob (back in 1991). The name was pretty funny until the storm hit us. Then we stopped laughing.

[BigCityAttitude]

Earl shouldn't be a threat. His projected path is in the Yucatan/Cancun/Cozumel area, so the only state that needs to watch it is Texas. (And minimally at that)

Danielle is, I believe, off the coast of South America. No threat.

Edit: It is Earl who is off the coast of South America. Actually, Danielle is in the middle of the Atlantic, and is projected to curve back towards Europe and Africa.

Another Edit: Danielle is a hurricane, no longer a tropical storm, though she is supposed to reduce to a tropical storm by Thursday.

[Brickell]

I just got back from a relatives house in SW Florida. I was in Hardee most of the weekend which is just north of Arcadia, which is getting a lot of press. This storm extends well beyond the destruction on the coast. It looks like a 10 mile wide tornado went through the area. A lot of missing roofs in the area, and a lot of trailers/mobile homes are competely destroyed. Maybe family got lucky, and don't have much structural damage to their places. This is a good 50-60 miles inland too. I drove down Highway 17 through Arcadia and into charlotte county but took 75 south. It's bad down there, real bad. With the path of the storm, it's suprising we don't have more fatalities. A lot of these people were completely unprepared for a storm in the first place, much less one of this magnitude. The damage didn't appear to be as widespread as it was in Andrew, but path of destruction was much much longer as it crossed the state.

I don't think some of these small towns and communities will ever recover from this storm.

[Cotuit]

My boss is on his way down there tomorrow, he has a house down there. He tried to get a hotel in Naples but they have people 6 to a room apparently. So he's staying in Tampa and driving down to survey the damage.

My grandparents own a trailer in Port Charlotte, or perhaps rather owned, I haven't talked to them to find out what happened (they are in Mass. now, they winter in Florida, so I know they're OK).

[uptownliving]

My friend in Wilmington, NC reports that it got quite windy there and they lost power for a few hours.

[bobliocatt]

My parents, in Winter Haven, FL (Polk County) were without power for about three days after the storm. Some areas aren't expected to have power until the end of this week. The eye also passed over Orlando International Airport. The airport had some pretty significant damage, especially in American Airlines main terminal. I took pics, and I'll have some posted by the end of the week.

[accatt2204]

Glad everyones ok, hear in Orlando welost power for 3 days and all the phone lines were dead. For about 3 days you couldnt leave your home because trees were snapped and down everywhere. We had a 105mph wind gust which tore about 32 shingles off our house. We still are very lucky compared to those poor people in Punta Gorda.

[Cotuit]

Turns out my grand parents trailer in Port Charlotte is mostly still standing. The car port, a utility room, and the front porch were torn off, but the thing is still standing and the roof is still on. We're trying to convince my grandfather that he should not go down there yet. He wants to go check the place out, but he had a major heart attack last year, and we really don't want him travelling, let alone to a disaster zone. A lot of the hospitals down there are closed or barely functioning, could be a serious problem if he has another attack.