Five years ago on Aug 13, 2004 , Hurricane Charley hit and devasted our small community of Punta Gorda, Fl. This is a brief account of our hurrican expierence. I have written the whole story under stories in my den. Please stop by and read the full story... This Saturday we'll have a celebration of our towns five years of progerss!

None of us us were really prepared for Hurricane Charley. The weather forecastors said it was going toward Tampa. About noon on Friday Aug 13, 2004, the eye began to wobble and they announced it was heading toward Ft Myers or Punta Gorda. We only had a few hours to prepare.Luckily I had bought a lot of non perishable foods ahead of time and we had extra ice in the freezer. We hurridly put away out door furniture, filled our boat with water, and secured our floating dock with huge ropes.We used tie downs on the utility shed. We had no ply wood to cover the windows. All the pans and the tub were filled with extra water. About 3pm,the sky darkened, the rain started coming in squals as the howling wind whipped the trees.
The storms intensity increased! We saw tree limbs, shingles, debree, flying thru the air as trees were bent nearly to the ground. The noise was so loud. Pelting rain hit the shaking house as the winds intensity grew! Rain started leaking into the living rm, hallway and computor rm. I ran to get buckets to try to catch the torrents of water as they spilled into our house. We hid in the hall way, praying the roof would hold. Some time after 5 pm the winds and rain lessened, gradually disapating. We carefully went out side to survey the damage. Words can hardly describe the devastation which greeted us! It looked like a war zone! Trees were up rooted, shingles were all over the yard, as were branches and twisted shanks of deformed metal. The street was impassable. Our well was broken and our floating dock had been thrown onto the lawn by a tornado that passed through the back yard. We were alive and unscathed by the storms wrath. We gave thanks as we greeted our daughter, son in law and granchildren who lived next door.

We all felt alone, islotaed from the out side world. The days and nights were very hot and humid. Living with out AC or fresh running water is not fun at all, but we survived . We cooked meals on the grill and took baths in the pool, which was a god send. Our son, Sam and his wife came and we shared with them also. Every one tired to help one another. Finally after two and a half weeks,a company from N.C. restored our electricity.

The hurrican directly hit Charlotte Harbor which is part of down town Punta Gorda. The devastation was terrible, horiffic, overpowering! Many lives were lost. People from every where came to help us in many different ways. They gave of their time and spirt to aide our community. We appreciated their endeavors . I still wish I could thank many of them personally for giving a part of them selves to us in our time of great need.

Its taken five years to rebuild our community. Its better, stronger, safer. Its been a learning process for us and I sincerely feel we are more prepared then before. We have lived and learned during this long painful process of growth and rebirth. We face our future with hope and renewal of kinship and spirit.
On Saturday, Aug 15,09, we will hold our celebration marking the fifth Anniversary of Charely and our progress in the redevelopment of our town.. A grand time will be had by one and all!   

A new hurricane season has begun and we keep a watchful eye on the tropics, praying another hurricane will not come our way!