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From: (no name) (no email)
Date: Sat Aug 21 2004 - 12:12:28 EDT
Folks;
Since y'all have been talking about Storms, thought y'all might like some
personal obervations of the aftermath in S. Florida.
Gil Williams
Bonita Street…does not look Bonita today
I went to Punta Gorda on Friday, to a friends neighborhood on Bonita Street,
and it was by far the worse thing I have ever seen. There is some looting,
and some folks are taking advantage of the stores that are giving away stuff.
But mostly it is small story after story of folks giving of themselves to help
their neighbors.
Have head some people say “it’s the will of God”, but some how I don’t
think God wants 300,000 folks without power a week after the storm. Nor the
Heartache of hundreds of folks with damaged homes, if not displaced all
together. And since this storm has already passed I think we are in the territory
of “riding out the storm”, which now means riding out the aftermath of
cleanup. Which I saw in one neighborhood I visited on Bonita Street.
Driving on I-75, I saw much wind damage, on the bridge over the Peace
River there was a piece of metal I recognized as part of a small aircraft wing,
must have blown over from the nearby airport which is only 1 1/2 miles from
Bonita Street, and registered wind gusts over 190 miles per hour.
However, people's spirits were doing pretty good. The place was so busy
with work crews that it really took the "sting" out of visually looking at
everything. I mean the town has a semblance of "normal" because there is so
much going on, and so much traffic, so many worker's, so many stores cleaning up,
so many "stages" of temporary stores & services. Even though there are only
4-way stops on a road with 4-6 lanes, HWY 41. As ALL traffic signals are
gone, and moving around is a bit difficult as most street signs are gone. But
there are double telephone poles, as new poles are put in place next to old
ones, or next to broken "old" poles that are like thrown down broken toothpicks.
And men with big trucks are pulling miles and miles of wire, a record pace
the Olympic Athletes could not match…not that folks have paid much attention
to those “Games”.
On the Interstate an indicator of how bad this was to me, were the large
lights that surround some of the interchanges. You know, those metal poles
that look to be 100 ft or more high? A dozen of those surround many of
Interstate ramps, and many have been bent/broken at curiously all about the same
height. 25-35 feet high. At one Exchange I saw only two standing out of twelve.
And 40-50% of the Interstate signs not only blown down, but bent like scrap
paper.
Much much wind damage, a lot of the patches of trees look "funny", then
you realize why- all the green has been blown off. Leaving normally year round
greenery to look like winter, an odd sight especially on the waterway bushes,
where mangroves just look like poodles with a bad hair cut, then taken on a
high speed motorcycle ride where part of the fur is smashed down by a helmet &
the rest is severely wind blown, and a bad case of the mange is in it's
advanced stages.
But there is much help already, I even saw two vehicles driving through
the neighborhood I was at trying to give away ice, water and food. Not many
takers as this neighborhood was well taken care of, and surprisingly people were
not trying to hoard stuff. I actually had a time of giving away ice and
water I brought.
Neighbors are helping neighbors, even if the neighbors are from other
towns or other states. And families are helping each other, Dale told me how
after three days in a stupor of what to do first, then putting makeshift tarps on
a a very badly roof, his brother showed up with enough materials to rebuild
almost 40% of Dale’s family’s roof. Dale and his brother had not spoken in
twelve years.
Most folks on the Bonita Street I was on had generators, or had pulled an
extension cord from the neighbors generator so the Fridge was going, and even
a fan or two. And as other people in town get power they are sending their
generators over to folks stilling waiting on the hard working power crews.
Yes, there is still some tension and heartbreak, mostly when folks talk
about the projects they need to do, and are not sure how it will get done with
their ebbing energy from days & nights of heat & humidity. Like the couple,
married a little over a year, and moved into their house less than a month ago.
They are getting lessons on how to work together that normally take years
to refine.
Or like Connie’s roof that leaks, and even though neighbors have promised
to help cover it with tarps, and she was given roofing nails by a neighbor.
The garage was originally built as a carport, so the roof is one sheet of
aluminum, and the bottom side being the ceiling of her carport where you can
easily see daylight in holes where the fingers of the Wind have pried the joints
loose. So the roofing nails will have little to grag & hold once driven into
the Aluminum and come out “inside” the garage, and may only cause more leaks.
Connie is concerned not only for her own home, but for the furniture she and
her husband are storing for another friend whose mobile home was totaled by
hurricane Charley.
Or Tom just down the street. He has large gaping holes where the shingles
were taken by the ravenous wind that seemed to feed on human construction,
then swallowed some 4x8 sheets of plywood like cracker’s at cocktail hour, taking
off a couple of roof trusses like pretzels, and wash it all down with rain
instead of beer. Now, the thunderstorms that Florida is famous for, come
every afternoon like clockwork and just put more water in his house.
Tom has survived other personal stress already, besides this storm damage.
He has been contending with having just had a Heart bypass, only having one
lung, and taking care of his girlfriend who is an Invalid. Thankfully her
brother came and got her out of their house 4-5 days after Charley came
through, so she is now in Indiana. But as you can imagine Tom is worn out, talking
about leaving for a couple of days to rest in a hotel with A/C, to return
Tuesday when his brother is bringing an RV to put next to the house and Tom will
have a place to live and rest until the house can be fixed.
It will get fixed, and thankfully so, as Connie told me after huddling in
her neighbor’s laundry room with 12 other people, feeling the walls vibrate
from the wind. Until it stopped and Sunny skies came out…then the wind shifted
180 degrees and Hell attacked them again, they knew the eye of Charley came
right over Bonita Street.
Well, am off to take 'em some more roofin' nails & Ice, and to listen a
bit, and have some conversation that will include those folks deep sense of
humor, but probably no politics or Olympic games talk.
Keep Charlie's victim's in your prayers, from the Caribbean all the way up
the East Coast, and know the Spirit that made America, is going to make
America survive & thrive. If you can help out as a volunteer, or donate items or
money, the Red Cross and Salvation Army, or many other Agencies are in need of
help.
Gil Williams
Tampa, Fla.
August 21st, 2004
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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