As I have discovered in talking to people, apparently those outside Florida didn’t realize Charley hit us. My favorite response by an anonymous friend I was IMing:
Me: we’ve been busy cleaning up our yard
Friend: cleaning your yard? what?
Friend (after a pause): charley! did you feel the effects of the storm?
Me: the storm? did i feel it? yeah, of course!
Friend: was it bad? did you get rain and thunder too?
Me: it hit orlando directly as a category 2 hurricane!
Friend: oh, i didn’t know

I don’t know if it’s peoples’ ignorance or if it’s the lack of news, but I’ll do my best to keep those who are concerned informed. One of the best articles I’ve read is from MSNBC’s website about the devastation (they also have some good pictures in their slide show). Saturday everyone was in shock and still trying to assess damage. Neighbors wandered the streets looking at those around them. People we didn’t know called out to us and asked how we were doing, and we did the same to others. We shared tools and helped when we could. This continued on through Sunday… people started venturing out more; the initial shock was wearing off. By Monday, many headed back to work (including myself). More and more people were getting their power back, including my own house, but so many others are still without. Lines of cars are filling the gas stations – overflowing into the street and causing traffic backups. Stoplights are out all over the city (they said around 500 traffic lights in Orlando are not working), and many don’t understand the concept of a four way stop. Policemen are stationed at the bigger intersections but it’s hard to see them, especially in the dark, and everyone is so confused as to what you’re supposed to be doing.

Patience is wearing thin. There are long lines for getting simple basic ingredients for living, which increases desperation. Bags of ice are among the most treasured possessions and already there have been hundreds of reports of price-gauging and scams. They’re having trouble with people taking looters into their own hands – people stakeout their property with the personal guns and shoot on sight, rather than simply threaten. The lack of air conditioning and fans in the 90-degree weather causes grumbling and complaining. Already there are 19 dead.

We were very fortunate to have as little damage as we do. We ended up losing half of the other tree in the backyard because it split, but if it had fallen it would have smashed our porch. Last night my mom and I were in Publix (grocery store) and all of their refridgerated and freezer products were gone – I’m guessing they had to be thrown out due to the lack of power. “Cash only” is the familiar phrase for almost any store you enter – credit card machines down. Electricians are working around the clock, as well as tree services and other types of services. We saw a bunch of electrical trucks today – all with Georgia license plates. Governor Bush has declared 25 counties in central and southwest Florida as disaster areas, and brought in many out of state people to help rebuild.

So that’s life right now. My sister doesn’t have school until next Tuesday (24th) – she’s been out since last Friday. Yesterday someone made the connection that Charley visited us on Friday the 13th… I’m not superstitious but it’s rather humorous. Of course, Orlando wasn’t hit as hard as some of the other places – Punta Gorda, Fort Myers – but still the devastation is awful.

As Charley was hitting us, my brother was enjoying posting his thoughts and pictures on a forum/blog he visits. Go here for some pictures… Read the stuff by Usacomp2k3 (there are more pictures on the second and third pages of the posts). Like I said, we were pretty lucky… luckier than many other people even in our area. I guess God was watching out for us. :-)

God knew I needed a distraction this weekend, so He sent a hurricane.

Hurrican Charley: Orlando’s first direct hit since Donna 44 years ago. It hit Florida’s southwest coast in Port Charlotte around 2 pm (I think) as a category 4 hurricane, and then was reduced to a category 2 by the time it reached Orlando.

This is my second hurricane experience. My first one was Hurricane Hugo, which hit our town of Waxhaw, North Carolina when I was 6. I don’t remember Hugo all that well, except that since my dad was a fireman and he had a motorcycle, he was gone a lot. I also remember going around our neighborhood with my friends cleaning branches and leaves off the road.

Last Thursday we didn’t think Charley was going to hit Orlando. I was a bit distracted and so I didn’t pay much attention. Friday morning, we found out Charley had turned and would be hitting Orlando directly. Ohh! My sister didn’t have school, and my dad and brother and I all got off work at noon. My mom was in Dallas, hoping to be able to fly in on Friday (didn’t happen). My siblings and I worked hard cleaning up the yard. Everything not nailed down either went into the garage or the spa. (See, our broken spa did come to some use!) We filled up bottles of water, and my dad ran to the store to get some food. We turned the TV to the news channels and followed the reports as Charley crept closer.

I went outside shortly before it started storming to take “before” pictures of our house. It was eerily quiet and still… No wind, no animals. Around 8:40 my sister and I went into her room (since it’s at the front of the house) and watched the wind pick up. Charley hit pretty close to 9 pm. The sky was an orangeish purplish glow, frequently lighting up neon green (lightning, my dad told us). The wind was incredibly strong… We could see the trees bent, flapping wildly. At one point we went onto our back porch which I must admit was the coolest part, because the wind was soo strong and ripping through everything. Our power went out around 9 or 10 pm, which we expected.

It was all over by 11 pm. We lit candles around the house and used flashlights, mostly staying in our living room until each of us went to bed. The next morning I awoke early (7:15), and AJ and I walked around our yard and the neighborhood. AJ took lots of pictures, so I promise to post them as soon as I have a chance to sort through them and find the most interesting. We weren’t hit bad in our yard; we did lose a big tree in the backyard, falling on my mom’s vegetable garden. We lost several of the screen panels on our porch, as well as about four big limbs from the tree in our front yard. Also, one of the screen doors for our porch was blown the opposite way it’s supposed to open, twisting all the hinges. I think that was it… We were sad a tree didn’t come crashing into our van, since our van is on its way out the door anyway. :-)

Trees were down all over the neighborhood, but it didn’t look like there was too much structural damage. We lost cell service and were still without electricity, so I was using the phone card to call my grandparents in Atlanta and my mom in Dallas. The morning was spent cleaning up the front yard; chopping wood, picking up branches, etc. After lunch, it started raining so we basically spent the rest of the day on the back porch. Without electricity, there was no air conditioning or fans, and the rain made it incredibly humid. The porch felt nice, and the rain was light enough (except for a brief period around 3 pm) that it didn’t get us wet on the porch. We mostly read… and for dinner cooked fish and baked potatoes on the grill. Our cleanup efforts would have to wait until the next day.

My mom was able to get onto a flight to Ft. Lauderdale and rented a car and drove to Orlando. Our power came back on (hooray! they had told us it could be 4-5 days) shortly before she arrived, and we were all happy campers. Our church, however, still doesn’t have power. So this morning we went and sat in a dark sanctuary without AC or microphones, singing songs out of hymnbooks to a lone piano and guitar. The message was short, with a time of prayer. It was nice… Made me think about what church was really all about, anyways…

That brings me up to about now, when, after lunch, I decided to post a blog. I promise, pictures coming soon. For the rest of the day (or rather, when it stops raining): cleanup yard time. And try to find out if I have work tomorrow. It seems as if I finally have cell service again – yay! So I can call people. Or receive phone calls from people. :-)

That’s it from my end… hope ya’ll’s weekends were just as interesting as mine. :-)