When B. W. Lunkenheimer found out that our southern neighborhood, Marco
Island, had a mandatory evacuation notice, he invited his lady friend (4 1/2
yr old) Chocolate Lab and her human family to weather the storm at the SWAMP
RR. It was rather cozy with two extra adults, four kids age 6 yrs to 1 yr.
plus Miss Molly,Lunk & myself. About 1:19 AM Lunk and Miss Molly were really
punching at me with their noses, rousting me out of bed. As soon as my eyes
opened, I know why -- it was almost continuous lightening. When I take the
hearing aids off, things that go boom in then night don't bother me unless
Lunk decides I need to be awake. The first band of the hurricane was a
dilly.
By daylight it was calm, partially cloudy skies, with winds about 10 to 20
mph. The SWAMP got a frantic call from Everglades city requesting three
hoppers of sand and plenty of sandbags - storm surge was expected to be
about 10' above normal. Most importantly, they wanted four carloads of
Anheuser Busch Products. The Mikado was quickly steamed up and fortunately
the train got back to the SWAMP rail yard just as very strong wind gusts and
heavy rain hit. A loud explosion indicated that the main feeder fuse for our
four block area let go. Just minutes later a 80 to 90' tall tree came down
that knocked out all electricity and cable for us and landed on the roof of
another neighbor. Florida Power & Light thinks maybe a week until power can
be restored. In the meantime, the SWAMP is sharing a generator with a
neighbor to give us occasional power to pump water and use the internet.
The house had only minor damage, some soffitt and facia flew away and the
neighboring home lost most of the shingles on the south side of their roof.
I went to the Naples Depot this morning - it is only 9 blocks from the Gulf
of Mexico, and found some broken roof tiles scattered about, plenty of tree
limbs strewn about and two of the night lights were torn off the building.
No evidence of major damage. The building has been there since 1926, so it
has experienced Donna, and a few others including Andrew.
We are just glad to have come through unharmed and relatively
inconvenienced.
Keep your steam up!
B. W. Lunkenheimer & Associate, Walt
