Rescuers Rush to Help Charley Victims in Florida
Aug 14, 10:23 AM (ET)
By Michael Peltier
PUNTA GORDA, Fla. (Reuters) - Rescuers poured into southwest
Florida on Saturday to search for victims and help shocked survivors of
Hurricane Charley, a devastating storm that flattened homes and stores and
left up to 1 million without power.
As a weakened but still powerful Charley headed toward the South
Carolina coast, search teams with heavy equipment set out for Fort Myers,
Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte, the Gulf Coast towns hit hardest when the
storm made an unexpected turn on Friday and struck with more ferocity than
initially forecast.
Florida's emergency management agency said at least three people
were killed as the storm raged over the state. But the toll appeared likely
to rise as rescue workers reached worst-hit areas, such as mobile home parks
shredded by the storm.
Bob Carpenter, a spokesman for the Charlotte County emergency
management office, said it was too early to know how many people were
killed.
"We just won't know until we can get in there (to the mobile
home parks). Obviously we expect to have many (fatalities)," Carpenter said.
Officials called in a team of 25 morticians with refrigerated
trucks to deal with the bodies of the victims. They said there were 31
mobile home parks in the Punta Gorda area, at least two with up to 1,000
residents each.
"In a lot of these parks, we did get people to move to the
emergency shelters. At this point we just have to hope for the best,"
Carpenter said.
ONCE IN A HUNDRED YEARS
Ambulances streamed out of southwest Florida toward Tampa,
removing patients from damaged hospitals as National Guard troops, power
company workers and search teams streamed in.
Destruction in Punta Gorda was widespread. Few buildings were
untouched by the storm, which packed 145 mph winds. Part of a commercial
cinderblock building was missing. Twisted pieces of aluminum siding were
everywhere. Power lines dangled from poles and trees. Pieces of carpet were
stuck in trees.
"This type of hurricane only happens once every hundred years,
they say," said Harry Thomas, looking over his destroyed Pelican Cove
bayside motel in Port Charlotte. "I could have lived and died twice."
Thomas, who spent the night at a friend's house, said he
returned to his property shortly after the storm passed to protect it from
looters. "Everybody's got guns," he said.
Charley was blamed for four deaths in Cuba and one in Jamaica
after it formed in the Caribbean on Tuesday.
A powerful Category 4 storm when it hit shore, Charley flattened
mobile homes, tore roofs off buildings, overturned boats and cars, ripped up
trees and signs and shredded power lines.
The storm plowed across central Florida, weakening as it dumped
heavy rains on Orlando, home to Disney World, leaving a wide trail of
destruction. Mobile homes were reduced to rubble and tractor-trailers were
flipped over like toys.
"I guess it could have been worse. I'm just trying to figure out
how," said Chris DiMarco of Port Charlotte, who lost part of his roof and
pool enclosure.
On exclusive Captiva Island, offshore from Punta Gorda, 160
condominiums were totally destroyed and a similar number seriously damaged,
the National Weather Service said.
Florida Power & Light said 429,000 customers were left without
electricity. Progress Energy Florida said 477,000 people were sitting in the
dark.
There was no state estimate on damage, but a catastrophic risk
management group, Risk Management Solutions, estimated Charley could have
inflicted up to $5 billion of insured damage.
President Bush declared Florida a disaster area to speed
emergency assistance.
Forecasters had expected Charley to hit the densely populated
Tampa area north of Port Charlotte and nearly 2 million people were told to
evacuate.
But the storm suddenly gathered intensity as it headed for land
and made a last-minute turn that brought it ashore farther south, catching
off guard many who had ignored evacuation orders because they thought they
were safe.
By 8 a.m., Charley was about 35 miles south-southeast of
Charleston, South Carolina, near latitude 32.3 north and longitude 79.7
west, and its winds had reduced to 85 mph. It was moving north-northeast at
28 mph with winds of up to 85 mph.
As a Category 4 storm -- the second strongest on a scale used to
rate hurricanes -- Charley rated as one of the most dangerous storms to hit
Florida.
Hurricane Andrew was believed to be a Category 4 storm when it
hit Miami in August 1992, causing $25 billion in damage.
