Punta Gorda Florida

[Mariner*]

`Paradise Is No More'
By LINDSAY PETERSON and BRAD SMITH The Tampa Tribune
Published: Aug 16, 2004

PUNTA GORDA - Hurricane Charley was a vandal that ravaged southwest Florida while showing only random mercy, residents realized Saturday when they first glimpsed the Category 4 storm's havoc that killed at least 13 people.
``It's Andrew all over again,'' said Wayne Sallade, Charlotte County emergency management director.

Charley demolished thousands of homes, severely damaged hundreds of businesses and left ``thousands upon thousands of people'' homeless, Sallade said.

Hundreds were unaccounted for in the hardest-hit areas of Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte. Charley also ripped up Captiva Island, a narrow strip of sand west of Fort Myers.

State officials confirmed 13 deaths based on reports from county medical examiners. The state listed four deaths in Charlotte, two deaths apiece in Orange, Polk and Volusia counties, and one death apiece in DeSoto, Lee and Sarasota counties.

Charley knocked out power to an estimated 2 million people as it crossed from southwest Florida to Daytona Beach. By afternoon, 1.3 million people still were without power.

Tampa Electric Co. spokesman Ross Bannister said power could be down in parts of Polk County until Friday or later because major rebuilding is necessary.

The American Red Cross set up more than 250 disaster relief shelters in Florida, with staff and volunteers providing dry clothing, meals, first aid and counseling.

``This is our largest hurricane disaster operation since Hurricane Andrew,'' said Red Cross President Marty Evans. Andrew was directly blamed for the deaths of 26 people in 1992, most in South Florida.

The wounded and infirm from Charlotte and DeSoto counties streamed into Tampa Bay area hospitals. Some suffered fractures and other injuries. Other patients already were hospitalized and were moved to get them out of harm's way.

Charley downed trees and sent debris flying at Orlando- area amusement parks as it blew through Friday packing 90 mph winds.

Officials were assessing damage to Florida's $1.2 billion citrus crop, concentrated in the central part of the state and extending south to Lee and Charlotte counties, where the storm made landfall.

Meanwhile, residents struggled to fill the gap between the promise of government help and its availability, even as President Bush declared Charlotte, Lee, Manatee and Sarasota counties disaster areas, eligible for federal aid.

Bush, Gov. Jeb. Bush's brother, sent a mortuary team to help process bodies. The president planned a visit today to survey damage, and Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry offered ``heartfelt sympathies.''


`Community Totally Flattened'

The Category 4 storm is expected to cost Florida ``at least several billion dollars,'' said Loretta Worters, spokeswoman for the Insurance Information Institute.

Charley slammed Charlotte County's hospitals, fire and law enforcement stations, even the emergency management headquarters.

Wet yellow insulation dripped from collapsed ceilings in several rooms as Gov. Bush arrived with a cadre of state and federal officials who surveyed damage from a Black Hawk helicopter.

``It's just hard to describe seeing an entire community totally flattened,'' Bush said of swaths of homes across Charlotte County crushed, twisted and pulverized by Charley.

``Paradise is no more,'' said Charles Rinehart, police chief in Punta Gorda, a city of 15,000. ``The historic area is destroyed. The business area is destroyed. It's tough to see your entire city go away.''

Among officials with Bush were Federal Emergency Management Agency leaders who said the federal government would help Florida rebuild.

``We're here to help, in all sincerity. We're here to help,'' Bush said.

As Bush was leaving the building, after reassuring the emergency staff, he was confronted by hurricane victim Vanessa Snyder sitting outside, slumped over and crying.

``My babies,'' she said. ``We have no water, no roof, no food. They said they would come to help, but nobody has come.''

A volunteer with a Boys & Girls Club at a nearby public housing complex brought Snyder to see the governor. ``It's bad,'' said Shripaul Jaikaran. ``These kids there have no water, no food. They're in trouble.''

Charley struck a part of Florida that was largely unprepared as forecasts focused on a hit on the Tampa Bay area.

More than 1 million people left their homes in Pinellas, Pasco, Hillsborough and Manatee counties as Charley churned north.

In less populated Charlotte County, some tried to rush to shelters, but as winds rose to 145 mph, most decided to stay off roads and try to survive the storm in a bathroom or closet.

Jack Beven, hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami, said the storm at 11 a.m. Friday was ``like somebody flipped a switch inside the hurricane.'' That's when it went from a Category 3 storm to a Category 4 disaster.

On Saturday, most of Florida's top emergency management officials huddled in Tallahassee coordinating recovery and relief efforts from the Capitol.


`A Day Of Assessment'

Even after recovery teams, 1,500 National Guard troops, state law enforcement and federal officials observed the damage, officials were reluctant to cite many specifics.

``This is a day of assessment,'' the governor said.

Mike McHargue, director of investigations for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, said downed power lines and debris made the work ``tedious and dangerous.''

``We are going through a very painstaking and deliberate process of trying to locate and report on any fatalities,'' said McHargue, whose agency is charged with reporting storm- related fatalities.

In all, 31 mobile home parks in Charlotte County, some with more than 1,000 units, suffered major damage, said Bob Carpenter, a sheriff's spokesman. Teams were sent to each park to search for bodies and survivors, but ``we just couldn't get the vehicles in; there is so much debris.''

A year ago, Punta Gorda, which sits between Sarasota and Fort Myers, was ranked the nation's fourth-best place to live by Sperling's Best Places for its job climate, low unemployment rate and cost of living. Only Raleigh-Durham- Chapel Hill, N.C.; Denver; and San Diego ranked ahead.

Charley changed all that.

The clawing, pounding winds hammered 80 percent of all the major buildings along U.S. 41, tearing off roofs and awnings, shattering windows and punching through signs.

Charlotte County emergency officials said thousands of people were frightened and suffering, huddling in homes without roofs, walls and windows.

Roughly 400,000 people in Lee, Collier and Charlotte counties had no electricity.

In addition to powerless Charlotte cities, Arcadia was without running water, state environmental officials said.

Even before the storm ended, law enforcement officials from Broward to Sarasota counties were arriving. Also, the state mobilized National Guard troops, many of whom showed up at the emergency operations center in Punta Gorda on Saturday afternoon.

Lt. Jerry Nichols of the Charlotte County Sheriff's office unloaded drinking water, flashlights and supplies.

Communication was spotty. Gesturing with his cell phone, he said, ``My Nextel is intermittent. My AT&T is dead. And my radio sucks.''

He and his colleagues hoped the National Guard would seal off the county Saturday night. ``The `lookie-loos' are driving us nuts, he said.

Many of those on duty also were victims of the storm. ``We have a bunch of guys who lost their houses, and they're still working,'' Nichols said.

Another Charlotte County officer, Sgt. Patty Smrkovsky, described a heart-wrenching first trip over the Punta Gorda bridge from Port Charlotte. ``I've been working here for 20 years, and when I hit the top of that bridge, I started crying,'' she said.

On Saturday morning, Interstate 75 was more than just another Florida highway. It was an artery with relief vehicles flowing toward Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte.

Telephone repair vehicles and flatbeds with forklifts, front- end loaders, power generators, portable toilets and roof- repair supplies made their way to the disaster zone.

By midmorning, 26 Florida Highway Patrol cruisers in single file whipped past. Like the ambulances before them, the procession was fast but silent.

Helpers spent much of the day searching for survivors. At one mobile home park near Interstate 75, they went knocking door to door.

Among the dead were an elderly couple, Gordon and Joanne Hawkins, who lived in a mobile home park on the eastern edge of Punta Gorda. Every home was damaged and some were obliterated.

The Hawkins' lived down the street from Cesar Pares, 59, who survived in his kitchen, watching and listening as his carport tore off.

When the storm ended, Pares and others ventured out to find survivors. At the Hawkins' home, they found nothing but a slab.

They discovered the couple's son, Richard, inside a damaged home 150 feet away. ``He said he couldn't remember how he got there,'' Pares said.

Neighbors tried to get the Hawkins' to leave, said neighbor Celia Carr, who rode out the storm at the Burnt Store Marina where she works. ``They wouldn't go,'' she said. ``He was sick. She was taking care of him. She refused to go. She thought they could make it.''

This December, they would have celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary.

Residents of Park Hill Estates and River Haven mobile home parks along Burnt Store Road in southern Charlotte County said most neighbors fled, but at least 18 stayed, playing cards.

Sara Haussmann, 68, stepped gingerly atop an aluminum scrap that was her mobile home's roof. Haussmann fretted over a waterlogged shag carpet in her porch.

``If I could just dry this rug out, that would make me happy,'' said Haussmann who lives alone in one park.

Haussmann had no insurance. She moved to Park Hill Estates from Naples because of the fishing in Charlotte Harbor.

``Where can you live and have Gulf access for $200 a month?'' she said, shrugging.

Nearby, Bob Worcester, 89, was spared major damage to the mobile home where he has lived part-time for 21 years. Though most of his windows were blown out and rain threatened, Worcester vowed to stay. He was thankful that his wife, who died in February after 65 years of marriage, missed Charley.

``I'm kind of glad she wasn't here to see this,'' he said, his eyes welling up with tears.

Standing by the shell of a demolished building in Punta Gorda's Windmill Village Trailer Park, Barbar Seaman, 69, asked, ``Where do we go now? What do we do?''

Retiree Bob Merrit, 77, one of the minority who evacuated to a shelter, returned to his mobile home to something he barely recognized. Of the 45 mobile homes, at least 15 were demolished.

``It was always my dream to live on Sanibel, but I never had the money,'' said Merrit, holding an American flag he recovered from the roofless community room. ``I'm sure I'll stay, but you work your whole life, you should be able to retire and enjoy yourself.''

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report. Reporters Guy Boulton, Allison North Jones, Baird Helgeson, Richard Lardner, Keith Morelli and Michael Sasso contributed to this report. Reporter Brad Smith can be reached at [phone].
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