Here's an update to my story in the on-going Charley saga.

3 days after the hurricane and finding a gas station with gasoline to sell is near impossible. Last night I drove around for almost an hour before giving up. By now, one of my two vehicles was out of gas, which necessitated car-pooling in my household. After work today (first day back since the storm), I finally found the service station right in front of my neighborhood had received a gas delivery. I ran home, grabbed the car needing gas and got into a looooooooong gas line. I noticed there was a police officer guarding the pumps. After an hour in line, I finally got to the pumps to find they were nearly sold out...with only one remaining pump running. I talked to the cop, who told me that fights had broken out over getting gas. This is a really sad commentary on the state of affairs. Instead of pulling together, people are bickering over gas. The Orlando Sentinel newspaper today is filled with such stories.
After getting the car filled with gas, I went home.....only to find my house with no power. Those who read my earlier posts might remember that I was one of only 10 houses in my entire 1400 home neighborhood that did not lose electricity....and now I lose it 3 days after the storm! I called the power company and was informed that a substation somewhere in town was severly damaged and some sort of chain reaction backlashed through the system, knocking the entire grid out. They have no idea when power will be restored.
School has now been cancelled until at least Aug 24.....a week from Tuesday! That has many families in a quandry. One of the managers at my place of employment had to bring her two children to work with her today because her home has no water or electricity and she didn't want them home unsupervised.
The restaurants that are able to open have been swamped with business...mostly from people without resources to cook for themselves. (I have never before seen a line at Mc Donalds stretch around the block!!!) Now, a number of those restaurants are being forced to shut their doors because they are running out of food!
It seems like the hardships from this storm have no end. Hopefully, we have learned a few things from Charley...and take a few extra precautions to be better prepared....the next time.

--Lou