Category 4 Hurricane Charley Landfalls north of Ft. Myers Central Florida Bracing

My parents live in SW Orlando, about 2 miles east of Sea World. They went through the northern eyewall and into what was left of Charlie's eye. Their power flickered for a long time before finally going out as the eye passed. No significant damage in their area - a few gutters down on some houses, small trees blown over, plants uprooted - but they live in a relatively new area without many trees to topple.

I have a friend who lives a few miles NE of there in south Orlando (specifically, Edgewood). He's reporting many, many trees down, with transformers blowing continually all over town. A couple of trees have fallen on his house without causing major damage, but others nearby aren't so lucky. A couple of houses have been destroyed it appears, and power has been out there for a long time now. They were lucky in that the trees that went down missed most of their property. He quoted that his brother had a window that, on the horizon, 6 trees blocked the view. Now, only one of those 6 are left standing.

Trying to get ahold of my friend who has family on the east side of town, near the airport, as that appears to be where the worst damage occured. No word on there yet, though. Airport recorded a 105mph gust with sustained winds at 70mph for a significant period of time. Pressure was falling rapidly - 15mb in 20min by my estimation - before that sensor went out. They had to change to automated obs, but at least their station stayed on - not many others further south did.

U.S. 17 is going to be the focus for much of the damage, and it is not going to be pretty. Those with no business in the area should stay away for the next few weeks, as the clean up will be long. Between Punta Gorda and the Kissimmee area, the towns are small but mobile homes dot the landscape. It is not a highly developed area, but has residents spread about the countryside. Many of these residences are not built well and I expect there will be reports of thousands of homes destroyed along Charley's path.

Tower cams in Orlando and on the north side are showing many areas - save those with generators - out of power. The main power plant for Orlando (that I know of, at least) is on the southeast side of town and experienced the full force of Charley's wrath. Power may be out to residents served by that plant for several days, especially if there are other impediements - as there are sure to be - across the town.

The center of Charley looks to pass offshore near or just north of Daytona Beach in the next couple of hours. Ormond Beach, Daytona Beach, and New Smyrna look to be under the gun for some high winds and 3"/hr rainfall rates for the immediate future. More thoughts on its future later...

--------------------
Current Tropical Model Output Plots
(or view them on the main page for any active Atlantic storms!)

Post Extras

Flhurricane.com - Central Florida Hurricane Center - Tracking Storms since 1995Hurricanes Without the Hype! Since 1995

NEWS

CURRENT STORMS

COMMUNICATION

STORM DATA

CONTENT

FOLLOW US