alan
Weather Hobbyist
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Posts: 95
Loc: Apopka, FL
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East coast damage
Wed Sep 08 2004 09:24 PM
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Just got back from a trip to Melbourne. Drove up A-1-A on the way back to the Orlando area. Had to take my son back to the ex-wife, so I wasn't just gawking.
Here's my thoughts.
Surprisingly, Cocoa Beach took a lot more of a hit than points on my drive further south. I started at Indiatlantic, just east of Melbourne, on A-1-A. Melbourne didn't look too bad. Traffic lights down, some trees and some signs. One church had almost its entire eastern side taken off, but other than that, Downtown Orlando looked 10 times worse after Charley.
Same story on A-1-A in Indiatlantic, Indian Harbour Beach and Satellite Beach, although much more structural damage to homes. Didn't see any roofs off, just lots of awning and shingles. Most of the trees and sea grapes were stripped of their folliage and were basically bunches of brown sticks.
The damage starting getting worse near Patrick Air Force base. One building on the base was demolished. I also started to see sand build up on the road, signifying the surge had breeched the dunes here.
Approaching Cocoa Beach, the damage became worse. Roofs were off several buildings, signs were blown out. Stopped off at the beach and the house next to the walkway had their entire backyard covered in sand. It was at least two feet deep on their back wall. Sand splatters covered the house.
The worse damage was to the church on A-1-A. Probably most have seen the steeple that broke off and stuck upside down in the roof. The pictures aren't anywhere close to seeing it live. The other massive damage was to the bank building where A-1-A comes back to being a four-lane road heading north. Several of the windows were blown out and part of the building was torn off.
Moving towards SR 528, the damaged tapered off, but that may have been because it was further from the beach. Didn't see a lot of trees down on the Bee Line until I got to near the airport and I believe most of those trees were down during Charlie.
The St. John's looked swollen, but not as much as I thought it would be. I've seen it that high before, but maybe the flood waters haven't hit yet.
Anyway, that's my report. Any thoughts on why Cocoa might have been hit harder than Melbourne, which was 30 miles closer to the center?
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