To our Florida DUers

[democratreformed]

I hope and pray that each and every one of you and your family and friends are okay. I'm very saddened by what you are having to endure. When you are able to get back to some semblance of "normal", please let the rest of us know if you are okay and what we can do to help.

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

1. Here here. Those in FL are in my thoughts.

[chookie]

2. Lots of hugs to our friends in Florida

I am a Floridian living in exile, and know full well what the last 48 hours must have been like.

The people I love most in the world are in Charley's path from FL to PA....

We are all monitoring the situation with great concern. You are all very much in our thoughts.

:grouphug:

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. Thoughts and prayers sent your way

hope you are all ok.

[geomon666]

4. Better keep those thoughts and prayers going for awhile

As of right now we're in the path of 2 more potential hurricanes. :(

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

9. I hope we don't get any more hurricanes

I'm Orlando. It didn't seem to be too bad here. Lots of trees fell, but not too much damage to buildings. We got our power back last night.

[Cleita]

5. Yes, my thoughts are with each and every one of you.

Please check in when you are able to so that we know you are okay.

[DianeG5385]

6. My parents live in Boca Raton, out of harms way

and fortunately they are in Greece right now. Olympics!! My step sister was in the path of Andrew in 1992 and their house was destroyed. The winds were so strong that water had beed forced INSIDE light bulbs! My Fla. relatives are safe, but I pray for those who were harmed by H. Charley. Let us know how we can help!!!

[iamjoy]

7. Orlando DUer OK!

I live in the Goldenrod area - just east of Winter Park. It was pretty scary for a while, my husband and I sat in the hallway of our single story home, it sounded like we might lose our roof, lots of thumps and bangs. It got really loud at one point and I think there was a tornado, but who can be sure with everything else going on? But a neighbor a few doos down has a tool shed thrown into his roof (complete with hoe).

AS it is, we will probably have to replace our roof because several shingles are missing - but what the heck, it was time anyway!

The worst of it for us is several of the trees in our neighborhood, some oaks 100 years old, were uprooted by the storm (pulling up power, cable & phone lines). My husband and I are at my mother's house in Altamonte (about 10 miles north of Orlando and miraculously never lost power, large numbers of people less than a mile away are still without.) Anyway, sometimes I start to get depressed about the trees, but remind myself how fortunate we are that all the houses in our neighborhood are undamaged (except for shutters, shingles, etc) and a lot of people are in far worse shape.

[soup]

8. So good to hear from you.

After reading the papers and watching the news, I have tears of relief as my Florida DU neighbors check in and let us know that they are ok.

We were under a mandatory evacuation (level A) near Tampa Bay, and expected that when we left for higher ground, we'd have nothing to come back to. We've lived here in the same house almost 20 years and the sadness of leaving was really hard to deal with. The predicted 15 foot surge for Tampa Bay would have put our neighborhood entirely underwater. As it turned out, all we got here was brief showers. I only wish the rest of the state had been as lucky.

The devastation is absolutely overwhelming.

I wish you, your husband, your mom and everyone else suffering through this only the best.

[dryan]

10. Conway/Azalea Park report....

we put our car in the garage on Friday morning just to be on the safe side. It is 22 years old but it is all we've got! We live on Curry Ford near Oxalis on the cusp between Conway and Azalea Park. We did not receive any damage to our duplex except some missing soffits and flashing but we were very lucky. Two of our neighbors' cars were destroyed by falling trees and the main road in and out of our development was blocked by falling water oaks, some of which were over 80 years old (counted the rings). Oxalis looks like a bomb went off. Several houses were damaged by falling trees. I was watching the Olympic opening ceremonies but I started having pains in my synases and my husband's ears poped (about 8:15 PM on Friday) then our power went off and stayed off until about 1:00 AM yesterday morning. No phone and no cellphone either. As soon as the wind died down on Friday night, we were outside with a lot of our neighbors just to make sure that everyone was okay.

My mother and brother live in Winter Springs (about 15 miles north of Orlando). My mother has leukemia and is on oxygen. They couldn't get out either because of fallen trees. The Red Cross put them up in a hotel (ironically about on the South Trail -- Orland's red light district ) and they came to stay with us.

I know that a lot of people on DU don't believe in a higher power, but I think that God was really watching over us.

Here at UCF, the Wellness Center was badly hit; the roof was torn off and a three story pane of glass in the front was blown off.

[iamjoy]

13. My Husband's Ears Also Popped!

I'm at Research Park (near UCF) at work. We are running on back up generators and have no air conditioning.

Overall though, I think we are very fortunate.

[dryan]

14. I work at UCF....

small world-the Wellness Center is in very very bad shape, roof caved in and the glass in front was destroyed. The faculty lounge in our building had a window blown out and the interior roof is gone.

[methinks2]

11. Casselberry here

We lost power around 10pm on the night of the storm. We stood on our covered back porch for a while watching the storm. You could see the sky light up and trees blowing and swaying in the wind. At one point the entire eastern skyline lit up as green as grass. Strangest thing I ever saw! Anyway, our power was back on by saturday afternoon. The local walmart marketplace had 75% power and kept selling things. Yesterday they were down to 3 gallons of milk, I got one. I hope they can get more food in the store. There was a 3 to 4 hour wait for a bag of ice. My local relatives are staying with us because they have no power and there are trees on their roofs. When they workers showed up yesterday in their neighborhood (Oviedo) to remove the 30 foot oak tree blocking the neighborhood road, the workers told them that it could be up to a month before power is back in their neighborhood. I hope those workers just don't know what they're talking about.
So, where's the Fla Nat'l Guard to help move all these trees? We've only seen the Progress Energy people, and some from local tree-cutting companies.

[iamjoy]

12. The Green Flashes Were Transformers Blowing

I haven't heard a month for power, I have heard 1 - 2 weeks for Central Florida and for the worst hit areas in Florida 2 - 4 weeks.

[democratreformed]

15. I am so happy to hear from those of you who are okay.

I am still hoping to hear from more in the coming days. And I still have each of you in my thoughts and prayers.

[sidestreamer]

16. My house was out of power for two days, but I made it through w/o damages

Those in Punta Gorda and Port Charolette, my sympathies to you.

(Lakeland DUer reporting)

[Spangle]

17. Thanks! Kissimmiee/Poinciana reporting in

Thanks for the concern.

We had no clue that we were going to get such a direct hit. At least not until we were in the storm and we heard on the radio about Davenport, which is right next to us. I think we are closer to it then Kissimmee, but we are called Kissimmee. Go figure.

We got a sky light in the garage and the shingles on the south side. and A few on the north side. Most of the lots around us have been recentlhy built upon, so very little trees to worry about. Just to big much hated pines in the front yard.. that is STILL standing. The empty lot next to us 75% of the trees are showing their butts to the world.

The good news is that we all made it just fine here. No one was hurt in our home. We got electric and phone yesterday (Tuesday). Still don't have cable, so we don't get the news. Have no clue what is going on. we have to worry about now is the bills. Scary, cause we will not know anything until the adjuster comes. And that could be a couple of weeks.

Woops, just lost power. Still have phone and using a lap top.