Hurricane Charley : The Clean Up Starts

It was a couple of days after Hurricane Charley hit Florida that anyone could leave their homes. People were told to stay at home because of power outages which meant that street lights were not working and most of the gas station were closed too. Hurricane Charley had caused more than 2 million people to be without power, along with causing widespread building damage. Hurricane Charley uprooted trees from the Fort Myers area in the southwest to Daytona Beach on Florida's Atlantic coast. It took 8 days before the power was restored to my home in Christmas Florida.

A Very Special Thanks goes out to the Georgia Power Men for restoring our power on August 21, 2004 at 8:15PM just as they were leaving to head home.

These pictures were taken 1 week after Hurricane Charley hit Florida and a LOT of clean up has been done.

A view of the front left corner of the house. Hurricane Charley caused the Pine Tree in the foreground to knocked down a Royal Palm and it landed on the roof then fell to the ground. The Royal Palm Tree top has been removed but the tree did extend to within inches of the Front Porch.

A view of the front left corner of the house

A lean to with the roof rolled up by the wind.

A view of the oak floor at the picture window. The roof above is damaged and the ceiling is water stained.

The oak flooring got wet and each day it warps even more. The baseboard had been broken from the floor warping. It is 4 days later and the floor is warped much more then they are in this picture.

A piece of the roof.

Remains of the water shed after it had a tree removed from on top of it. The equipment was sandwiched inside of the shed. It has been dragged away from the equipment area so repairs can begin.

The Tractor Shed (formally a plant starting shed when the property was a nursery. The Roofing is blown off and the shed leans to the north by about 15 degrees.

The 5th tree east of the garage which is missing it top portion. The previous 4: the 3 closest to the garage are on the ground and the 4th is broken in half.

The mess of trees (2 Pine & 1 Royal Palm) that fell from beside the tractor shed toward the house. The trees fell North- Northeast.

Root ball of the Pine Tree that knocked down the Royal Palm that hit the Roof of the House. The board on the far left of the picture is the north-east corner of the Tractor Shed.

A distant view of the garage. The 4th tree coming east of the garage is snapped in half. The 5th tree coming east of the garage has it top missing.

There were 3 trees that fell a step in front of the garage door. A 4th tree was snapped in half. Then the 5th tree had its top removed. These trees fell in a northward direction

The tops of the trees that fell in front of the garage doors and the root ball of the tree that fell onto the Water Shed that held all the water equipment. This tree fell mostly North but a little Northwest. That root ball is about 6 feet high.

Looking down the Pine Tree that grabbed a Royal Palm that hit the roof of the house.

Another view of the Pine Tree that fell toward the Left Front Corner of the House.

After cutting the tree top off of the Water Shed, we were able to rip the shed open to remove the water equipment. Much of the equipment was damaged. We had to snip wire to untangle everything and the piping was already broken. You can see the root ball of the tree that fell on the Water shed back by the side of the garage. That root ball is the same height as the door and is about 5 feet from the side of the garage. The cement slab at the door entrance cracked and the corner was broken apart.

The trees that surround the water equipment area. You can see that the Pine Trees stand taller then the Power Pole. This is the average height of the Pine Trees on the property (there were 60 of them).

Hurricane Charley Recovery After August 21, 2004

Power is restored to the house on the evening of August 21, 2004 and signs of Hurricane Charley's damage continue to show up more in the house. Water damage to the ceiling and floor are reflected in the next set of photos. Mold continues to take over the house in the following months.

This is water damage to the ceiling over the picture window.

This is water damage to the ceiling next to the beam in the middle of the living room.

More ceiling water damage.

The oak floor planks continue to swell and buckle from water saturation.

Another view of the oak floor planks. These floors were new to the house less than 1 year before Hurricane Charley hit Florida on Friday the 13th.

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