On August 13th (Friday the 13th… how ironic!), Hurricane Charley, a category 4 storm with 100+ mph winds, paid Orlando, Florida, a visit. Originally, meteorologists predicted it would miss Orlando. However, at some point, Charley switched directions and was headed straight for Orlando instead! It was a very long day that no one will soon forget.
RUNNING FROM TORNADOES
Many businesses were open that day, but they planned on closing early, including Sea World which was closing at 2 o’clock. My girlfriend Sarah was working at the pet show, and I was going to pick her up from work around 2:30.
First band of the storm	I don’t know how familiar you are with hurricanes (up until this one, I’d had no experience with them… I hope to never have to experience one again), but they tend to be preceded by other volatile storms, storms that are conducive to creating tornadoes. As I approached Sea World to pick up Sarah, an emergency announcement came over the radio announcing that a tornado had been spotted over the Walt Disney World area, and in about five minutes it would be over Sea World! Right where I was!
Anxious, I pulled into the Sea World parking lot and, instead of sitting in my car to wait for Sarah, I headed into the park to meet her at her theatre and find safe cover. I tried to run as fast as I could, but I still have an injured knee so the best I could do was a fast hobble. As I gimped my way through the park, the sky darkened and the rain started and the winds began to pick up. And then the sky got even darker, the rain got even harder and the winds got even stronger. There were no open buildings along my path, so I continued to fight my way towards the theatre and Sarah as the weather continued to worsen around me. I was blown sideways. My umbrella was no protection from the pelting rain. I was outrunning a tornado!!
I finally made it to the safety of the theatre, soaking wet, exhausted, sore, and trembling with adrenaline. I had outrun a tornado. Moments later, the sky turned green and the tornado passed over Sea World… and all grew calm. There was a break in the weather, and everyone got to their cars and headed home to prepare and wait for Hurricane Charley’s arrival.
THE WAITING GAME
Satellite image of Hurricane Charley over Florida	Sarah and I made it safely home. We turned on the television and spent the afternoon watching the weather radar tracking Charley’s path. There was no doubt that it was on a direct path for Orlando. It was nerve wracking to just sit and wait for it, helpless. We watched as Charley passed Cuba. We watched as it came to shore and began to decimate Punta Gorda and Ft. Myers and Naples. We saw footage of trees being shaken mercilessly, streets being flooded, roofs being ripped off. What fate did Charley have in store for us?
Charley was traveling at about 20-25 miles per hour. At that speed, we expected the eye of the storm to arrive at our location around 9 o’clock. We tried to distract ourselves with sitcoms, but the channel always seemed to make its way back to the news and Charley’s progress.
HELLO CHARLEY!
About 8 o’clock in the evening, the winds began to pick up. The sky got darker and the rain fell harder. The edge of the hurricane was making its way into Orlando.
Around 8:30pm, the winds began to blow so hard, so threateningly, that Sarah and I decided it was time to move away from the TV, away from the windows, and huddle in a safe place in our apartment. We set up blankets and pillows in an archway between rooms, away from the windows. We had a flashlight and our battery-powered radio. We made sure our cats, Monkey and Maccabee, were nearby.
Monkey hiding from the storm	Monkey was so nervous, so needy, she knew something wrong was happening. She cried and didn’t want to be away from Sarah and me. Maccabee, on the other hand, seemed to care less and was more curious about all of the commotion than worried.
And right on schedule, around 9 o’clock, the hurricane arrived. It was the most frightening thing. The roar that it made sounded like a train passing by you in a tunnel.
We could feel the pressure change and kept waiting for the windows to blow in at any moment. The power flickered on and off, and we expected to lose our electricity at any moment. Outside, we could hear things cracking, things blowing up against our apartment. Through the window, we could see the blue flash of electricity.	View of Hurricane Charley from space
Power out!	At 9:30, we finally lost our power. We sat huddled together, the dark only broken by our little flashlight, and the sound of the wind only broken by the static-filled voices on the radio. Then, the roar diminished. The rain softened. The wind grew milder. By 10 o’clock, it was over. We had survived the hurricane.
THE AFTERMATH
We went outside to survey the damage. It was still windy, and you could feel the electricity in the air. There was debris everywhere! Shingles had blown off the roof. Leaves and branches were everywhere. A tree behind our apartment had fallen, but luckily it had fallen between buildings. A neighbor’s fence had collapsed. Across the street, a huge tree had fallen over and partially blocked the road.	Click below to see video of our hurricane experience Lower Quality Video (714kb) Higher Quality Video (5.25mb)
Everything was a mess. But we were intact. Other than being without power, our apartment was okay. Our cats were okay. We were shaken, but we were okay.
THE NEXT DAY
The next morning, Sarah had to be back at work at Sea World. I drove her to work, and along the way, we could see the havoc that Charley had wreaked. Trees, big trees, were fallen over everywhere, their roots exposed. Billboards were piles of twisted metal. The roof of Pizza Hut was torn apart. None of the intersection stoplights were operating. No one near us had electricity. Some people were without water.	Fallen tree behind our apartment
Charley pulled up roots	Charley visits McDonald's
It was obvious that Orlando was going to take a while to recover from Hurricane Charley.
THE DAYS AFTER
Three days after Hurricane Charley passed, we were still without power. We had to throw away everything in our refrigerator. We couldn’t cook. We couldn’t watch TV. We had no air conditioning, and the nights were hot and uncomfortable and sleep was restless. Sarah and I spent our evenings surrounded by candles, talking and maybe trying to read. We had the windows open (which the cats loved) to try and get some cooler air into the apartment, but with only mediocre success.
Monday morning, about sixty hours after we lost electricity, we suddenly heard air blowing out the vent, and we noticed that the alarm clock was blinking “12:00.” We had our power back!! We were overjoyed! The anticipation of an evening of air conditioning and TV and cold food filled us with cheer.
Georgia Power to the rescue	And then, from outside we heard…BOOM! BOOM-BOOM! BOOM! And the power went out. A transformer had blown. And so, we were without electricity again. We had no idea when we might get it back.
Finally, 7 o’clock that evening, three days after the hurricane hit us and knocked out our electricity, our power came back on and stayed on. Our lives could start getting back to normal.
Through the whole ordeal, when we got frustrated and hot and distressed, we had to keep reminding ourselves, that we survived a hurricane. Survived the eye of the storm. Survived it better than many people did. We are safe. We have a roof over our heads. And we have our loved ones. And we will always have a story to tell.
Posted: 8/20/04