Hurricane Jeanne's projected path	First there was Charley. Then Frances came to visit. Ivan decided to let us be. But the weekend of September 25th, 2004, just when you thought it was safe to take down the plywood and untape your windows, Hurricane Jeanne swept through Central Florida... our third hurricane in just six weeks!
Unbelievable! Unprecedented! The last time a state had been hit with this many consecutive hurricanes was 100 years ago. "Hurricane fatigue" became a serious issue. People just didn't care anymore. Let Jeanne do her worse... we'd been through it all already.	Satellite view of Hurricane Jeanne
Sarah and I were certainly less concerned about Jeanne's arrival than we were for our previous hurricanes.
Mackie watches the hurricane	For Charley, we huddled nervously in a safe spot in ourr apartment. When Frances came through, we were more relaxed but made sure nothing was in front of the windows. But as Jeanne tore through town, we slept carelessly in front of the windows and snuck peeks out the front door to watch the torrential rain and high speed winds blowing through the trees.
Through all three hurricanes, Sarah and I were very lucky. We were unharmed and our apartment was undamaged. With Hurricane Jeanne as with her two predecessors, we lost our power. A mere 28 hours later, much to our delight, our power was restored (Charley knocked our power out for three days).
Hurricane Jeanne still did her fair share of damage to our already ravaged city. By the time she hit Orlando, the Category 3 storm had been downgraded to Category 1 but still carried with her 75+ mph sustained winds.	A traffic light dangles in the path of traffic
Our apartment rental office's awning blew two blocks away	The Texaco food mart lost its logo to Jeanne
Even after the storm, the winds were strong	After the hurricane had passed and curfew had been lifted, Sarah and I, along with everyone else who had been cooped up for over a day, ventured out for some fresh air and to survey the latest damage. Once again, trees were toppled and signs were damaged. Orlando continued to look like a war zone.
Naturally, all businesses and restaurants were closed immediately following the storm... except for one Oriental Food restaurant. People eager for hot food and cold drinks stood in a line that snaked out into the restaurant's parking lot.	The only open restaurant following the storm
Click here to see video from our hurricane experience	I never thought that I would experience one hurricane... and now I have survived three. We are all experts now at dealing with these beasts of nature. Hopefully, this is the end of Central Florida's battle with hurricanes, but the end of hurricane season is still over a month away. All we can do is hope for the best and deal with whatever Mother Nature continues to send our way.
Posted: 10/02/04