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Here's
images of CHARLEY which hit Friday August 13, 2004
click on any to see larger.
A chain of events all happened at once..... I will post messages
between images to give you a bird's eye view.
From
My Drawing Board's Message Board, 8/10/04 at 06:54 AM
Monday
morning a guy held Gina up at Ye
Olde Friendly and stuck her. She - and other girls - have walked
off the job. Therefore I have to return to NY to run the show. So
much for my bus driving career! Cathy and lil PJ will remain here
with Jim, Dawn, et al. I may be up there for awhile... months maybe.
Anyway,
due to all these new gadgets, I will be able to run the Board
from there. So there ought not be any interruption save driving time
between here and there.
Joe
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Gee, that's what our neighbor's back yard looks like. |
Ain't that Jim's house? No, perhaps it's Kitty's house? |
Turn right here to enter my driveway. |
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Bierget's once beautiful maple tree. |
Hey, Jim? Glenda? You guys in there? |
The beautiful view from our front window. |
8/11/04
at 09:54 AM
Joe,
There's a hurricane due. I'm scared and what do I do with PJ.
Cathy
8/12/04
at 06:06 PM
Cath,
Stuck
in Jersey. Narrows closed. At a rest stop Net kiosk. I heard about
Charley. Bonnie had followed me all the way up here. Heard Charley is
not going to hit by you - going to make land fall at Tampa? Do you
want me home?
Joe
8/12/04
at 06:24 PM
Joe,
Use
Washington Bridge. Get to mom's. Phone me on LAN line. Charley is
due to hit Tampa, yes.
Cath
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Mike's driveway is right there - see? |
Told ya, you can see stars in the eye of a hurricane. |
PJ thinks this is great fun. |
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Cathy's Greenhouse. |
Hey, Jim? Glenda? You guys in there? |
The beautiful view from our front window. |
8/13/04
at 03:00 PM
Joe
arrives at Ye Olde Friendly
Flower Shoppe. Place is dark and empty. He calls Cathy who
is frantically preparing for the worse. Charley changed course
and is headed for Sanabel Island and
Central Florida. Everyone is worried. Joe calls police
concerning robbery. Police feel it's an inside job. Joe allows
it to end there. He stops in at his Mom's house in Babylon
where all are buzzing about Charley. Everyone is calling
Patrick (PJ's Dad) in Port St. Lucie, FLA., Melinda (PJ's Mom) in
Stewart, FLA., Joe and Yvete (Joe's Dad) in Daytona. Joe
contacts Jimmy in Seaford where Joe will stay - because Mom fears
having the Internet in her house is actually a government
spy-conspiracy. Joe gets back by phone to Cathy and PJ. They
are huddled under Cathy's bed and praying. Just as the wind howls,
the phone goes dead.
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Oh, so what? A section of fence flew away. Big deal. |
OK, so another couple of sections. No biggie. |
And a few more sections.... |
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View when Joe got back - showing what's left of his
favorite tree. |
The favorite tree before Joe returned. |
8/13/04
at 09:00 PM
Joe arrives at Jimmy's place on the water in Seaford. Nice view of
Jone's Beach and a glimpse of New York City. Sky is clear, warm and
air is softly fragrant with salt. Joe runs to the phone. Jim turns on
weather channel. Joe get Kissimmee Police who tell him no one
can get in or out of Mill Run - his and Cathy's neighborhood. No
emergencies reported but no contact either. Storm has passed
but everything is down and damaged. Cathy and Pj come up for air and
to leave the house. Every neighbor was out of their homes checking
damage and making sure everyone else was OK. You couldn't even see
down the block. There were trees covering the streets, the
yards, the driveways! Most houses were under fallen pine trees, water
oaks and poplar trees. The scene was unrecognizable. Roof shingles
laid everywhere. The sight was frightening. No one stayed out
side long. Jim and Glenda visited everyone to assure they were
safe and sound. Steve took the north end, Jim and Glenda the south.
Mike and his daughter were Ok and returned to their dark house
to digest the day. Bierget huddled her sons and mother in for a visit
from Germany back indoors. Joe was noticeable absent.
No electric, no phones, no cable TV. Everyone took to sleeping
it all off. Happy to be alive.
Jim and Joe walk down Jim's lovely ocean side street to one of
several dockside restaurants for something to eat. It was an
unsettling meal. But no contact could be made back home.
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Our beautiful home in Kissimmee. |
Our beautiful street in Kissimmee. |
Our beautiful nneighbor Bierget in Kissimmee. |
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Our neighbor Mike's beautiful Cadillac in Kissimmee. |
Our beautiful shrubs and favorite tree in Kissimmee. |
Come on down! |
-----
Original Message -----
From:
Melinda K. Collings <xxxxxxs@adelphia.xxx>
To:
<joey@cathyandjoe.com
Sent:
Sunday, August 15, 2004 9:17 PM
Subject:
Charley
Joe,
I
have been trying to reach Cathy and PJ and I think the phones
are down. I have no other number for them. One of Patrick's
roommates said he went up there so I can't get in touch with
him either. I spoke with Cathy about 20 minutes before the eye
passed over and that was the last I could get in touch with
them. I am very worried since no one has called me. I wanted to
go up and get PJ but with my work schedule I would've had to drive
right into the hurricane to get there by that time. I have no numbers
for anyone and no one has called me and I am very very worried.
Please email me back or call me if you know anything.
Melinda
Saturday found Joe working the flower shoppe. Between customers he
was on the phone to Police and started to call friends and
connections in Kissimmee. He called people he knew at KUA -
Kissimmee Utility Authority. Nothing but bad news and no one
could get to Oak Hollow Drive. But Joe was told it wasn't the
worse area to be hit. Bad, but there was even worse. Body
bags were being shipped here and there. He called a local haunt
- Callahan's Gas Light Lounge. "Yeah, was a big blow through
here last night, Joe." Dawn replied. She is Cathy and Joe's
favorite bar keep. "Lights even blinked once or twice and I hear
Mill Run is unaccessible." Joe asked how her house was
doing as it sat less than a 1/4 mile from Cathy and Joe's.
"Haven't left the bar, Joe. Windy as hell - hold on...hey, Jeff,
how's the weather now out there?" Jeff called back after a
peek outside that it looked fine but the Shop and Save next door is
leveled. "Sounds like it was a really big blow, Joe. You
guys coming down for a night cap later?" Joe filled her in
and asked if she could try to get to Cathy with a cell phone.
"All the cell towers are down, 'cept for Verizon and all the
cable towers are out too. But I'll drive by tomorrow and let her know
you called."
Joe tried to call PJ's Mom, Melinda, but the number he had was
outdated. He called Patrick - PJ's Dad. They had conversed the
night before while Joe was also checking on his dad in Daytona.
Patrick was invaluable for news because the weather channel in New
York spent no time covering Kissimmee. It did mention that Ponta
Gorda was the worse hit (although Captiva and Sanabel Island lost 600
homes - all valued at over 3 million dollars or more. And NY TV said
Orlando airport was hit with 105 mile winds. Joe was working at
Orlando International before he left and called friends there. It was
205 mile an hour winds and entire plane hangars were missing.
NY TV said that Charley would pale next to 1992's Andrew (In which
Joe was present and lost 2 family members there.) but according to
Florida and FEMA, Charley has put Andrew in the dust.
Joe was beside himself. Patrick at least could keep him
informed with Florida news reports. None looked good. Joe
finally "ordered" Patrick to drive the 2 hour drive to
Kissimmee and, if need be, dig Cathy and PJ out - and bring a cell
phone. Patrick arrived at 8 PM and Cathy got on Patrick's
friend's cell phone. "Get here right now, Joe. This
is the scariest thing I ever lived through." Joe laid out
a plan. First Islip Airport then to start driving and to hit
Kennedy then Newark airports if no flights, continue driving the
1,100 miles back home.
Close friend Joe always visits when returning to New York are
Cathy's brother Mike,
Desert Joe
and Mark
Turco. Joe had left a message for Mike concerning Cathy's
dilemma, but no other contact was made. Now he phoned Mike to
find Mark and others there playing poker. Mark thought Joe nuts
to go running back after fighting Bonnie all the way here. But
Cathy was in need. Mike was delighted to hear his sister was Ok
and encouraged Joe to get up and go. Joe grabbed an over night
bag and scooted to islip Airport - closed. No flights anywhere.
Here goes another 1,100 miles in rain and the No. South Carolina
bumper to bumper trap.
He cat napped here and there - especially in South Carolina - and
walked in his front door in Kissimmee at 5 AM Monday morning.
Neighbors like Jim and Steve had already gotten most of the trees cut
away. Everyone did their fair share. Glenda set up a grill on
Oak Hollow Drive and served everyone breakfast. Cathy and PJ raked
and raked. She dug up batteries from non-essential appliances
to give to others. We had lots of water melon (we grow them) and
Cathy passed it around. Temps were close top 100 and no
AC. So Cathy invited everyone into our pool - no takers and
many have their own. But PJ sure loved hitting the pool.
Joe tried to contribute and did help Steve with a classic Rivera
tangled among the roots of a downed Pine tree. And helped Bierget
toss a canvas over her roof. At home he had to repair his own roof,
fix the greenhouse, hjang fence and tons of clean-up. Too bad
for Joe, huh? Think he'll miss it all next week when he takes
that 1,100 mile trip again to Jimmy's cozy Seaford residence?
Well,
no sooner he returned to NY than hurricane Frances came down upon
FLA. Joe flew back. This time Cathy and Joe decided on a
different appraoch to the hurricanes. Click
here to read and see more scenes of hurricane damage.
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