Hurricane Charley Five Years Ago

On Friday afternoon, August 13, 2004, Hurricane Charley headed for our area from the Gulf of Mexico. At the time, Joyce and I were staying in a 50-year old house by the river in Fort Myers while our new home was being built. The hurricane would directly hit about 20 miles north of Fort Myers, and that put us in the southeast quadrant of the storm which is the area of strongest force. As the wind and rain started to increase, we took refuge in a small bathroom that was almost too small for one person. Despite the fact that front side of the house faced the most rain and wind, none of the windows were broken. The power would be out for several days – the humidity from all the rain plus the high heat and humidity made it a real challenge. Floridians are resilient – there were four hurricanes that passed through that year (Frances, Ivan and Jeanne, coincidentally in alphabetical order), but we picked up and moved forward each time without whining and blaming.