infinite improbability

Charley's aftermath

As I watch the TV coverage of Charley's path of destruction, all I can say is that I am so incredibly thankful that it missed us. When I woke up Friday morning, it looked like we were going to get the big one, and if we had, not only would I not be blogging now, I probably wouldn't have much of a house left. I just can't believe what sort of destruction Charley caused, and that it made it all of the way across the state as a hurricane. A cousin in Punta Gorda lost most of his roof and his house is mostly trashed. My cousin in Lake Wales had a large tree limb go through his car windshield, and they are very lucky that was the biggest damage they had. And, as bad as I feel for the people who got a direct hit by the storm, I can hardly even imagine what it would have been like if it had stayed over water any longer than it did--if it had kept on it's original path, we could have gotten a direct hit by a category 5 storm, which would have then roared into Tampa Bay and put all of downtown under water. As it was, they clocked wind gusts as high as 180 mph down in Punta Gorda, and if it had stayed over water any longer, it would have been an Andrew making a direct hit on a major metropolitan area.

The following photos say it all:

aftermath slideshow(tbo.com)

(photo from sptimes.com)

The one funny storm-related thing was that yesterday, this guy at my church who's from Brazil got out on one of the beaches to take photos because he still had his (expired) press pass from when he was a camera man in Australia. He waved his press pass and told the cops stationed at the bridge that he was press, and they let him right through. Having a press pass really can get you anywhere.