============================================================ DIGITAL DIGEST � http://www.bonitanews.com � August 15, 2004 ============================================================ Subscribe to the Bonita Daily News: http://web.naplesnews.com/circulation/ SHATTERED CHARLOTTE �A DISASTER AREA� Hurricane Charley�s sharp turn toward the west Florida Coast overwhelmed Charlotte County�s defenses with a destructive power that killed residents and wiped out huge parts of nearly every community. On Saturday, the small and quaint rural county resembled a battlefield of a Third World country. The Category 4 hurricane�s 145 mph winds, which had been concentrated in a small band around its eye, demolished dozens of mobile home parks and the localities of Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte on Friday. PUNTA GORDA RESIDENTS BEGIN LONG STRUGGLE TO REBUILD It looked like someone had peeled off the sides of the building. The offices were still there. The books still placed neatly on shelves and framed pictures still hung from nails. But the windows were gone. And so were the exterior walls. Hurricane Charley sucked the life out of the Professional Office building like it did many of the businesses in downtown Punta Gorda on Friday afternoon. EARL STARTS OUT LIKE CHARLEY; EXPERTS: TOO SOON TO WORRY With wounds in Florida still bleeding from Hurricane Charley, another killer storm could be forming in his footsteps. Tropical Storm Earl was born about 375 miles east-southeast from Barbados on Saturday in virtually the same spot where Charley spawned. But weather watchers were quick to say that comparing the two at this point means nothing. Five days from now, then maybe we can talk. SHAKEN LEE BEGINS DAMAGE ASSESSMENT Bonita Springs began its Hurricane Charley clean up Saturday morning to a symphony of chain saws thrashing much of the downed limbs and fallen trees the storm left behind. A day after Charley came ashore in northern Lee County as a Category 4 hurricane, emergency managers were still assessing the damage. Hampering that assessment was that half the county still doesn�t have power and might not for days or weeks, and sporadic or non-existent phone service. COLLIER SPARED SERIOUS DAMAGE FROM HURRICANE CHARLEY Emergency workers and law enforcement officers spent Saturday following the tracks Hurricane Charley left across Collier County, where tens of thousands of customers still didn�t have power and damage was limited to a few structures, many business signs and countless trees. �We have no deaths and no missing persons reported,� Collier County Emergency Management Director Dan Summers said. �Our goal is to stabilize the county today.� COLLIER LEFT HOT, HUNGRY AS POWER OUT No electricity left a lot of people hot and hungry Saturday. Most Publix grocery stores opened Saturday morning, but that didn�t mean they had the solution for people wanting something cold to eat. The Publix at Naples Plaza used a generator until its electricity came back on around 3 p.m. Even so, it was too late to salvage its refrigerated food. The store had no ice available and only dry goods on sale. NEARLY 300,000 LEFT WITHOUT POWER IN REGION About 300,000 people in Lee, Collier and Charlotte counties were still without electricity Saturday and there was no timetable for when that would change. As of 6 p.m. Saturday, Lee County had 169,000 customers without electricity; Collier had 80,000 and Charlotte 84,000, according to Florida Power and Light figures. That rebuilding could stretch residents� wait for air-conditioning and lights from days to weeks or even months.
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