I talked to my brother Rob about an hour ago. He's in Naples, FL and it's windy and stuff there and his power went out, but otherwise the storm is no big deal for him where he is. My dad, however, is in a bit of a pickle.

Hurricane Charley was expected to make landfall in Tampa but instead made a right turn and hit Charlotte Harbor--many miles to the south of Tampa. My dad lives pretty much on that harbor and from the satellite pictures it looks like the eye of the storm is right on top of dad's house right now.

The last Rob talked to dad was when Charley was a category 2 storm near Cuba. At that point, my dad's plan was to ride it out. Evacuations were not wide spread in his area because the storm wasn't expected to hit there, so it's unclear whether he stayed in his home or made it to a shelter or what. His cell phone is not working and neither of us know his land line number so all we can do is wait and see what happens.



UPDATE: I just heard from my mom, who heard from Rob, who has heard from dad. Apparently his roof is gone, or at least all of the shingles are and there's water coming into his house. Rob will drive up there tomorrow and help out with some basic repairs, but he's alive and the brunt of the storm has passed him. I'm curious to know how high the water got from the canal that runs through his back yard.

UPDATE#2: Rob left me a message saying dad went through the northwest eye wall of the hurricane and experienced the full 140 mph wind speeds. The roof structure of his house is still intact, but there's water coming in all over. The sreen cage covering the pool in the backyard is gone, etc. I'll know more after Rob visits him tomorrow.

|