Hope all the folk in the path of Charlie are ok and that no one is blown away 
Have avoided Charlie, but I did get a good sandblasting from Alex, a lesser storm, which spun up the East Coast last week.
Yahoo/Associated Press story:
A āsignificant loss of lifeā was reported Saturdayā¦
So far here in North Carolina weāre just getting a serious amount of rain. No wind damage as of yet. Flooding might become an issue by Sunday. Iām crossing my fingers.
Charlieās eye passed 5 miles to the south of our homeā¦ luckily we (my wife, dog, my pipes and I) were nowhere near when it did. Miraculously, our home suffered no damage, but I cannot say the same for the majority of the homes in my neighborhood, who lost car ports, roofs, sheds and vehicles. 
Sounds like Charley did motly property damage rather than killing people. Bad enough, I suppose, but roofs can be replaced.
BTW, this season shows how little imagination or humor meteoroligists have. How in heck could they name one storm 'Bonnieāand NOT name the next one āClydeā?
Isnāt there some rule about some kinds of storms getting male names and other kinds female names?
Yeah, they used to all be female. (Gee I wonder why?) Now they alternate. That is why āBonnieā and then āClydeā would have been perfect. I am sure they will hear about it from lots of people!!! 
maybe they were thinking of Bonnie prince Charlie.
Quote:āSounds like Charley did motly property damage rather than killing people. Bad enough, I suppose, but roofs can be replaced.ā
It hasnāt even been 24 hours since Charlie made land fall. It didnāt roll across Polk County (where I live) until early Friday evening. The death toll which is nearing or over 100 and extends from Punta Gorda (SW) to Daytona Beach (NE), will not be complete for a while. Currently, severe thunderstorms are slahing their way through the areas ravaged by Charlie yesterday, and these storms are packing tornados. So far, three have touched down, and there are now four more indicated by radar. This is the worst storm to hit central Florida yet. They have only just begun to clear stuff away.
One more thing, we were hit by two serious storms, Bonnie and then Charlieā¦a day later.
Iām still trying to get through to my mother. Sheās in Bonita Springs, halfway between Ft. Meyers and Naples, and all Iāve been getting for a while is a busy signal. Yikes. Anyone know how the storm affected that area? Iād like to be able to think that sheās just being gabby today.
The Fort Meyers area is devastated. They have no power at this time. Charlie made land fall here with winds around the eye wall at 140 mph. It may be some time before power/phones are restored. Iāll keep you informed if you like. Feel free to pm me with any questions you may have.
Geez, that is awful. The newspaper reports I saw said maybe three deaths.
As a kid I lived through a couple of bad ones in Lousiana. My heart goes out to those in the area.
Thanks. I just contacted my brother. Everything in BS (heh) is fairly OK, just some flooding and other comparatively minor issues and all the lines down, after all. The worst of it was about 30 miles north of there, I understand. She got lucky. I imagine that restoration will take time, though. I canāt imagine what the folks in Ft. Meyers went through.
Back in 1948 (when I was even younger than I am now), we lived in Everglades City, and had to go up to Fort Meyers to wait out a hurricane. We still got a lot of rain up there, but not much wind.
As we drove home, the highway (such as it was) in many areas looked like a jetty out in the middle of the ocean, except for the odd surviving salt cedar, twisted into a spiral.
The most amazing thing to me, as we pulled up in front of the house, was that none of the trees had any leaves on them, and the big rubber tree in front of Frog-eyed Freddyās house was literally filled with catsāall crying. We ended up feeding three kittens for a while, but they sorta wandered off.
I remember hearing about one family that had stayed in Everglades City and were sitting in their house when the entire roof blew off. In my immaturity, I thought that that sounded like fun. 
Two massive trees came down in my back yard two weeks ago. They seem to have done relatively little property damage but I wonāt know until the mess has been fully cleaned up. If theyād fallen on cars or houses the damage would have been considerable. I was a little concerned driving home that night that I might lose a few tiles from my roof but got a big shock when my neighbour came by to tell me of the damageāit was dark when I got home and I had no idea.
The top of the trees came down only a few feet from where the neighbour had been removing washing from her line only a few seconds earlier. Itās a nuisance for all of us but fortunately weāve all kept a sense of perspective. A few hundred dollars insurance excess is nothing when it might so easily have been a human life.
We have had a wee bit of bother in the south too.LATEST ROADS INFORMATION - UPDATED 15.15 HOURS 13/8/04
Tayside Police are warning motorists that there are significant delays both north and southbound on the A9 as a result of the traffic arrangements that are presently in place north of Dunkeld.
As of 3pm today, there was a three-mile tailback northbound and a five-mile tailback southbound, leading to delays of at least one hour.
A single file traffic system has been put in place on the stretch of road affected by Wednesdayās landslide, between Jubilee Bridge and Ballinluig. It will be in operation until further notice and is being managed by a convoy-led system and temporary traffic lights.
Tayside Police urge motorists to exercise due care and attention whilst driving on the A9, and request that they are patient, as there are likely to be delays in the area for as long as the single file system is in operation.
Anyone whose journey is not absolutely necessary is advised to avoid the area altogether.
Those seeking information in respect of the roadās situation are asked not to contact Tayside Police, but to refer to the local media, who will be updated with any news.
But up in the Highlands its been Foggy and almost dry in fact its so dry we are getting worred about the ground water leavel, we all blame yer Global Warmin :roll:
My wife and I were returning on a cruise from Bermuda where I was conducting tropical heat endurance tests on a Busman Delrin whistle as Charlie headed up the coast. Instead of heading straight for NYC, the captain actually steered us north near Nantucket to avoid the worst weather, then back down the coast-- no problems at allā¦
I live in north Naples ā next to Bonita Springs. We lost power and phones for most of the weekend. Some of Naples wonāt have power or phones until the end of the week. There are several areas in town that still donāt have water. We got winds up to 90 mph through here, but got away with very little damage. There are a lot of branches, trees, and debris tossed around. Lot of broken business signs and smashed traffic lights. Lots of flooded areas ā our neighborhood included. Fortunately mostly just messy stuff. Clean-up will take a while. I havenāt heard of any deaths in the Naples area from Charley.
Debbie