[spotrod]

Hello all~First "MERRY CHRISTMAS ".....

I was wondering how many of you were living here when andrew struck - and how many were here for the 04/05 season? i was watching a special on andrew and yes ,i was there for all of them and i was affected .
thank god not to the extent of some but it sucked big time ....lets hear your stories.

[sunrico90]

I was stationed at Homestead AFB, had to relocate to Orlando Naval Station (now closed) with 250 Latin-American students that were sponsored by the Department of State (Lots of babysitting). Lots of damage to the infrastructure of the base and aircraft. This was one situations that forced the closure of the base....

[pianogal]

My husband's cousin lived in Homestead at the time and their home was destroyed. They stayed home through it and survived by staying in a closet with their dogs. That's why they didn't go to a shelter. It was an awful time.

[spotrod]

did you and /or family - friends stay or move elsewhere?- how awful , i really feel bad for the people of andrew and katrina

[pianogal]

did you and /or family - friends stay or move elsewhere?-

No, they loved the area and rebuilt their home. They still live there today. I live in Orlando and feel safer being further inland. I think the beaches are wonderful, but that's one of the reasons I don't think I would live in a coastal community.

[grammy164]

We moved here July 28, 2004. The closing on our home was supposed to be the next day, but it was postponed, so we were staying with my Dad when Charley hit. I was just amazed at what I saw when we walked outside the next morning. There were a lot of big, old trees around here and so many came down. We were buying a place in the same area and went to check on it. No damage. We moved in exactly 1 month before Jeanne. Frances came through shortly after we moved in, but there was very little damage from that storm. Jeanne however was the big one for us. We had an enclosed porch on the back and she tore the roof off (it ended up across the street) and all the walls fell in. This left our 2 sliding glass doors exposed. We quickly ran into the bedroom and grabbed the mattresses to cover them. Then we went in the bathroom and stayed their for hours praying until it was over. While we were in the bathroom the ceiling in my office caved in because our main roof was lifted when the porch roof came off. I must say I was in shock the next day. We certainly didn't get a warm welcome to Florida and it's been hard and a lot of work getting things back together, but we didn't ever feel we wanted to leave. Whenever we felt really down about what we were going through we'd have a beautiful day in the pool or on the beach and those days just kept us going.
My Dad lived in Lake Worth for over 15 years before moving up here. My Grandmother had built that house on the intercoastal in 1969. Never did he have any hurricane damage and when we decided to join him down here he kept telling us it was even safer in central Florida. He said this area hadn't seen a hurricane in 40 years. Go figure. We got here just in time to go through 3 of them.

[pianogal]

Grammy, I've lived here for 25 years and never had a season like '04. We had storm days from school, but the most we ever got was little rain, if that. Then came '04. Let's just pray that it remains an aberration.

[CURT]

one of the biggest problems with charlie in my section of the state was that it was 40 years without a hurricane prior to charlie. there are tons of oak tress and other species that were big, old and had big branches that were just waiting to come down. charlie thinned them out and they landed on houses, power lines, etc. the others that followed in 04 were not as bad but all the trees were thinned out from charlie and there was nothing more than some power outages.

[sunrico90]

Originally Posted by CURT

one of the biggest problems with charlie in my section of the state was that it was 40 years without a hurricane prior to charlie. there are tons of oak tress and other species that were big, old and had big branches that were just waiting to come down. charlie thinned them out and they landed on houses, power lines, etc. the others that followed in 04 were not as bad but all the trees were thinned out from charlie and there was nothing more than some power outages.

Curt,

Very good point, we lack a preventive maintenance plan to reduce the overgrown vegetation and trees. As you said the cause of most of the damage to homes was the trees. This should be a priority, because we are going to forget and the next hurricane will be the same.

[lsseds]

I lived in Palm Beach county for 41 yrs and never worried about hurricane season til after Andrew. After a few years of no more Andrew type hurricanes I stopped worrying. Then came '04. What a nightmare. The waiting and wondering where and how intense the storm will be takes it's toll on your nerves. We were blessed to not have suffered damage due in part to a major addition to our home in the spring of '04. We replaced the entire roof and had to bring the older part of our home up to code as we built our addition. We had to install hurricane shutters that cost 500.00. I thought that was such an unneeded expense. How stupid was that thought? Can't tell you how thankful I am that we installed the shutters in the spring of '04. God only knows what they costed by the spring of '05. Of course, after the storm hits living without power for 9 days in the heat and humity with a disabled family member is beyond rough. We made it through '04 thinking this can never happen again. Boy, was I clueless. Then '05 came and we relieved the nightmare again. When Wilma went from tropical storm to cat 5 overnight I said enough and my husband and I made the hardest decision ever. I loaded up my daughter,granddaughter and mom and went to Georgia and left my husband and disabled sister home. We wanted out grandbaby to be safe. Now it is '06 and we sold that newly remodeled home and moved to the Ocala area to be out of the path and expense of hurricanes. I know we made the right decision but I miss Palm Beach county and my friends tremendously. But, the average hardworking people can not afford what the hurricanes have done to homeowners ins. and the expense of living in Palm Beach county.