Finally back on line after Hurricane Charley did its number........SCARY!

[VIPERCANE]

It's good to have power,cable and phone service again after three long days of being without such. The destruction good ol' Charley did to my neighborhood will be remembered for a long time. It has been 3 long days of cleaning up the carnage. Lots of huge old oaks down, power lines everywhere, and destruction to property caused mainly by these massive fallen oaks and pines. The entire subdivision has sustained some sort of loss. It was scary for my family. My house has about 40 good size palm trees and they all stood up well against Charley. The oaks and pines came tumbling down in the back where the creek is. Lots of debris everywhere. It destroyed our pool enclosure/screen and shot pieces of the roof tiles off the house like projectiles. We had gust about 95 mph. It lifted the trampoline which was secured (it is the heaviest one out in the market) and carried it about 30 feet where it mangled it. Some other damage but nothing to cry about. The snakes were secured in the garage and the Hummer was parked right outide the garage doors. At times, I would stand in the garage and felt like the doors were just going to give. The wind was amazingly scary as the doors would feel like they were bending and were about to buckle in. What sound it made. And the doors are made to Hurricane code. So, I was kinda worried about the snakes for a good while there. My little girl, Bianca, was petrified. My two boys were in awe as we opened the pool bath door and could listen to the fury of the wind, and at its peak, it sounded like a freight train. After a few hours of having branches of pine and oak come flying thru the pool screen and landing in the pool, and hearing massive trees fall in the woods around us, it was over. Good thing I had boarded the windows, and there were lots of windows to board up. Huge ones too. The branches from the pine and oak from the surrounding woods just battered the boards. You could hear all the thuds as the wind was hurling these projectiles towards the windows. Can only imagine what the 30 to 80 pound branches would have done. Thank god it was over and my family was okay.

Went out about 1am to see what it had done to my yard and house. All the palm trees were standing tall. Hummer was okay....covered with debris. Wife's minivan had the kid's basketball pole and base pushed against it. Saw where the trampoline used to be and where it landed all destroyed. Looked out on the road, and trees were down everywhere. Cops and emergency personnel were out in full force. When daylight arrived, it looked like a war torn area. The country club lost almost all its oak trees(about 40 of them), and the roads in the neighborhood were just covered with huge majestic oaks. Houses and vehicles had trees on them and there was a good deal of damage around. This was just our neighborhood. As we drove around later in the day, we were just in awe.
We were lucky as some just lost their homes completely. It was a humbling experience.

We had many people stop by to see our house as they all wondered if the palms had toppled, and most importantly, if the snakes were okay .

Hopefully, everybody else made out okay. Larry, got your messages, and could not get back to you as all lines were down. Hope everything is fine with you.

Sooooo glad that is over. Now, back to a vipering we will go. Just got the hoodpad from Ron in NY. Now, to get the Vipers back in action and add on all the stuff I have sitting here in my office. Larry, I will be calling you to bring the GTS in.

Bindy

[MannyC]

Glad you are OK Bindy!

-Manny

[goldfish]

Wow! Sounds like somebody WAY up there really likes you. I'm sure that your kids will never forget that experience!

[RX VIPER]

Glad you and the fam and the snakes are a-ok

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

Sure was a bad one. Glad your ok.

[98MODMTR]

We got lucky chuck...hows that other one looking out there in the atlantic? I am at the understanding its taking the same path as charlie.

[Sam 01 RT10]

Wow, glad to hear you made it through.