Re: Hurricane Wilma

[P.E.Parry]

#21824

Hello from Fort Lauderdale

Wilma went thru here with a vengance! Broward County (Fort Lauderdale) and Palm Beach County (Boca, West Palm Beach) were hit very hard. 6 million people over Florida were without power. Ours just came on about 3 hours ago and looking out the window it seems we are the only area to be so fortunate. Probably because service is all under ground so probably was the easiest to restore.

There is major devastation on every street. Our building was lucky and only suffered severe damage to autos parked on the outer deck (one auto was flipped over and demolished), all fences blown down, a concrete wall blown down and perhaps 8 windows blown out. The 16 story building to the north of us had major damage, every unit had at least three windows gone and yesterday I watched as they pumped water from them. Many of the buildings in this area had much more damage than our structure. Trees, trash, shutter pieces, sand and landscaping debris cover the streets and sidewalks. I can see lots of places from our windows that would normally be blocked from view as the trees were stripped of all leaves.

But we are safe! We feel lucky to have electricity back so quickly as some may have to wait up to four weeks. Many people are experiencing several hour waiting in line for ice and water, food and gasoline, especially for their generators. There are few businesses open to provide any goods and services due to lack of power. All schools are closed until Monday at the earliest. Life will get back to normal for the majority of us but it is always the poorest most needy that will suffer the most.

I see Lisa hasn't checked in from Boca yet. Hope everything is okay with them.

Phyllis