[Carl in Tampa]

Who remembers Hurricane Charlie in 2004?

It came roaring in from the Gulf of Mexico and struck Port Charlotte as a Category 4. It really tore up Port Charlotte and FEMA brought in dozens of mobile homes for people to live in.

But, look at the track across the state. By the time it got to Orlando the winds out in the Sumter County area were around 40 MPH. It probably blew a few limbs off of trees.

Does someone who lived in TV then remember the experience?

Click on photo to enlarge.

[redwitch]

I vaguely remember Charley. Think we had a three-hour power outage, those with satellite dishes lost tv for several hours, the streets were a mess with debris and minor flooding. Think that was about it.

Fay was actually a bigger deal here with ten days of non-stop rain. Golf cart paths were impassable, lots of streets were flooded, lots of trees and tree limbs down. Charley was fast. Fay hung around like a really bad guest.

[Sonny39]

I remember Charlie , we flew out of Mco the morning before it came ashore,,returned to Mco about week later, windows were blown out of the terminal and the mildew smell was pretty bad. We had parked our car in the blue lot and I remember it was at the end of row with a small tree growing next to row that was about 3 inchs in Dia..When we got to the lot the tree was sheared off about 5 ft from the ground and my car plastic trim piece below the windshield was gone, but otherwise no damage, it cost me 150.00 to replace. Lots of signs along roadways bent and blown down. I don't remember any damage in the Villages, only other storms in 2004 were Frances and Jean..

[Villager Joyce]

I do. Lived n Orange County. Charlie, Frances, Ivan and jeanne. Everywhere you looked there were blue tarps on roofs. Tens of thousands without power from 4 days to two weeks.

[aninjamom]

We lived in Maitland - 436 and I4 area in Orlando - when Charlie went over; we had a concrete block house and camped out in the center hallway for about an hour . Then I got tired of the whole thing and went back to bed! The power was out for three days, so we cooked on the grill and went to the Altamonte Mall when we wanted civilization - they had power! Large trees around the area, but we didn't lose any. Fortunately Charlie moved fast. The slower a hurricane, the more time for it to do damage.

[salpal]

I remember it well, came down here from Delaware as a Red Cross volunteer.....was stationed on the Gulf side. Very strange, some places were just gone, others all okay.

[Bonnevie]

what I remember is being 3 miles from the place in Pinellas County where it was supposed to hit. Then it took an unexpected turn and hit Fort Myers and went up thru the state. People from where I lived had gone to Orlando to escape it and suffered. Pinellas County had nothing. so until it's here, no one really tell what's going to happen.

[gap2415]

Our screen cage blew away with all our neighbors cages. It sucked the water out of the pool, tore off the second story veranda and every small tree and mobile things it could. A neighbour lost their roof, ran towards Orlando from PC and the storm followed them. It also lifted the fire truck a few inches while staff watched and blew out windows of stores in its path, sometimes lifting the roof off as it did so. Mother Nature demands respect.

[Regor]

I was here in TV when Jeanne came ashore as a cat 3 by Stuart and pretty much came right over us. I have videos of the event. It was hard to stand outside to take the video. Not sure what the winds were but strong enough to knock over some large live oak trees in the area. No damage to my then 7 year old frame house. Hopefully that same 20 year old house will handle Irma. We did have a new roof put on last year.

[Pearson14505]

We came down a few days after it hit to the Villages. Very minor damage. They had just put up palm trees on Route 466. A lot of them were lying on the ground. They just pulled them back up. At the time we were living north of RT 466, did not loose power. Hope this is a repeat.

[JGVillages]

I lived in Port Charlotte, 8 miles from Charlie when it unexpectedly turned west into Charlotte Harbor and the Peace River. We spent hours in our interior walk-in-closet as the wind and rain howled. As strong as Charlie was fortunately for us it was not an expansive (wide) storm so the damage path as devastating as it became, was relatively narrow. Our damage was minimal. We believe many mini-tornadic events caused the most damage in our community (Riverwood) as lanai's were destroyed, damage from dislodged roof tiles, and endless number of downed trees littered the community. The next morning we drove 8 miles south on Hw 41 into Punta Gorda. It looked like a bombed out city. Strips malls destroyed and I remember one old style Service (gas) Station with only one wall standing yet atop a hydrolic lift was a car standing all alone. Returning we took I75 north over the Peace River Bridge. Dozens of the very tall light poles that lighted the bridge were all sheared off about 20 feet above ground. The storm should be buffered a bit before it hits inland here in The Villages but it could still be damaging. We purchased a resale 11 1/2 years ago and our previous owner had the foresight to purchase lightweight portable storm shudders (Storm Stoppers/ as seen on Shark Tank) that I will put up Saturday if needed.

[Waverunner]

I lived in Pinellas County in 2004. Hurricane Charley was aimed right at us. Work closed several days ahead to allow us to get our homes ready and evacuate if required/needed. I got ready and stayed in place, (foolishly in hind sight based on the damage done in SW Florida). Then stayed glued to the weather channel and any updates. I was so tired and tense from getting ready that as soon as the storm turned east, I fell asleep and did not wake up until the storm rolled through Florida.

My kids, who were in Orlando, lost power and tried to come to my house driving on I-4. They were on the road four hours and got less than 10 miles. They ended up checking into a hotel. Their power was off for a couple of days. They never made it to Clearwater.

We had two more storms come close in 2004. Both storms, the kids arrived at midnight, as soon as the weekend came, (they all seemed to be coming up with a weekend), or when their jobs closed for the weather. I lost power for a short time during both, but Hurricane Jeanne left me with a gift. She split a large 40 ft. oak tree in the front yard and it landed on the garage. We had the cars parked outside on the street, so we didn't even realize it had happened until we opened the garage door.

My future sister-in-law did not fare as well. She lived in Polk County, completely inland. Her home was destroyed one storm after another, after another. The three, Charley, Frances, and Jeanne, managed to total the beautiful lakefront home. It has since been rebuilt, but it took a couple of years to finish.

It was quite a summer. Everywhere you went there were blue tarps on roof tops. That lasted a very long time.

[golf2140]

We were in The Villages. Very little damage. What got me was the city of Tampa told it's residents it was turning off the power at 12:00 Noon. Tampa was not hit but to the south was.

[patfla06]

I was living in New Tampa then.

Worried because no one knew where it would hit.

My youngest brother was living in Ft. Myers with
his wife and 2 yr. old son and I was worried.

Ended up missing us both.

There were twisted, dead trees and tons of blue tarps down
I-75 for a long time which was eerie.

[Patty]

I arrived at our villa the day before Charlie hit and was there during the storm. Located in the Marion county section, we only lost power or about an hour, but the winds were indeed strong. We lost a few shingles on anotherilla we owned at the time but no major damage. Friends in Orlando had quite a bit of damage in their neighborhood.