My thoughts are with all of our Floridian Fodorites, as well as the rest of the people in harms way.

Please stay safe and check in when you can.

God Bless all of you down in Florida.
Take care and know that we are all praying for your safety.

I just heard Charlie went to a catagory 4! Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone within it's path. God bless you and please keep us informed. We're all thinking of you. Peace.

Robyn & William

This is why these stupid storms are so dangerous. Charlie went from a managable Cat 2 to a destructive Cat 4 in an hour.

Whereas people thought they were safe with 10-12 foot elevations are now going to be underwater.

I hope everyone is safe, dry, and has something good to eat and drink.

Stay safe everyone. You are in my thoughts and prayers.

Just wanted to say we're thinking of the people in Florida and our prayers are with everyone. I have a good friend just outside Tampa and I feel I have so many FL friends on this forum.

Stay safe and keep us posted as you can.

April

This is another thing, just NOW officials are starting to worry about inland areas? What did they think was going to happen to Charlie?

I hope everyone is safe and Patrick had enough advance notice to batten down the hatches or get out.

Scarlett, you guys are on deck.

I just talked to my parents in Lake County (inland about an hour north of Orlando). So far, so good for them...just light rain and some thunder in the distance. They're all prepped and have some things in the car in case they have to go quickly. They're expecting the brunt to hit sometime late tonight or very early tomorrow.

We are getting rain and a couple of tufts here and there. Looks like outermost Charlie bands.

Everyone take care out there! I was only five when Camille passed over our house in Louisiana (1969) and still remember it well. Stay safe and dry, and hope your loved ones are safe as well!

Reminds me: Aren't we way overdue for a big earthquake out here...?

Shush!!! rjw...don't say something like that :(

I've been thinking of you Florida Fodorites all day long and tracking Charley. It looks scary and I just wish I could whisk you all up to the dry pacific northwest and out of harms way.

Stay safe ((L)) ((L))

Hmm...my parents live in Cape Coral. Right in the eye of the storm. I just heard that the roof of the CC Hospital was blown off. My grandmother lives in Fort Myers on the water. I'll call them all in a little while to see how they fared! Maybe this will get them all to move back to NY.

The weatherman says Charley will miss Tampa and hit Orlando.

Well, we are now under a Hurricane Warning. No evacuation orders yet but I'm anxious to see how this plays out considering Ft. Meyers was ill prepared.

When I say ill prepared, I mean they boarded up for a Cat 2, eight foot storm surge, and the direct hit 100 miles up the coast.

GoTravel-
Were these people in the area Charley hit evacuated since they weren't planning on a direct hit?

Yes, they were evacuated BUT, when you live on the coast or near it, you know exactly the elevation of the land your house sits on.

If you are a mile from the beach and your house is 12 feet above sea level, you probably will not leave for a category one or two hurricane especially since it is expected to hit 100 miles north of you. In fact, you may have friends that live on the beach that come to stay with you.

Now, this same house loses electricity so they have no idea what is going on.

This same storm in a matter of an hour turned direction and now has 145 mile an hour winds (as opposed to 105mph) to upgrade it to a cat four.

The storm surge on this is now 18 to 20 feet and not only will the water rise but trees will fall and roofs will fly.

This is why evacuation is so important and I was pleading with TG and AA to leave.

Checking in from Gainesville, FL, still slightly north of the worst of it. Rain coming in bands, stopping, then pouring again. No unusually strong winds here yet.

I'm on standby, but have not yet been called to staff of the three shelters open in our county. Just heard that, in a county south of us, the roof was ripped off a shelter housing 1,000 people. They are being relocated. Poor things, they must feel like the three little pigs that ran from one house to another as the big, bad wolf huffed and puffed at the door.

Scarlett's area's under a tornado watch, as are we. It's going to be quite a night, as we wait, thinking of vulnerable friends.

Wow!!! This Charley really gained strength - I'm wondering how the storm surge was around Siesta Key and Longboat Key (mine). I'm also hoping that most of my friends and neighbors DID evacuate! What a shock - I left a couple hours ago and here it's now on land and it's a category 4!

Anyone with any information on Longboat Key - I'd be eager to hear.

We've been evacuated and I'm outta here. Hope everyone is okay!

Thinking about you GoT! Be safe!