From CNN: MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- Hundreds of thousands of Florida residents were moving inland Friday as Hurricane Charley picked up strength churning toward the state's Gulf Coast. Landfall is expected in the Tampa area late Friday afternoon or early evening, the Florida Office of Emergency Management said. If the storm comes aground in Sarasota, south of Tampa, it would hit around 5 p.m. ET. The National Weather Service was predicting the storm would reach the west Florida coast about 8 p.m. At 9 a.m., the storm was centered about 75 miles (120 kilometers) west of Key West, Florida, and was seething toward the north at 18 mph (28 kph), according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. Rest of story is here I wish you the best of luck with Hurricane Charley's approach and landfall. I hope to god that you aren't still "sticking it out" and have evacuated the area! For those who have NO idea what I'm talking about, there is a catagory 3 hurricane heading north and is about to make landfall on the west coast of Florida. A cat 3 hurricane has SUSTAINED winds of over 111mph. This bad-boy has winds gusting at 124mph and is expected to strengthen by the time it makes landfall this evening near Tampa. Projected path Visable satellite image
Update: It's been upgraded to a "strong catagory 3" with winds sustained at 125mph (201kph). It's expected to make landfall between Tampa Bay and Sarrasota. > Storm surges are expected to top 14' > 1.9 million people urged to evacuate the area > It's expected to strengthen further by the time it reaches the shore with forcasted winds of up to 160mph... From CNN and The Weather Channel sites.
Damn... UPDATE: Charley has been upgraded again to a catagory 4 hurricane with winds sustained at 145mph (233kph) and may hit catagory 5 status (> 155mph / 249kph sustained winds).. http://www.weather.com/newscenter/tropical/
Charley has come ashore at approx 3:45pm EST 20 miles WNW of Fort Myers Florida. Winds are sustained at 145mph (233kph) with gusts over 170mph (274kph)..
bugger, my parents have (or had ) some lovely waterfront property in punta gorda FL, which is *exactly* where it first hit, like properly *exactly* its 9ft above sea level, ie several feet under water at the moment, doh fortunately they're living in boston atm still worrying though as ive got quite a few friends living in punta gorda and port charlotte, im sure theyre fine as the towns are very well laid out with evacuation routes and its not like it wasnt expected but cant help but thinking the worst has happened
So far the reports are that there are about 350,000 without power. A whole bunch of people from down that area evacuated...but a lot of them went towards Orlando because the storm was supposed to head more north. Well...now it's heading more towards Orlando and they expect Categroy 2 winds in Orlando. There has only been 1 reported death due to the storm and that was someone trying to drive in 120+ mph winds.
I'm still waiting for it. They are saying the eye of the hurricane will be probably come over Daytona Beach area, that's where i'm at..
Video of Hurricane Charley taken from my front drive way Video It's about a 4 meg download Towards end of video I had to go back inside, It started to blow me away
That sounded mighty windy... I don't think it was good for my speakers You must be either hardcore or way too dedicated to go out in a hurricane to make a video to show us lol
