it passes
<<August 13, 2004 - Friday, 6:37 pm>>
it's not even so much as raining here, but someone is bearing the brunt of this..
| PUNTA GORDA, Fla. (AP) -- A stronger-than-expected Hurricane Charley roared ashore Friday as a dangerous Category 4 storm, pounding the heavily populated Gulf Coast with 145 mph wind and towering surges of water expected to swallow up miles of shoreline.Gov. Jeb Bush estimated that damage could exceed $15 billion and his brother, President Bush, declared the storm-battered region a federal disaster area.
The wind tore apart small airplanes, snapped pine trees in half, blew windows out of cars and homes and churned the gulf like water in a washing machine.
Charley's eye reached land at 3:45 p.m. EDT when it passed over the barrier islands between Fort Myers and Punta Gorda, some 70 miles southeast of the Tampa Bay area. It struck the mainland 30 minutes later.
By 5 p.m., Charley was centered about 30 miles west-northwest of Fort Myers and 115 miles south-southwest of Orlando. Even though the core of the storm had moved inland, it still packed sustained wind of 140 mph with higher gusts, but was expected to weaken in the next day. Hurricane force-wind of at least 74 mph extended outward 25 miles from the eye.
LJ
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