790,000 Still Have No Power in Florida

PUNTA GORDA, Fla. – About 790,000 people remain without power in Florida in the aftermath of Hurricane Charley, and officials estimate it could take weeks to get electricity fully restored. At least 150,000 are without local phone service. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge will visit today to study the damage in the Ft. Myers area.

Some 2,300 people stayed in shelters, and Federal Emergency Management Agency director Michael Brown said 11,000 have already applied for disaster aid. Federal officials received 20,000 catastrophic housing requests – 10,000 on Monday alone.

Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte were among the hardest-hit areas Friday, and 25 of Florida’s 67 counties were designated federal disaster areas. Officials estimate Charley caused as much as $11 billion in damage to insured homes alone.

Early Tuesday, state emergency management spokeswoman Tameeka Forbes said the death toll had been raised from 18 to 19, but no further details on the new reported death were immediately released. Earlier, Charley killed four people in Cuba and one in Jamaica.

No phone. No running water. No ice to fight the heat. No diapers for the baby and no gas to fill the tank. For thousands who’ve lost their homes and creature comforts to Hurricane Charley, this is reality.

“The hard part is not being able to bathe and not having food and water unless I go out and look for it,” said Tami Wilson, 48, while waiting in line at a “comfort station” for ice and water while her blind husband, Dewaine, waited alone at home.

“I just want something to eat,” house cleaner Willie Mae Robinson said as she waited for canned goods and ice with several dozen others at an old train depot in Bowling Green, where temperatures soared into the high 80s. “I have something for today but I don’t have anything for tomorrow.”

“After you live through it, you can’t imagine how desperate you get,” said Barbara Winslow, who was waiting in line for diapers, food, water and ice at National Guard comfort station. “You don’t have anything. If the end of the world came tomorrow, this is what it would look like.”

Brown said it could take several weeks to find all the victims, and officials still had no count Monday of how many people remained unaccounted for, a mission complicated by toppled power lines, spotty phone communication and roads littered with debris. However, early estimates of hundreds of people missing are probably inflated.

In Fort Myers, trucks carted away palm fronds and the twisted remnants of metal gutters. Near the city’s beach, bulldozers plowed down streets covered with an inch-thick layer of sand that looked like snow.

In other areas, overturned RVs were the only thing that remained in some parking lots. People returned to what was left of their homes to find what looked more like a junkyard.

Gasoline was precious, with lines of 40 cars at some stations. Lines also snaked through parking lots at food distribution sites. Bottles of water and bags of ice took on vital importance.

Frustrations began to emerge on a typically muggy day as people complained about the lack of power and access to their neighborhoods. Tempers flared at a bridge crossing to Fort Myers Beach when officers used a stun gun to subdue a man in a minivan who wanted to enter the area still closed to residents, WINK-TV said.

Law enforcement officials in DeSoto County said Monday six people had been arrested in Arcadia on burglary charges for alleged looting. County spokesman Sgt. Jim Troiano said some homeowners had posted signs warning looters to stay away.

Nearly 4,400 National Guard troops have been activated and nearly 2,000 insurance adjusters were handling claims. The American Red Cross established eight mobile kitchens and five feeding centers capable of serving 9,000 meals a day.

The owners of a convenience store in Port Charlotte opened without power, despite damage to the building. Owner Imran Siddiqi was using his cell phone calculator to tally purchases for a steady stream of customers.

Jeff Fields, 42, of Port Charlotte, was smiling as he picked up a six-pack of beer and four packs of cigarettes.

“It helps with the cleanup,” he said.