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Florida gets more hurricanes than So. Carolina and Texas. |
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Here's
images of Frances
which hit Saturday September 4, 2004
After enduring Bonnie then Charley, Cathy figured she could stand up to the next hurricane - Frances. Watching the storm on the Weather Channel from New York, Joe thought otherwise. Frances was twice the size of Charley and was expected to also hit Kissimmee. In fact it flew over Charley's path at Kissimmee. Joe had a bit more time, this time around and decided to fly back. Getting into town just 2 days before Frances was to make landfall near Fort Pierce (just one town over from Patrick and Nancy.) While still in NY, he booked a room in Mobile Alabama after learning that his Dad - who lives near Daytona Beach - had also decided to evacuate to Mobile. But once back home, Joe learned that the hotel didn't honor the reservations. Too many people were already fleeing to Mobile and the hotel got a better price from someone in flight. Joe decided to rent an RV and head to the only section of FLA which was not expected to get hit - the other islands off Ft. Meyers. Which were, by the way, the hardest hit and first landfall for Charley just 3 weeks earlier. Another note: Mobile was landfall for even a larger hurricane just 2 weeks after Frances - Hurricane Ivan, 2004 September 15 .
We didn't think it wise to bring PJ along. If our decision was wrong and Frances took a sharp turn, like Charley did, and hit us in a RV, PJ's life might be endangered. Thus we called Patrick to ask about his plans. He was going on about how Mindy wanted PJ for the weekend hurricane or no. Of course, she must not have been aware of what was headed directly at her. Finally Patrick decided to tag along to Mobile Al. with us. We informed him that Mobile was gone. On a dime, Patrick decided then to tag along with a friend who was going to Tennesse. Fine with us. Little did anyone know Frances would also hit Tennessee. Patrick headed toward us, we got the RV. Dad decided to ride the storm out in his home near Daytona Beach and Nancy also decided to ride it out. Dad ended up with 7 days of no power and a flew broken tree limbs. Nancy's house was badly damaged and they had no power for a couple of weeks. To date.. Sept. 22, no repairs have been done at anyone's house.
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