Hurricane Ivan - News from the Front
| Curtis |
Thursday, September 23, 2004 at 7:44 PM |
(I received this email from a good friend of mine in Pensacola.)
Hi to friends and family!
I just got power back on this morning, Tuesday. It came on much sooner than we all expected as many, many power companies from other states have come down to help. I remember in 1995 that Darrin and I went for seven days without power and the storm wasn't nearly this bad.
Anyway, as a lot of you know, I spent Wednesday through Friday at West Florida Hospital. Some of that time we were locked in with the National Guard at our doors preventing riots. We had some unrest within the doors Wednesday as frightened residents flocked to our facility thinking it was a shelter, which it was not. Our cafeteria was only set up to feed patients, employees and a few guests . . those being the emergency staff's family. Over five-hundred people showed up for breakfast Wednesday morning before the storm even hit and more were pouring through the doors. Armed guards had to be posted, doors boarded up and spray painted with the words "Go to the ER" . . .it was a mess. That night, I lay on the floor in the pitch dark (we lost power at 11 p.m.) listening to the fire alarms go off, glass breaking and of course the wind howling. The most un-nerving sound was our engineering crew . . grown men, screaming for help to hold our main doors between the hospital facility and the now badly damaged Medical Center Clinic closed. Breaching those doors would have led to disaster as patients in rooms close to those doors would have been seriously hurt or killed by the tornado that came through the middle section between the two facilities. Through the night, oddly enough, the chimes that play when a baby is born, continued to play over and over . . .I later found out that this was a glitch in the power system. However, it did make me chuckle later as I was keeping count in the dark of how many babies were "born" during the storm. I think I counted fifteen, but the real number was only one baby born, it was just the chimes gone haywire.
As I ventured out Thursday morning, to assess damage, we were still under emergency power and armed guard. Only those of us with badges on were allowed to roam the grounds and even that was requested to be kept to a minimum. From the front parking lot at the clinic, I could see the skeletal remains of the elevator shafts. Much of the facade of the hospital and clinic was ripped away and in some areas one can see straight through the clinic tower to the other side. One blessing I had was that my car was parked seemingly right in the path of the spin-off tornado that took out a chunk of the building. The two cars on either side of me were totaled. Mine was not touched. I stood with tears in my eyes looking at my car for many long moments. You have no idea the negative equity I have in that car!! My parents called later Thursday to report that my house and the homes of my two brothers were okay. My grandparents, we'd heard, had their roof blow off. Another grandmother was safe in a nursing home with full emergency power and medical staff. However, I could not get home since the interstate crossing the bay was missing large pieces and the causeway blocked going east as well.
| Guest |
Friday, September 24, 2004 at 8:46 PM |
I don't know what Florida did to deserve this, but it looks
like a FOURTH Hurricane may hit you. Texas, Louisiana,
Mississipi, Alabama, not to mention the Northern states of
Mexico, have all gone through this through the years, but I
can't remember 4 MAJOR Hurricanes hitting one State in one
year. God Bless You all, and we will continue sending
money to the Red Cross, etc., and Volunteers from our utility
services to you no matter what!
Rombear
| Curtis |
Saturday, September 25, 2004 at 5:17 PM |
It's no wonder you can't remember - I just heard on the radio that the last time 4 hurricanes hit one state was 1896, when four hit Texas. Four have never hit Florida in one year in recorded history, until now.
| Guest |
Wednesday, August 24, 2022 at 10:24 AM |
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