Bye Charley

With a trail of destruction following, Charley has left. Luckily, the brunt of the storm just missed us, but we still experienced some wind and rain. Our power did not go out, but the power in surrounding areas did.

Most of the businesses in the area were closed, but I was still called into work. On my drive into work I found the roadways to be a little chaotic, the main problem being the traffic lights. All of them were out! Surprisingly, the movie theater was packed. Many residents without power sought refuge in the air conditioned building. Understandably, the theater was under staffed and the employees who did come to work (me included) were not in the best of moods for being dragged into work.

I would like to say though; the channel 6 news gave the most entertaining coverage of the storm. I owe much gratitude to some poor newscaster named Mike, who must have been at the bottom of the station’s list of favorite people. During the worst part of the storm, all the other news stations had their people safely out of the storm, but poor Mike was forced to stand outside in the storm near the Sanford Riverwalk. The wind gusts were strong and the rain was pounding down. Every time they placed the camera on the guy he was squinting to the point where you knew it was impossible for him to open his eyes. He was saying that the rain was coming at such a slant that it was stinging his face to the point of becoming numb. Now at this point, we are all in the living room laughing hysterically at this poor guy making these great faces. To top it off, the people in the news room were asking him questions, while he was in the middle of the hurricane. The focus would then switch to the news room, but before the camera went back to the news room Mike was told to “not go anywhere” (which was repeated at least 3 different times)! This went on for at least 25 minutes.

So Mike, I would like to thank you for your fantastic coverage of Charley.