Eliot Kleinberg, author of "Black Cloud: The Great Hurricane of 1928," a book about the Okeechobee that devastated Florida, writes about enduring Hurricane Frances in Boca Raton:
Well, gang, the worst is over and we got through with minimal problems. I'm afraid the same can't be said for our neighbors north of here. I will be driving up to the "Treasure Coast" early Monday to see for myself and report for the paper. I'm afraid it's going to be pretty bad.Posted by Jeff at September 5, 2004 04:33 PM
I reminded our kids that our good fortune was at the expense of others and we need to keep those people in our thoughts.
When the hurricane came through, I was at the National Hurricane Center near Miami, where I had been reporting for about 2-1/2 days. I drove home today through several blinding squalls. The storm took two full days to get through the area and wind and rain covered about 400 miles. Our area has already had a foot of rain since Friday morning.
In Boca Raton, a lot of trees were uprooted, many of them in concentrated spots (I'm guessing mini-tornadoes or straight-line winds). Only one tree was uprooted on our street: the one where the boy who'd been shot by the neighbor fell dead. Creepy.
In our house, the gardenia broke off at the lower trunk and a lot of limbs came down but that was about it. Deb says the boys were troupers and the power never went out; she was even able Saturday night to take a hot bath and dry her hair. Ah, the pleasures we take for granted.
My sister Eileen, who had gone through Andrew and moved up here to Boca, was understandably unnerved by the prospect of another profound storm, but we all got through OK.
My dad down in Miami had one branch fall off one tree and land inches from his central air conditioner. But it severed the freon pipe and they have no air. Talk about bad luck. Hey: could have been worse.
My cousin Norman in Nassau reports Frances sat on them for 36 hours but apparently no serious damage.
Still no word from my buddy Keith Nelson who stayed with his wife in his home in Sebastian, just north of the prime landfall area. Hope he's OK. Other than them, everyone we know who was in the path of the storm is apparently unhurt and that's all that matters.
Of course hanging over all of us is that another hurricane, this one already more powerful, is heading in our general direction and could threaten us by early next week. We're leaving the shutters up.