SIDE SALAD - Everything crunchy is good.

BLOW OUT

The first thick band of weather from Hurricane Dennis passed over Hillsborough County at a little past 6:30 p.m. tonight. As you can see from the photo above, things got a tad dark and stormy.

Oddly, no one really is panicking with a Category 4 storm about to skip past the coastline. Of course, that track could jog east and wipe the snot out of us, but everyone is trying to absorb the best possible news about this beast.

I don't care how much they play connect-the-dots with the forecast track, I won't fee safe until it's well past us.

A certain nervousness and lack of trust is kind of standard-operating procedure in this part of the state. A little farther south, nerves are still frayed from the aftermath of Hurricane Charley, which bitchslapped Punta Gorda Ike Turner-style.

Great story today by Baird Helgeson in the Tampa Tribune about the psyche there:

PUNTA GORDA - Some residents call Punta Gorda the town of lies.

Hurricane Charley tore up this small Gulf Coast community in August, and many residents continue to wait for roofing materials, building supplies and workers to finish the job.

Residents often hire contractors to do repairs, usually with a promise that work will begin in a week. But a month passes and no one shows, or workers show up for a day and vanish.

``There are so many broken promises,'' said Linda Messer, owner of Heidi's Hair Designers. ``Everything people tell you is a lie. It's what this town has become.``

Behind the quaint facade of Punta Gorda is a town filled with residents nervous about their future and questioning their desire to stay. Charley, they say, revealed a truth no one expected.

``It wasn't the storm that ruined us, it was the rebuilding,'' said Sheri Stewart, an assistant Punta Gorda city clerk. ``We are going to hear the hammers for many years to come.''

Posted by Jeff at July 8, 2005 10:49 PM | TrackBack