Hurricane Wilma Aftermath

I know you've been wondering how we fared with Hurricane Wilma.

We had plenty of advance notice. Even so, I decided not to board up our windows. Of course everyone who sees a hurricane coming rationalizes how it may hit and which way the winds will swirl and whether or not you need to take extra precautions.

Our neighbor to the right, Mark and Holly Shapiro wisely had their trees trimmed a day before Wilma hit. The benefit is that trees with little resistance don't normally end up falling on your house, or falling at all.

Adriana did an excellent job of gathering our most treasured effects (stuff), into a large Rubbermaid tub and we loaded that into the car. We got our snacks, water and general things to keep us occupied, like books and paperwork we needed to do as our thinking was the hurricane could leave us without power or certainly could wipe out our home (we're a 10 min walk from the Gulf).

Our good friends, Lloyd and Donna Montgomery were gracious enough to allow us to stay with them through the storm. They "did" board up their home and live several miles interior. We used one of the kids bedrooms. They have a five year old boy (Lloyd as well), and an eleven year old girl (Mary Audrey), and Rachel was set - much fun!

We had a five inch color TV in our room with Dish Network and the local channels, so as we turned in for the night, since we knew the storm would hit around daybreak, we watched the local coverage.

Around 4:30 AM the power went out.

However, Lloyd is very well equipped and had battery operated radios and high beam flashlights for us. We tuned in the local AM station and after about 20 minutes, it, too, went off the air.

An FM was simulcasting the TV, so after tuning a bit, we were back in business. Of course all we wanted to know was where the eye was going to make landfall. This was important so we could know the rotation of the wind, etc. I wasn't concerned about a surge from the Gulf. Our house is pretty high and it would take a bigger hurricane to produce enough power - and by then our home would be blown away anyway, so I guess we're in good shape.

We prayed that God's will would be done and that Naples would be spared.

The eye went south of us. It went south of Marco Island and over what they call Ten Thousand Islands. There is (was) a small community out there - everyone evacuated. They are left with what they took with them as the storm destroyed everything.

As soon as we could, about 8:30 or 9:00 AM, we set outside to see the damage to Lloyd's home. To the house itself, there really wasn't anything. But to the yard, almost every tree was either uprooted or damaged.

Then we took off in Lloyd's Hummer and tried to make it down to our home.

Many of the streets were underwater - even deeper than his H2 could go. So we kept taking different roads - some blocked by police because the power lines were down in the street - and an hour and a half later, we made it.

The first thing that caught my eye was the queen palm that sits out in front of our home. It was tilted by the storm, but did not fall on the house. Thousands of these same palm trees were down, scattered all over the city.

Next, I noticed a tree I grew from seed (tropical almond) that I brought from Rio was almost totally uprooted. And this thing was very large.

On the other side of the house a large pine tree branch had fallen, striking the roof and breaking two tiles, then landing less than an inch from my home office window. God spared us - that would have been a huge mess in the house.
Other than that, an enormous ficus tree belonging to Mark tipped over and landed in our yard. This one he couldn't trim before the storm - too big. But it's trimmed now...

Remember, if you click on the picture you get the enlarged photo.



All in all, as you can see, many, many trees just totally uprooted and fallen all over the city.

We got our power back two days later. In the meantime, Daniel and his mom (left side neighbors) graciously let us plug an extension cord from their small generator to our refrigerator. We made coffee and had a light! And here's the best part.

After the storm the weather was clear and dry - I mean 45% humidity and 75 degrees. Awesome weather for cleanup (and sleeping in a house with no power).

We thank God and yes - Naples was really "Blessed" - contrary to the headline that ran the next day.