A few hurricane pics:

[Wakko]

Here's a few shots from the day after the hurricane from Pompano Beach, where I work.  You really can't appreciate the extent of the destruction but at least it gives you a general idea. Even now, over two weeks later, there are lots of people without power, lots of intersections with no traffic signals anymore, trees and power poles down and laying everywhere and roofs and roofing materials strewn about. I was very fortunate and suffered minor home damage and the loss of my fence.  I also got power back after one week but had anticipated this and had a generator ready to go.  Many stores/restaurants are still not open or are on short schedules.   

You can see that nearly every tree is broken in half or has major branches torn away.  The fence caught debris from the Marathon gas station across the way and other businesses about 150-200 feet west of here.



It's hard to see well here, but the road is about a foot or a foot and a half underwater.  Note the car on the left that was pushed over and across the parking curb.



These next three pictures really tick me off.  They're from Pompano Air Park (home of one of the Goodyear blimps, the one that recently crashed).  These folks had nearly a WEEK to get their planes out and they didn't.  Note the one in the back has no landing gear at all.



Here's some extra landing gear for it!



Somehow this plane made it, maybe since it wasn't tied down very well?  I don't have pictures, but entire front walls were ripped off hangars and helicopters were simply spun around where they were parked.



This is about 100 feet from the beach.  The roadway was covered in an inch or two of sand.   A tornado might have come through, throwing the cars around like this:



The limo was also flipped like a toy.  Note the cars in the background also moved around and overturned:



The day of the hurricane my shift worked 230pm-7am and we've been on 12 hour shifts since then.  Just yesterday we went back to 8 hour shifts but all days off are suspended until further notice and so we're running 2-3 weeks with no days off.  Many of my coworkers still have no power and/or have extensive home damage and simply don't have the time/energy to work on them.  My Charger is still in it's hiding place and I haven't been able to go get it...nevertheless have time to drive it around.   Gas lines were about 3 hours long with people lining up 10-12 hours in advance before the stations opened...just hoping they had fuel.  We're driving around police cars with windows shattered out and in one instance a roof caved in simply because there's no way to fix them yet.  To add insult to injury, immediately after the hurricane passed, the weather was gorgeous...for a week.  Then a torrential rain storm came through and the homes that had roof damage got flooded and in some cases condemned.  Hundreds of people in my city alone were displaced by the flooding a week after the storm.   Considering this was only a Cat2-Cat3 storm, it's amazing at the damage it caused. 

Anyone want to move to Florida?   :roll:

[Johnny SixPack]

D@mn, Wakko!  

Glad to hear you and the Charger are OK!

I'd never directly experienced a hurricane until Rita, and I'm looking forward to another one.

Definitely planning on some major improvements before next season starts up.

[TruckDriver]

I had been wondering if you made it ok because you havent been on lately. Good to hear you and your family and Charger or doing good!

                                              Pete

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

Good luck on the cleanup and your service to the community

[4402tuff4u]

Wow! Unbelievable. My crazy uncle is moving from upstate NY - beautiful home & farm with horse barn and 30 acreas to go to Micco, FL. I told him that he needed his head examined. He said he's tired of the long winters with snow and cold! He loves salt water fishing. 

[Charger_Fan]

Cool pics Wakko, I'm glad you're ok. Stuff like that would definitely make me not want to move there.

Out of curiosity, what do you police officers do during a storm like that? I wouldn't imagine you're out on the streets, so do you just hunker down at home until it passes by?

[psykicpup]

Thanks for the pics Wakko, just glad you & yours are safe!

[TruckDriver]

Out of curiosity, what do you police officers do during a storm like that? I wouldn't imagine you're out on the streets, so do you just hunker down at home until it passes by?

Good question! Outta curiosity, did the GN fair ok too?

[Wakko]

Sorry, haven't been on in a few days.  GN is fine, it's still in the body shop.  FEMA came out today and should be giving me $700 for my generator...woot!!!

As far as what the cops do, it varies from department to department.  For us, they swapped to 12 hour shifts, 6am-6pm with no days off.  Usually I work 230pm-1030pm with Thu/Fri off, so it was a change.  We handle calls for service until the weather gets nasty then we come in to the PD and just hang out.  When the storm subsides we go out and do what we can.  We won't respond to alarm calls, noise complaints, things like that right away.  We drive with out overhead lights on, cruise the business areas for looters and enforce the 9pm curfew when we need to.  Mom and Dad going home at 11pm are not our target, but Joe Dirtbag prowling in my backyard IS.   Last year during one of the hurricanes I drove around all night in it.  Creepy as hell, the only lights on in the entire CITY were a set of broken train signals flashing and clanging...with a dead dog in it's red glow. 

[Charger_Fan]

Sorry, haven't been on in a few days.  

Absolutely understandable & thanks for your reply, it's just one of those things I've often wondered.

Are things starting to return to normal around there, or it still a big mess? The evening news hasn't been hitting it much lately here.

[Wakko]

Almost everyone has power back and most intersections are up and running, but where there used to be two or three traffic signals now there's only one in some instances.  Many street signs and store signs are gone and there are piles of debris/trees everywhere waiting to be picked up.  For the most part we're back to normal, but the damage won't be all repaired for a year or so...and then we'll be right back in the season for another round.