The media can make people hysterical. Just before Charlie they were predicting an 18 foot storm surge. Our property is 9 ft above sea level. I said to Ed, what would we do? He said go into the attic. Is there a way out of the attic, I asked. He said no. I said I'd rather take my chances swimming down Island Avenue and trying to avoid the downed electrical wires. Anyway, there was no surge. The storm came by and tornado activity did total a couple of very old small houses. It also pushed over at least one tall palm into a house next to it. We had a huge coconut palm at the edge of our property that was bent (I took pictures) to the ground but it bounced back up. It was recently struck by lightning and we had to have it removed. It's like losing a friend.

There was no flooding at the low end of the island (near Pine Island Road). There was, I think, some flooding elsewhere, but I didn't pay attention. Even the badly constructed driveways didn't hold water more than a day. We have a new bridge -- can't remember if they were building it when you were here. They placed it next to the old one and got rid of the old one when the new one was operational. It took forever. If you come this way again, don't forget us.

screwed up on my reply ... see above your entry.