SIOUX CITY, Iowa - President Bush asked supporters Saturday to pray for Hurricane Charley victims and said he will visit Florida today to survey the damage.
"Tomorrow I'm going to travel down to Florida to visit with those whose lives were hurt by Hurricane Charley," Bush said at a re-election rally. "I wanted them to know that our federal government is responding quickly to provide aid.
"Many lives have been affected by this hurricane, and I know you join me in sending our prayers to those people who look for solace and help."
Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry decided against going to Florida. "We don't want to get in the way of imminent recovery efforts," spokeswoman Allison Dobson said.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan offered no details about Bush's trip, including where he would visit, what the schedule would be or whether his brother, Gov. Jeb Bush, would join him.
Also trying to visit the area was U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., but a tire caught fire Saturday on his small plane while departing from Washington Dulles International Airport. No one was hurt.
Nelson's office said the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration photography jet aborted takeoff when the landing gear burst into flames on the runway because both brakes locked before takeoff.
Temporary morgue set up in motel parking lot
PUNTA GORDA - A makeshift morgue was set up in the parking lot of a Best Western off U.S. 41.
The medical examiner's office didn't have power, so officials were bringing bodies to air-conditioned tractor trailers.
"We've had three bodies brought in and we're expecting others," Tampa police Rev. Bruce Turner, whose job it was to comfort family members, said Saturday afternoon. "We don't know how many. No one seems to know yet."
The morgue is staffed by a forensic pathologist, a dentist and fingerprint technician - all volunteers with Florida Emergency Mortuary Services.
E. Hunt Scheuerman, a medical examiner from Jacksonville, was helping to run the morgue. A stack of body tags poked from his front pocket.
Birthday disaster for young Batman collector
PORT CHARLOTTE - Nicolas Emery was supposed to have his 10th birthday party Saturday.
Instead, the young Port Charlotte resident spent the day staring sadly at his Batman Superhero figurine collection - $5,000 worth - that was ruined when Hurricane Charley tore through much of the roof on his house.
"I've been collecting since I was born," Nicolas said, holding in his hand Darkseid, whose cardboard backing had been soaked.
Some of his collection dated to the early 1960s.
Up in his second-story bedroom, dozens of Batman and other Superhero figurines that had never been taken out of their original packaging hung dripping along his walls. A rain-soaked, life-size Superman cutout had begun to curl along the edges, and the Batman bedspreads on his bunk bed bore the faint traces of early mildew.
Debra Emery wasn't happy that her son's collection had been ruined. But after having half her house torn off, Emery said she was thankful to see the light of day.
"The fact is we're alive. It's only material," Debra Emery said.
Historic Bok Sanctuary suffers direct hit
LAKE WALES - The Historic Bok Sanctuary, located on the highest point in Central Florida, took a direct hit from Hurricane Charley, said park spokeswoman Cindy Turner.
But the 205-foot Gothic, art deco Carillon Tower, constructed in 1927, survived the blow. The grand gardens, designed by famous landscape architect Frederic Law Olmstead Jr., better known for the gardens at Central Park in Manhattan, sustained wind damage.
Theme parks reopen after taking the day off
ORLANDO - Walt Disney World and Central Florida's other major theme parks reopened Saturday after Hurricane Charley blew through, shutting them down for a day.
In addition to Disney World, the storm forced the closing Friday of Universal Orlando and SeaWorld. The only other time the parks closed for a hurricane was for Floyd in 1999.
At Walt Disney World, the Magic Kingdom, Epcot and Disney-MGM Studios opened, but staff shortages kept Animal Kingdom closed.
Fifty inspectors at Universal Studios Orlando checked all the rides and ruled them safe before the theme park opened Saturday. Sea World closed seven hours earlier than scheduled Friday and opened three hours late Saturday.
One hard month - she moved just a bit too early
FORT MEADE - On Saturday afternoon, Norma Smothers' yard in Valencia Mobile Home Park was littered with scraps of metal. The carport had collapsed. The shed roof was blown away. The vinyl siding was stripped off the back end. The porch roof was damaged.
And Smothers, 38, had just moved in two weeks ago from a lot five doors down. The mobile home that replaced hers "didn't get a spot of damage."
"Isn't it lovely?" she asked.
Her mother had a heart attack Thursday. They were in the hospital, and "we came home to this."
Buses move evacuees from shelter to school
ARCADIA - Jose Orozco, 52, took his wife, three children, brother and nephew to the shelter at the Turner Civic Center in Arcadia. Being from inland Mexico, Orozco just didn't think it was safe to stay at home during the storm.
There were 1,400 people at the shelter, which became more chaotic as the storm passed overhead. The family was on the second floor when Orozco saw part of the roof peel away. Wind and rain dumped onto the evacuees inside.
Red Cross workers herded people into hallways and bathrooms. A few minutes later, they directed everyone onto school buses. In the middle of the storm, all 1,400 people were bused to a nearby high school.
Once you see your roof flapping, it's too late
FORT MEADE - By the time Sylvia Jones, 61, realized it was time to leave, it was too late.
Jones said she had survived two hurricanes in her aging mobile home on rural U.S. 98, just east of Fort Meade, and thought she could do the same thing this time.
"We just stayed there too long," Jones said Saturday evening from her daughter's apartment. "I was in denial."
Jones realized it was too late when she looked out her window and saw her roof flapping wildly.
"That's when we decided to get out of there. But by then it was too late. Everything was coming off and coming in at us." Within seconds, Jones was holding part of the roof up and telling the rest of her family - a son, a daughter, an ex-son-in-law and two grandchildren - to make a run for it.
They managed to get out, loaded up into two trucks and drove through the madness to her daughter's apartment. The mobile home's roof is hanging from a fence on the other side of the highway.
"For an instant or two, I didn't think we were going to make it," she said. "It was terrifying. I don't know how to describe it. I don't know what to do next. I don't know where to get help. I have no insurance. I have no money. We're just existing."
Many Punta Gorda residents ride out storm
PUNTA GORDA - Many of the about 15,000 residents who live in Punta Gorda - a city Forbes magazine ranked as the fourth-best place to live in the United States in 2002 - chose to ride out the storm in their homes.
Around the corner from the brick City Hall, resident Susan Evans hid in a closet with a queen-size mattress over her body for one hour and 40 minutes.
"I was laying flat and somehow the wind was lifting me up," said Evans, 34, spokeswoman for Florida Gulf Coast University. "I felt my back coming up off the floor. I truly thought I was going to die."
When the storm subsided, Evans walked outside of her 1920s blue bungalow. The second floor of a neighbor's home was seared off. Christmas ornaments, bulbs and bells, were strewn about Evans' yard. As she piled wood and aluminum along her curb, the sound piece from an ornament played "We wish you a Merry Christmas."
No breakfasts Saturday for restaurant owner
ARCADIA - On any normal Saturday morning, 64-year-old Chuck Craven would be whipping up some home cooked breakfasts at Wheeler's Cafi, his Arcadia restaurant.
The restaurant, which has been in downtown since 1929, was not damaged, but because the electricity and water were shut off, Craven couldn't open for business.
Craven is also an old car collector. A barn housing 15 cars, including a 1923 Model T and a 1965 Plymouth Sport Fury, was partially crushed. He didn't have insurance on the cars. He never thought he would need it, not in Arcadia, which is miles from the water and well inland.
Gas and groceries are must-haves for some
OKEECHOBEE - People from Highlands County drove about 50 miles to Okeechobee in search of gas for their cars, generators and chain saws. At a Hess station, cars were staked four deep at the pumps.
Mike White, 52, arrived after a 45-minute drive from Lake Placid to fill up his car and two portable gas tanks. He then planned to get groceries at Publix.
He didn't think it would be his last trip to Okeechobee.
"They're saying three days before the electricity comes back on," White said. "But it will probably be a week."
Kissimmee residents never expected to see a storm
KISSIMMEE - Residents tried to clean up debris between rain showers and a nighttime curfew the city imposed.
"My biggest complaint was I didn't know what was going on," said Brenda Ray, 59, who has lived in Kissimmee for 10 years. "I've got a hole in my roof, a lot of damage because of these trees. We don't have a phone to get a hold of insurance companies. You get spoiled. You think Kissimmee, that's not going to happen here."
Down the street, trees fell around the perimeter of the Martinez family's home but none hit.
"We're Christians," Ivonne Martinez, 37, said as she and her family members grilled out on her front porch. "And we prayed and we washed this house in the blood of Jesus. This morning we stepped out and said, "He watched over us.' God is good."
Unripe fruit collects on ground in Polk County
FROSTPROOF - Along U.S. 98 in the citrus and cattle country of eastern Polk County, telephone poles bent at odd angles like the piers of rotting docks and cows idled in soggy pastures. In the groves, millions of spheres of green unripe fruit collected like marbles on the ground.
On the outskirts of Frostproof, mobile home debris hung from power lines and fences.
Sam Martinez, 25, said he returned to his mobile home Saturday to find several collapsed sheds in the area around it.
"We were like "where did these sheds come from?' " Martinez said.
Saturday night, Martinez and his family were filling up gallon jugs at a faucet outside a local convenience store. Like many others in the area, they can't use their wells because there's no electricity.
Times staff writers Jeff Klinkenberg, Tamara Lush, Ron Matus, Brady Dennis, Sherri Day, Alisa Ulferts and Leanora Minai contributed to this report, which contains information from the Associated Press.
