Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
Bob Blatz was a happy man last week. As president of Clearwater's American Land Lease Inc., which owns 20 manufactured home communities in Florida, he had seen for himself how well the newer homes on his properties withstood the winds of Hurricane Charley.
At his company's Blue Heron Pines in Punta Gorda, Blatz said there was no loss of homes or lives. "The damage was restricted to some of the carports and screen rooms," he said of the park, which has about 350 homes. "We did lose a great number of pine trees."
Blatz drove down to Punta Gorda on Saturday after the storm, expecting the worst.
"I'd seen everything on TV and since we had no ability to communicate with them, I was pretty worried," he said. "But when I drove up I saw about 20 of our residents sitting under a carport with three grills going. Their only complaint was that the beer wasn't very cold."
Blatz said about 50 park residents stayed in their homes during Charley despite being urged to evacuate.
"We had a whole bunch who went to a shelter that lost its roof," he said. "Now the ones who stayed behind are saying, "Who looks smarter now?' "