Orlando fills with storm refugees, willing and not
By SHERRI DAY
Published September 4, 2004
ORLANDO - It is a tale of two cities.
For some on Friday, Orlando provided refuge with its thousands of hotel rooms and extensive shelter system. Others viewed it as a portal to safer havens, but the options for escape quickly became limited.
Michael Walker's family could not find a flight home to England before Orlando International Airport closed for the weekend. Despite his initial disappointment, Walker, 39, viewed the coming storm as an adventurous ending to his first trip to America.
"I'm quite looking forward to it," said Walker, as he tried to secure lodging for his wife and five children. "Hopefully, I'll get some pictures."
But for David Addesse, 26, an engineer from Paris, the hurricane stirred fear.
"Yesterday I went to the supermarket and everyone was stressed and buying food and water," Addesse said, defeated as he dragged his suitcases away from the ticket counter and back to the parking lot. "It's kind of distressful. Psychologically, it has an effect."
Although the airport ceasing operations stranded scores of passengers trying to leave, others strolled through the terminals with a smile.
"I've got to go home and get ready," said Jeff Tyler, 35, who took a 5:30 a.m. flight from Montreal to get back to Orlando.
Orange County officials instituted a mandatory curfew for tonight and Sunday nights. They asked residents to spend Friday picking up debris, finding safe shelter and finishing last-minute storm preparations. Officials said 1,900 people fled to the city's shelters.
The Brownridge family of Yorkshire, England, spent Friday playing miniature golf and taking in oddities at Ripley's Believe it Or Not museum.
"We're just killing time," said Angela Brownridge, 40, a librarian traveling with her husband and two children. "We're trying to keep a little bit of normality."
The Brownridge's failure to get out of Orlando is the latest twist in their storm-riddled holiday.
They flew into in Orlando on Aug. 13, the day Hurricane Charley whipped through the state. Unable to find accommodations in Polk County, the family took refuge in a golf store. Four days later they drove an RV to Niagara Falls, narrowly avoiding Tropical Storm Gaston as they passed through Myrtle Beach, S.C.
It is their destiny, it seems, to endure at least one more storm.
"We've been to Florida a few times, but we've never been in August," Darren Brownridge, 39, said. "We won't come in August again."
Sherri Day can be reached at 813 837-5475 or sday@sptimes.com
[Last modified September 4, 2004, 00:37:12]
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