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Letter to the editor

Tips from survivors of Charley, Frances, Jeanne, Ivan

By TAMARA LUSH
Published June 1, 2005

ST. PETERSBURG - Thomas Campanella fled and Violet Colley stayed. Tom Mizell could have died. Wayne Sallade pressed on, through the wind and the rain.

They are last year's hurricane survivors.

An unprecedented four storms - Charley, Frances, Jeanne and Ivan - struck Florida in 2004. The toll was staggering: more than $20-billion in insured losses, tens of thousands of people who lost homes, and more than 100 dead.

And as you may remember, stress levels were off the charts.

This year's season, which starts today, could be just as bad, hurricane experts say.

Forecasters think the United States and the Caribbean are in the midst of several decades of frequent, intense storms. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says the 2005 outlook calls for 12 to 15 tropical storms, with seven to nine becoming hurricanes, and three to five of these becoming major hurricanes.

Thousands are still recovering from last year's storms, with more than 10,000 families in temporary housing.

"We have to realize, if we can get four hurricanes, we can get five," said Wayne Sallade, Charlotte County's emergency management director. "We should have learned our lesson last year, to never say never."

Sallade and other survivors have some suggestions on preparing for hurricane season. They all agree on one thing: No matter where you live in Florida, you could be affected by a hurricane.

As Charlotte County's top emergency management official, Sallade spent 17 years issuing hurricane warnings and wondering if anyone was listening.

Then came Aug. 13, 2004. Hurricane Charley pummelled Punta Gorda and Sallade became an international figure overnight, briefing reporters on damage estimates, power outages and death tolls.

A year later, everyone wants to listen to Sallade.

He recently spoke at the Governor's Hurricane Conference in Tampa. To some Pinellas County beach officials. To a group of emergency officials in Long Island, N.Y.

"It's incumbent upon us to share what we've experienced and learned," he said. "And there's a thirst out there for information."

This year, Sallade, 51, is taking his hurricane plan speech to another level. Besides imploring folks to have an evacuation plan and a survival kit, Sallade gets into the details that many want to forget.

"Review your insurance policy now," he said. "Some people just say, to heck with it and forget about it until the roof comes off. Call your insurance company's 800 number, call them and talk to a counselor. Most people send a check off to Illinois or Ohio or Hartford and that's the last they think about insurance."

Hurricane Charley destroyed 11,000 homes in Charlotte County - about half were manufactured homes - and Sallade is still helping people navigate the insurance maze.

That's why it's so important to look at your policy before a storm strikes. Look at your deductible (is your property underinsured?) and find out if you have so-called "law and ordinance protection" that helps pay for rebuilding an older home to meet modern building codes.

Sallade suggests that people study the Florida Department of Financial Services Web site at www.fldfs.com for more information on homeowners insurance during a hurricane.

"If you don't do that," he said, "then don't be surprised after a hurricane when the adjuster comes back with a figure that is nowhere close to what your contractor has told you."

Colley's store - a small convenience shop in a working-class neighborhood of Vero Beach - was an oasis of calm during hurricanes Frances and Jeanne, which hit the East Coast in almost exactly the same spot.

The store stayed open, even as the power died and the winds lashed the trees.

"They needed me," Colley, 59, said of her neighbors. So by flashlight, she and her daughter, Patricia, tallied up sales by calculator and looked for cans of beans and other edibles in the dark.

The store stayed open during Hurricane Jeanne, too, and had only a little roof damage from the two storms.

The building still has a blue tarp covering the damage, but Colley hopes her handyman will fix the roof soon.

You see, if the storms come, she will stay open. "I'm trying to buy two generators," she said.

Colley's main hurricane preparation suggestion: Have a lot of water on hand. Emergency experts say a gallon per person per day is a good guideline.

Also, prepare mentally and spiritually.

"Last year was rough. I was confused," she said. "You need to prepare your mind, if we have another heavy storm like that, we can overcome it. Last year, I didn't know what to expect. This year, I've got my mind together.

"We also need to pray a lot that we we won't have another one."

Mizell and his wife, Linda, were sleeping in their Bartow home when Hurricane Jeanne barreled across Central Florida.

A big oak tree fell on his roof and nearly on his head.

"I actually heard the tree hit the house and saw it falling through the ceiling," said Mizell, a 58-year-old phosphate miner. "It knocked the ceiling fan down to where I could have touched it. I couldn't open the door. It was completely into the room."

The tree and the ensuing water damage destroyed two bedrooms and a bathroom. The Mizells moved to a missionary home at their church.

Repairs on their home were finished in March, just in time for the couple to start preparing for the 2005 hurricane season.

"Right now, we've got three trees that need to come down. We've bought chain saws and tried to stock up on things in case it happens again. We're also thinking about buying a generator," he said.

Mizell's suggestion: "Just cut back all the trees or anything that could endanger your house. . . . Anything out in your yard, trailers, things like that, secure them."

And one more thing: Don't assume because you live inland you are immune from hurricanes .

"Being in Bartow, I thought we might not get hit."

Campanella and his wife, Debbie, did all the right things as Hurricane Ivan bore down on the Florida Panhandle.

They nailed shutters onto their windows, moved their boats to higher ground and gathered photos in a suitcase. They loaded food, water and even a small generator into their cars and drove to safety.

The storm destroyed about 75 percent of their possessions, and according to their insurance company, about 41 percent of their home.

Campanella, a 55-year-old dentist, has a different kind of suggestion for Floridians facing hurricane season: Enjoy life's simple pleasures. Don't focus on trying to have nicer living room furniture or more expensive tile than your neighbors.

"What I've learned from this is that we all have too many things," he said as he paused from painting a bedroom. "We place too much value on material things. But when you see it all in the yard, after a storm, you learn what value really is."

Campanella's home still isn't back to normal - he's doing the repairs himself - but he feels blessed.

"We think in order to be successful, we've got to have leather, cherry and oak, status symbols," he said. "Something like this makes you readjust the priorities of life.

"I'm happy to start over again."

[Last modified June 1, 2005, 00:39:12]