Hurricane Charley
This article is about the 2004 Hurricane Charley. For other storms of the same name, see Hurricane Charley (disambiguation).
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Hurricane Charley is the third named storm and the second hurricane of the 2004 Atlantic hurricane season. It made landfall at Cayo Costa, north of Fort Myers, Florida, after strengthening into a category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale.
Storm history
Charley was initially a well-developed tropical wave approaching the Windward Islands. On August 9, this wave had organized enough to be called Tropical Depression Three, while about 50 miles (80 km) southeast of Grenada. After crossing the islands into the eastern Caribbean Sea, the depression strengthened enough to be named Tropical storm Charley on the morning of August 10.
The storm moved rapidly across the Caribbean, and reached hurricane strength on August 11 while 90 miles (150 km) south of Kingston, Jamaica. Hurricane Charley then passed just south of Jamaica, and the next morning passed between Grand Cayman and Little Cayman. On the night of August 12, Charley passed just east of the Isle of Youth, then over mainland Cuba just west of downtown Havana.
After passing over Cuba, Charley crossed the Straits of Florida. Around 9 am EDT (1300 UTC), Charley passed over the Dry Tortugas. Tropical storm force winds of 41 mi/h (65 km/h) were recorded at Key West International Airport, 70 miles (115 km) east.
Charley took many off-guard when instead of following the predicted track through the Tampa, St. Petersburg area, it made an abrupt turn to the northeast, heading for the Fort Myers and Sanibel Island area. At the same time it rapidly strengthened, going from a 110 mi/h (170 km/h) Category 2 storm to a 145 mi/h (235 km/h) Category 4 storm in only three hours.
Charley is the second tropical system to strike Florida in 24 hours; Tropical Storm Bonnie struck the Florida panhandle at Apalachicola at 11 am EDT (1500 UTC) on August 12, 22 hours before Charley went over the Dry Tortugas. Mainland landfall occured only 29 hours apart. This is the first time two named storms have struck the same state in the same 24 hour period since 1906.
At 3:45pm EDT (1945 UTC), Charley made landfall at Cayo Costa, north of Fort Myers, Florida, as a category 4 hurricane. Charley moved into the mainland near Charlotte Harbor, Florida shortly after. A wind gust of 111 mi/h was measured at the Punta Gorda Airport before their anemometer failed. Charley is the strongest hurricane to strike the area since Hurricane Donna in 1960.
Near midnight local time (0400 UTC), Charley began moving back over water, exiting Florida near Daytona Beach. It returned to land around 11am near Georgetown, South Carolina, still just retaining hurricane strength.
Charley's strongest gusts were measured at 180 mi/h (290 km/h) at Punta Gorda, Florida.
Current
As of 5pm EDT, August 14 (2100 UTC), Tropical Storm Charley is located over North Carolina 75 miles (120 km) south-southwest of Norfolk, Virginia with sustained windspeeds of 70 mi/h (110 km/h), moving north-northeast at 30 mi/h (48 kph).
Charley is expected to weaken further as it travels over the east coast.
Warnings
A tropical storm warning is in effect from Cape Lookout (North Carolina) to Merrimack River, Massachusetts including the Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds, all of the tidal Potomac, the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays, New York Harbor and Long Island Sound.
Impact
One death in Jamaica, four deaths in Cuba, and multiple deaths in Florida were attributed to Charley. As of 05.30 EDT on 14 August, emergency services describe an unspecified "significant loss of life" at a mobile home park in Punta Gorda, Charlotte County [1]. So far, fifteen deaths in Florida seem to have been confirmed. Numerous injuries were reported as well.
Florida Governor Jeb Bush has estimated that damage from Charley could exceed $15 billion, but this estimate is preliminary. If the real figure comes anywhere close to this, that would make Charley the second most costly hurricane in American history, behind Hurricane Andrew's $26 billion in 1992, and above Hurricane Hugo's $7 billion ($9.4 billion in 2000 dollars) in 1989.
As many as 2 million people are reported without power in Florida. Tampa Electric Co. cut power in downtown Tampa to avoid potential damage. Havana's power was also knocked out by Charley when it passed by. Over a million people from the targeted area of Florida were evacuated.
Mandatory evacuation of non-residents, recreational vehicles, mobile home residents, and special needs residents from the Florida Keys has been ordered. An evacuation order for the coastal areas of Lee County, Florida has also been issued. Pinellas County, Florida, Hillsborough County, Florida, Manatee County, Florida, Pasco County, Florida and Sarasota County, Florida have all ordered mandatory evacuations for areas prone to the effects of storm surge.
The White House has declared Florida a federal disaster area, and South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford declared a state of emergency, and ordered an evacuation of two coastal counties, including Myrtle Beach.
Disney's theme parks in Orlando, including Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and Seaworld closed early; Disney's Animal Kingdom never opened at all. This is only the second time Disney's parks have closed due to a hurricane, the first being for 1999's Hurricane Floyd.[2]