Post-Hurricane Wilma Pictures From My Neighborhood

Image 1 (pond behind our house facing west):



Image 2 (side of our house facing west) (the splash guard (upper right-hand corner is broken):



Image 3 (part of the splash guard that is lying on the ground outside of our lanai cage):



Image 4 (my next door neighbor’s lanai cage that is completely destroyed):



Image 5 (a house across the pond from ours that has their lanai cage also completely destroyed):

 

Image 6 (our lanai cage over our pool in no damage except for two small cuts that are an inch long):



Image 7 (left side of the pond facing WSW) (a tree is down towards the middle of the picture):



Image 8 (a tree down facing north behind my next door neighbor’s house):



Image 9 (50-60 mph winds after Wilma is already on the east coast of Florida) (the temperature is already starting to drop due to the cold front in Florida from the north):



Image 10 (front porch with a broken piece of tile from our roof that my sister found in our bushes):

 

Image 11 (tile close up):



Image 12 (tree down over most of the road to the SSE of our house):



Image 13 (tree down next to my neighbor’s house) (the tree is directly south of our house):



Image 14 (piece of tile (pictured in image 10 and 11) that is torn right off of our roof)):



Image 15 (close-up image of tree down in image 12):

 

Image 16 (tree and driveway uprooted up the street from my house) (the house is NNE of mine about a quarter (maybe less) of a mile from mine)):



Image 17 (different angle of the same tree and house from image 16):



Image 18 (tree down in the yard of this house) (the yard is also flooded):



Image 19 (pretty good sized tree down on one of the dead end streets in my neighborhood):



Image 20 (stop sign down at the corner of the two streets that split off…both form a circle around my neighborhood) (**notice that the street light is bent from the 125 mph winds):

 

Image 21 (different angle of image 20):



Image 22 (several trees down in the driveway going into my neighborhood’s clubhouse):



Image 23 (the house next to my neighborhood’s clubhouse) (their front yard is flooded and they have some trees down):



Image 24 (a tree down on the corner of one of the side streets of my neighborhood):



Image 25 (a palm tree down and broken in half in this person’s driveway):

 

Image 26 (a good sized tree down in this person’s front yard) (this street is on the other side of my house and it is also at a lower level than my street):



Image 27 (another big tree down across the road on the other side of my neighborhood) (the street is also pretty flooded here):



Image 28 (another tree down on the corner of a side street in my neighborhood):



Image 29 (cell phone tower in my neighborhood that has an antenna hanging on the right side of it):



Image 30 (antenna is fixed in this picture):

 

Before anyone asks, I asked Tony if I can post the pictures in a separate thread and he said go for it.

All of the above pictures were taken with my Canon 7.1 mega pixel camera (I am glad that I bought one before my sister graduated from college).

The power and cable came back on today at 12:40 pm ET. The power and cable has been off since Monday morning at 5:40 am. They were both off for 55 hours.

The wind was approx. 125 mph (it could have been higher...who knows) when Wilma hit. I was the only one up in my house at 5 am. I went to bed at 2 am, got up at 5, feel asleep from 7 to 8:30, and then stayed up until that night at 11:30 pm. I heard the door buckle a couple of times (but we had a bungee cord on the front of it), and our lanai furniture in front of the door protecting it).

The wind at times was so loud that I thought that it sounded like we would have our roof ripped right off. I thought that it sounded like it was being ripped off, but the noise that I heard was my next door neighbor's lanai being ripped off (*see image 4 above *).

I believe that part of the damage (even though the tv (before it went off along with the power) said that it was 57 miles off the coast of Naples and that the front of the storm had rotation and that we were in a tornado warning until 6:45 am)) was from downdrafts, but I am not absolutely sure.

Next time that something like this happens (hopefully it won't), we will have a generator and about 10 gallons of gas on hand for the generator. We also ordered two 12-LED lanterns with remotes from Cabela's (http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/t...tern&noImage=0&returnPage=search-results1.jsp) this morning about an hour before the power and cable came back on.

 

I am not sure. We have dry areas in our garage where nothing can get wet. We always have plenty of batteries on hand in our house. AA's, AAA's, D batteries, 9 volts, etc.

 

Yep. My uncle has a 5000 watt generator. He rolls it out, flips a switch (like your dad does) to shut off the main power, and then plugs in his generator.

We want to get that exact setup once everything returns to normal.

 

Thanks, lbmike.

I really appreciate the comments.

 

Thanks, Andy.

Well we are definitely going to look into getting one just in case.

 

Thanks, ShoresGuy.

Our house is still standing after Wilma and after being here since 1995. It has lived through rains (18 inches in 30 hours in 1995), thunderstorms, tropical storms, and hurricane (Charley last August with 100 mph in my neighborhood and now Wilma with 125 mph winds).

But if the hurricane was any stronger (139 or above), our house and property would have been worse off than they are now.

 

Thanks, Buickman.

Our real estate agent found a winning neighborhood for us.

Cool. We would have to test out the coverage and give a full report. I could give you the grand tour.

To drive from Orlando to my house, it takes approx. 3 hours and 30 minutes to 4 hours depending on traffic.

 

That would be cool. Just let me know ahead of time to make sure I am not busy. We could meet somewhere for lunch and then I could give you a tour.

Later. Hot dogs with beans and chips for dinner for me tonight.

 

Cool.

When was your neighborhood built?

I think the first house in our neighborhood was built either in the late 80s or early 90s (1990 or 1991). Our house was built in 1995 (and finished in 1995). When we built ours there were still 30 or 40 lots left, now there is only 1 lot left (built it doesn't have a for sale sign on it).

 

Ok. I believe Wiggy.

I still think that the "Excellent Adventure" sounds like the movie.

 

Thanks Airb.

The poorer regions didn't fare so well. The trailers were completely destroyed. Everyone in my neighborhood has pretty much the same size house. The neighborhood directly west of ours has houses that are 3000-4000 square feet (on average).

The areas that didn't fare so well are down in East Naples, since the area is lower than my neighborhood and the neighborhood around ours.

My friend's house in Sunrise, Florida (outside of Ft. Lauderdale), is still without power. He said that they will be without power most likely until the 2nd or 3rd week of November.

My county (north of my house on the way to my campus this morning) still doesn't have power since the cops were directing traffic this morning.

 

That was around the time that my house was being built.