Posted by  Dikeesha Govan, Pahokee, Fl. & Belle Glade, Fl on 10/27  at  06:18 PM

I am surprised that there has not been any coverage about how Wilma devastated Palm Beach Co.  The eye of the storm went directly over that area.  My parents (Glenda & Lawrence Govan) live in Pahokee, Fl; in Palm Beach Co. and no one in the city has electric, nor does anyone in Belle Glade.  I have not seen any coverage from the areas hardest hit.  My parents have been told that it will be mid November before power is restored.  Maybe if there were news coverage, the city and FEMA would react faster.  Please send someone to do a story because the damage is horrific and the help is slow.

Posted by  KWD, BRANDON on 10/26  at  03:14 PM

I agree with Gov. Bush… people had plenty of time to prepare for this disaster.  Why do people expect emergency teams to give them what they should have gotten themselves?  There are things you do when you even hear a hurricane is anywhere near our state, buy canned foods, buy water, fill the bathtub, buy candles, batteries, etc, etc.  I’ve done this all my life here.  We should be the most prepared state.  People, take a little control of your situation and quit depending on the government for your basic hurricane preparedness responsibilities.

Posted by  Jordan Wells, Lakeland, FL on 10/25  at  12:50 PM

Lakeland, FL

My parents live in Lake Placid, FL, located in Highlands County.  They live in the Sylvan Shores subdivision.  A tornado went right over their house around 6 am Monday morning.  Their privacy fence and backyard chain link fence were torn down, and a large pole barn in the pasture behind the house was destroyed. There was a roof from another building lying the pasture. 
Shingles were missing from the roof, and the soffett on the garage was missing.  Several trees were either missing or split in half.
They heard reports that the tornado also caused damage to an adjacent subdivision.

Posted by  Heather, Ruskin on 10/24  at  09:34 PM

I don’t live in Florida but I hope my mom in Ruskin was safe. God bless everyone.

Posted by  Dennis, Port Charlotte on 10/24  at  04:55 PM

It’s a beautiful day....NOW....hard to believe that less than 12 hours ago we were getting gusts over 70mph...though I’ve got power...lots around here don’t...overall I have to say we’re very lucky compared to what Charley did last year...other than a few branches laying around no sign that the storm was here..I’m really disappointed in how the county emergency management handled preparations...way too little information coming out from them leaving people confused and wondering where to go...and not even giving an all clear afterwards...thankfully the media kept us informed from neighboring counties..

Posted by  Jennifer, Riverview- 301/Balm Riverview (Alafia River) on 10/24  at  03:41 PM

Riverview- 301/Balm Riverview (Alafia River)

We kept the boat in the water (yes, I know stupid) and tied it down but early this morning we had to move it to the other side of the dock because it was blowing around.  It is fine.  The fence blow over (first time since it was put up three yrs ago). I’m surprised it blew over with Wilma vs. all the hurricanes we had last year. 3:40pm and still getting wind gust but all it good.

Posted by  Merilee Muir, Old Miakka (east of Sarasota near Myakka City) on 10/24  at  02:51 PM

Old Miakka (east of Sarasota near Myakka City)

Had a spooky night. Husband is with sheriff’s dept. and got called in at 2:30 AM.  We have 600 acres of ranch land between us and SR 70.  The wind had nothing to stop it so it was slamming the house and barn.  The rain was in sheets on an angle.  Ponds raised about 3-4 feet (which is good).  Yard, after daylight, looked like a war zone - we have 25 huge old oaks hung with spanish moss.  Still high wind gusts and junk falling everywhere. 

Llamas look like drowned rats - their wool is plastered to their bodies.  Horses looked miserable - wind blew the rain through the barn so nothing was dry.  And now we have 50 million small black flies on everything.  Hope the cold tonight takes care of those.  But we made it with only 2 windows coming loose and some leaking around the doors on the wind side.  I feel very lucky.  Been here 34 years and this is the first time I felt nervous.

Posted by  COLLEEN, TAMPA/FT MYERS on 10/24  at  02:10 PM

TAMPA/FT MYERS

My sister lives in Pine Island, The one by Ft. Myers. They evacuated inland and are currently waiting to be let back onto Pine Island. She says lots of rain, doesn’t know about damage yet. Her comment yesterday was that they had problems for the previous 3 days finding Hotel/Motel rooms inland because of all the “news Media” taking up the rooms!

Do you take into consideration that locals need the space and your somewhat extensive coverage of reporters dodging flying debris, (great example for reluctant evacuees)are keeping people from safe shelter?

Posted by  Allen Whetstone US Coast Guard, stationed a ft lauderdale on 10/24  at  01:40 PM

Stationed at Ft. Lauderdale

Reporting Port St Lucie trees down alot roof damage.Plantation Florida street lights down alot of tree damage over 500.000 people without power. the worst I have seen after Andrew.

Posted by  Micky Weiter, Okeechobee on 10/24  at  01:34 PM

Okeechobee

Parents live 1 mile north of intersection of Hwy 70 & 441.  Large trees are down, screens are blown out, shingles off of roofs, Concrete based sign blew over & large tree branches (small trees) are down.  They lost power around 9:30 AM.  Winds just died down around 1 PM.

Posted by  Patrick Stroup, Sebring on 10/24  at  01:30 PM

Sebring

A lot of rain and gust of wind,from 4 am to current time of 1:30pm. Large gusts of wind continue, never lost power, or phones.

Posted by  Lesley Zajac, Pebble Creek, New Tampa, N. Hills Co on 10/24  at  12:34 PM

Pebble Creek, New Tampa, N. Hills Co

The sun is out and the temp. has dropped significantly. The wind from the north is blowing in strong gusts, enough to lift spray out of the ponds.  No signs of damage in this immediate area but any trees weakened by Wilma could be vulnerable to these strong wind gusts.

Posted by  Sarah, Bartow on 10/24  at  12:34 PM

Bartow

Reporting from The City of Oaks. Mother Nature...the natural air conditioner. Was born and raised in Florida. Never thought I would grab a jacket to go outside after a hurricane.

We lost power before 4:30 A.M. No need for the AC! My sister lost one tree in the rain and wind. Pretty nasty morning.

Want to thank Ch. 8 for the weather coverage. Especially on the tornado warnings.

Posted by  Michael Gawronski, Riverview ( Rhodine & Balm/River ) on 10/24  at  12:04 PM

Riverview ( Rhodine & Balm/River )

Everything intact here. Rain like any other day, a bit windy, and not one sign of a tornado. No damage of any kind that’s serious. It has passed and now business as usual.

Good day to all....

Posted by  Tracey, Sebring on 10/24  at  12:04 PM

Sebring

Good Bye Wilma.  Nothing much in Sebring near our house anyway.  Compared to the others, it was a breeze.  I hope everybody else did okay.  I prayed for people to stay safe.
Waiting for the sun to come back out.

Posted by  Nathalie Lambert, North Port on 10/24  at  11:59 AM

North Port

Lots of wind and rain throughout the early morning hours.  Now, no rain, but wind continues to gust.  My 4 year old guard dog is terrified every time the wind blows hard!  The swale in front of my home is not full, which I attribute to the wind, because we’ve sure had enough rain to fill it up.

This hour is the first since early a.m. that it hasn’t been raining hard enough to hear all over the house.

Posted by  Heather Wright, Ruskin on 10/24  at  11:24 AM

Ruskin

Ruskin was pretty intense at times.  I could see our oak trees moving all seperate directions.  There were limbs down, traffic lights out and sheets of water spraying all over.  As I drove down 41, I noticed alot of water on the road but still managed to make it into work.

Nothing more than a regular Florida Thunderstorm with extra wind to scare ya. No reason to call in sick to work.

Posted by  Walter Vanderpool, Avon Park, Highlands County on 10/24  at  11:01 AM

Avon Park, Highlands County

Strong winds and lots of rain here in Highlands County. I have tree limbs down across the area. A tree limb fell on my powerline going across my roof.  Strongest winds on the northern side of the County was approximatley 60 or 70 miles plus.

Posted by  D. Aldridge, North Port on 10/24  at  10:55 AM

North Port

We’ve had wind and rain since about 3:00 this morning, and it just doesn’t want to stop, even though the eye is clear off the other side of the state.  The wind gusts are still about 40 mph, and I’d put sustained winds at about 20-25. 

The worst winds I would have put at hurricane strength, judging by all the past hurricanes I’ve been through.  I have a drainage swale behind my house, and it was full this morning, which means that there is usually flooding in the lower lying areas north of U.S. 41 and east of I-75. 

I have shrubbery uprooted, but no trees I can see down in my neighborhood.  We never completely lost power, although the lights were dimming a lot.  Guess we got lucky again.

Posted by  C.J. Waggoner, North Port, FL on 10/24  at  10:19 AM

North Port, FL

So far, we have been very lucky in 2004 and 2005.  While we are on the county line between Sarasota and Charlotte counties, we have managed to escape the wind and flooding that have gone on in communities all around us. While Punta Gorda, Arcadia, Zolfo were reporting high winds and lots of rain and flooding this morning, we seemed to be in a pocket of relative calm and while we had some good size gusts and obviously some rain, apparantly nothing like what’s going on around us. The power has blinked 3 times, but has remained on. Even our satellite has stayed on and we usually lose that in a regular Florida afternoon thunderstorm.

Posted by  TERRY MCPHETERS, Polk City on 10/24  at  09:58 AM

Polk City:

I emptied my rain gauge at 9:45am and it had 4.2” of rain and is still raining. It is very windy, rain standing in the yard and some branches down. Some gusts must be at least 50mph but not alot of those. You have one of the best forcasts for storms. Thank you.

Posted by  J. Johnson, East Lake community - east of Tarpon Springs on 10/24  at  09:45 AM

East Lake community - east of Tarpon Springs

Wind and overcast skies but no limbs down from my vantage point. We’ve had less than 1/2” of rain. Resembles a cold front blowing in....and I’ve turned off the A/C because the outdoor temperature is REALLY cooling off!

Posted by  Tina Chamberland, avon park, highlands county on 10/24  at  09:44 AM

Avon Park, Highlands county

The wind is bad, we just lost our front porch roof and the street sign on the corner.  We don’t see any other severe damage thus far.  Rain is driving and severe, street is flooding.

Posted by  Sabrina Cooper, Sebring on 10/24  at  09:43 AM

Sebring

We have some wind and some rain, and sometimes it gets a bit gusty. I do not think that it is as bad as they are suggesting on the news channels, atleast not from where I live at. At my home, we have a few tree limbs down in our backyard, but not much damage otherwise.

Posted by  Janice Long, Wesley Chapel on 10/24  at  09:41 AM

Wesley Chapel:

I haven’t heard you mention anything in our area.  The winds are really bad here and I’m not sure how high the gusts are, but my palms are lying flat at times.  It’s really bad right now.  I heard a tranformer explode down the street or at least I’m pretty sure that’s what it was.  Just wondered what reports you have from East Pasco where I live right over the Hillsborough line. The rain was really bad earlier and we still are having it off and on, but he wind is terrible.