[7 a.m.] The power went out at 4:35 a.m. here at my hotel on US 41 in Bonita Springs and once it came light, you finally could see the incredible force Wilma is packing. We’re supposedly on the weaker, backside of this hurricane but you could have fooled me. Looking outside, you’d have to be absolutely nuts to try venturng 10 feet from your front door. The wind is blowing the rain completely horizontal and debris is flying everywhere—palm frons, building materials and anything lighter than a pound—seems to be going airborne as winds gust up to 80 mph. It seems faster but that’s what the weather station here is telling me on my little battery-operated TV. Guess people won’t be getting their local newspapers today. This is when you realize the advantage of immediate news over fish & chip papers.

So I’m totally on battery here and the hotel’s internet connection is down. Should I complain about that to the hotel manager? Wait, is the manager even here? If I was the manager, I’d be home with my family and tell the guests “Ok, I’ll be back soon. Sorry, no continental breakfast today. Of yea, no electricity, either. I’ll be back when this blows over. There’s Pop Tarts under the front desk. Be good now and no looting.”

So it’s down to this wireless card in my PC. Yestersay, I was saying how fairly useless this card is to transmit anything other than text. Now, I’m glad I have it or I’d be dictating stuff to an editor by phone. The crazy reporter in me wants to get out there and get into this stuff. Why else am I here? But I just saw a hunk of plywood fly by my window and I’m thinking twice. If I had to describe this scene to someone, I’d say “uh, picture Dorothy sitting on her bed in the Wizard of Oz as her house gets lifted up and spun around by the tornado.” I keep waiting for the Wicked Witch of the West to come pedaling her bike through the air past me. But her flying monkeys? Even they’re not crazy enough to take on Wilma.