Exactly two decades ago, Hurricane Charley struck Central Florida, kicking off the busiest hurricane season on record that the region has ever seen.
While far from the most powerful hurricane in the Sunshine State, Charley made landfall in 2004 around 100 miles south of Tampa as a Category 4 storm.
Charley started out small, rapidly intensifying before striking the state’s coast. But while the forecast model showed Charley potentially heading through Central Florida, many residents only looked at the center forecast line, which showed the storm passing through the state away from Orlando.
“Orlando was technically in that cone of concern ahead of Charley. It’s just everyone wanted to focus on that one line and it’s something many people do at this one point 20 years later,” said News 6 Chief Meteorologist Candace Campos.
As a result, many people were unprepared when the storm arrived in Central Florida, according to the NOAA.
“If you think about it, for decades there were no major hurricanes that came through Orlando, so there was always that feeling of it’s going to turn. It never comes here,” said Campos.
Michelle Bethea lived in the College Park area of Orlando when Hurricane Charley hit. She remembers Charley as catastrophic.
“When this storm hit, it had been a long time since Central Florida had seen a hurricane,” Bethea said. ‘It had been quite a while. I’ve been here since 1979 and I hadn’t really seen anything like that before.”
“We didn’t know what to expect until it was riding over us and it was only when it was that you realized just how intense of a storm it was,” said News 6 Investigator Mike DeForest, who reported on Charley from Sanford. “I did not expect the wind gusts and the amount of rain and the duration of how long it took Charley to move across Central Florida.”
Bethea said she remembered the noise especially, and trying to “hunker down.”
“I didn’t know what to do,” she said. “I did end up getting in the bathtub because that’s what you heard about is to get in the bathtub, just a small space and pray.”
Charley rushed through Central Florida and up the east coast of the U.S., directly killing 15 people.
After everything was over, insurance companies estimated that the economic losses from Charley amounted to $14 billion, making it the third-costliest hurricane in the country’s history at that time.
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Even two days after the hurricane passed through Central Florida, federal records indicate that roughly 1 million homeowners in the state were still left without electricity. For some of the hardest-hit areas, homeowners had to wait around 10 days to get power back.
“I think it was really kind of that moment for Central Floridians to kind of wake up and realize that you might not be right along the coastline, either on the east or west coast, but a major hurricane can still have significant impacts even inland in Orlando,” Campos said.
Charely petered out by Aug. 15, giving some breathing room for the portions of the U.S. that had been devastated during the storm’s promenade. But that wouldn’t last long.
Just a few short weeks later on Sept. 5, Florida was struck yet again — this time by Hurricane Frances.
Unlike Charley, Frances made landfall along Florida’s east coast as a Category 2 storm. But like Charley, Frances walked its way up the state, meaning Central Florida was again victim to a powerful hurricane.
“It struck in the early morning hours of Sept. 5, bringing Category 2 winds and heavy rain,” the NOAA states. “It picked up speed over Florida but managed to cause damage throughout most of Central Florida, especially in areas already affected by Charley.”
According to the NOAA, as the storm moved inland, it created 23 tornadoes across the state.
The losses wrought by Frances fell short of Charley, though it was still estimated at a hefty $9 billion in property damage. NOAA officials also said that Frances was responsible for nearly 50 deaths — seven directly and 42 indirectly.
Worse yet: on the same day that Frances struck, another storm began brewing in the Atlantic Ocean. It would eventually develop into a third hurricane: Hurricane Ivan.
Ivan departed from the prior two storms in that it didn’t make landfall in Florida; it actually came ashore just west of the panhandle in Alabama on Sept. 16 as a Category 3 storm.
However, the storm heavily damaged parts of the Interstate 10 bridge system that ran across Pensacola Bay, mainly thanks to the powerful waves created by Ivan. Furthermore, Ivan brought in 10-15 feet in storm surge, which could be felt all the way down in Tampa Bay.
Again, damage estimates reached nearly $14 billion and eight people died as a result.
But much of Florida’s damage from Ivan was relegated to the panhandle. The next hurricane to strike Central Florida came a mere 10 days later on Sept. 26: Hurricane Jeanne.
Jeanne made landfall as a Category 3 storm in southeast Florida, which was still recovering from Frances.
“(Jeanne’s) 55-mile-wide eye crossed the Florida coast at virtually the same spot where Frances did,” the NOAA reports. “Widespread flooding rainfall of more than 7 inches accompanied Hurricane Jeanne as it slowly moved west and north over the state.”
While not as large as Frances, Jeanne initially moved along the same track, bringing severe storm surge along Florida’s east coast.
Many Central Florida residents were still building back after Charley’s rampage, which happened just six weeks prior.
“It was like watching a bad episode of the same movie. Jeanne came onshore in the same vicinity just three weeks after Hurricane Frances,” said former News 6 Chief Meteorologist Tom Sorrells.
“I still, 20 years later, hear from people who appreciated being at home, being scared, hearing their roofs rattling, hearing the windows rattle and telling us that we comforted them by allowing them to see what was happening outside,” DeForest said.
In all, the damage was listed at around $6.8 billion, making Jeanne the 13th costliest hurricane in U.S. history.
Campos said the good news is that 20 years later, forecasting has gotten better.
“The nice thing about the forecast cone is one, it’s gotten much more narrow,” Campos said. “‘We have earlier lead times to these tropical systems, but we are always talking about never look at that one line.’”
Campos also points out that there are new satellites, and drones in the air and in the water that help track how a system strengthens, grows, and moves. But people still need to take tropical forecasts seriously and be prepared.
“We just have to continue to improve our forecasting, but also improve our ability to be prepared and stay informed ahead of whatever storm heads our way,” Campos said.
Bethea said she learned to not take warnings to prepare for a storm for granted because of the 2004 hurricane season.
“I’ve learned to be prepared. Always be prepared. You’re in Florida. It’s a tropical state. You just can’t tell,” she said.
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