Hurricane Charley

For those who didn't know, Mario (Jetta_Jedi) lives in Punta Gorda, which took the brunt of Hurricane Charley's landing. I heard from Mario this morning, and he's fine...without electricty and water, but doing well, and wanted me to pass it on.

Keith

Keith, Thanks for the update on Mario (JettaJeddi). I wasn't sure where he lived, thinking it was Sarasota. Glad to hear he is okay. If any projects for relief in the area are undertaken by the Fl West Coast TDI group, please advise. Paul

We were gearing up for it to hit us head-on, but at the last minute it turned inland on him. I guess it missed Jeff (WolfTDI) by only a few miles.

Keith

Glad to hear that Mario & Wolf are Ok!

Does anyone know if any other clubmembers live in the path of destruction?

And if there are any relief efforts let me know. Also I have a brand new generator that one of em can use untill power is restored. Pass it on!

Nigel

We finally got power back at 2:30pm today, down since Friday night. The Jetta wagon was missed by the neighbors (BIG) oak to the tune of 2 feet. 3 feet of the back end was swallowed by the branches. I got in and drove it out of the mess. Minor scratches. Saturday we carved it it and other trees down the street up so we could get out, and we were luckier than most.
Dave - Oviedo FL (NE of Orlando).

Glad to hear everyone is ok.

Hope the rest will chime in...there are a lot of TDIers that were in the path of that thing....

Great to know all are well. Let us know if there is any way to assist.

Bob

Also I have a brand new generator that one of em can use untill power is restored. Pass it on!

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TDIYardie, you are the man. Very generous offer. Find me at TDIFest and I'll buy you a beer !
My parents are in Bonita Springs and skirted the storm. My Uncle just built a place in Orlando, hasn't even been there a year yet. Luckily, he did o.k. too.
I wish you Floridians the best of luck!

Us dubbers got ta stick togedder.

Offer still stands.

Nigel

I'm an occasional poster, and live in Orlando. We are also digging out of downed trees and power lines. I bought a Passat TDI about 3 months ago and have about 5000 miles on it. Because of power outages, many of the gas stations are closed. I still have 1/2 tank and I'm good for 300 miles. In addition, the diesel waits are pretty short. So maybe diesel has an advandgage in these types of emergency situations.

Oh, and the day after the storm, I used the oil extraction pump to change the oil. I had preordered the parts and oil from Impex. Thanks to all the forum members for sharing so much information. It helped a newbie like me.

Glad to here Mario is OK. I had been wondering about him.

All in All we were very lucky. We survived here without any major damage. I am told Englewood is the only area of Charlotte county that did not receive major damage. I cannot beleive how close the storm came to us and how bad the destruction is just 5-6 miles down the road. The eye wall passed just east of us, that was just enough to spare this area. Another 10 minutes at sea and we would be in the same boat as Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda. My Family and several others rode out the storm in a commercial building on Highway 776 It was scary. By noon that day I had come to grips the fact my house might no longer be where I left it. By 2:00 when they said it could be a Cat 5 and aimed right at us, we were just praying to survive.

I was shocked to find a downed palm tree, pool cage, fence. and missing shingles.

Power was on by 6:30 am Saturday, meanwhile freinds just a few blocks away were without until just today. Yesterday our house served as a Cooling off and Shower Station for just about everyone we know.

Keith I have been asked to go over to Punta Gorda tomorrow afternoon to try to check the status of a condo for someone out of town. If you can get ahold of Mario find out what he needs Ice, Water, Food, etc and I will bring it over.

For that matter anything anyone can do to helpout down this way plase do, even if it just donating to the Red Cross. Charley was a two day news story but from what I have seen, and I haven't even been to the bad areas people in that area of the county are going to be living wih Charley for a while. My daughters school will be closed for two weeks and used as a Shelter for those that lost everything. I went by today to see what was needed so I could start a collection drive where I work in Tampa. I was told there are 350 people there already and more expected by tonight.

BTW: My Vegoil Converted TDI survived the storm just fine, parked outside and everything.

Gosh you guys got your power back on fast. I was out of power for 6 days in Baltimore last year after hurricane Isabel. I will be looking into how I can help out you guys down there.
Dan

Yeah, Keith, if you do have any contact with Mario, please let him know we'd love to help. I've been trying to call him, but can't get through.

Jeff

Some areas never lost power, others are looking at an additional 10 days or more. It is quite impressive to witness the support from everyone. The Red Cross has a waiting list for volunteers. My wife and neighbors have been trying for days. They are asking for money at this point. They say they will purchase supplies from local businesses, which is good.
Jeff

(snip) Does anyone know if any other clubmembers live in the path of destruction? (snip)

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__. Not really in the path of destruction but the eye passed over us (eastern NC) on it's way north/out to sea. But by the time it got here, it was pretty well blown out. We had some wind and rain, but not a lot more than you'd expect with a summer thunderstorm. Then again, we've had five hurricanes with winds over 100 MPH in the last eight years, so anything that's still standing is pretty strong stuff anyway. Plus, the power co's have been cutting trees near power lines, strengthening poles lines and towers, etc. so our power is pretty stable (we didn't lose power during Isobel last year, either).

__. Good luck to the people in Florida. These things can really devastate lives.
'

Thank God everyone is alright! I looked for a thread about this a few days ago and didn't see one. Glad everyone is ok. Let me know if anyone needs anything.

Thanks for posting this.

I was out in Port Charlotte All Day yesterday with a group Serving up hot meals and cold drinks. We were all over the place we started out at 2:00pm up near Enterprise and US 41 at a Sheriff's Station. Just as things were slowing down around 6:00pm a Red Cross truck pulled up and said that he was running feeding center and had 350 people but was only able to get 100 meals. We followed him down to a church that was just east of US 41 and Kings Highway. We setup and started cooking again and handed out, cold drinks, Ice and Water to people in that neighborhood, 300 meals in about two hours. People we staying in their badly battered homes and once ethe word got out we were busy. These poeple had nothing, their homes were wrecked, they had no running water, no electricity.... Nothing..
At 8:30pm we left there we wound up at the shopping center on King's Highway and Rampart, it is being used as a command center for the National Guard, Firefighters, and Law Enforcement. Apparently their caterer ran short of hot food so we were able to pitch in. We wound up staying until Midnight. All in all about 550 meals we made and given out in total. I had a police escort when it was time to go home, they brought me out to where the curfew enforcement starts just over the Myakka River Bridge on 776.

The TDI has been working hard to!! I have been coordinating a drive at work in Tampa to gather items needed for the Red Cross Shelters for the people that lost their homes.

My co-workers have been shopping and donating tons of stuff. The Jetta returns home at Loaded to the gills with stuff for the shelters.

Way to go Ziptar!!!!