The Consequences of Hurricane Charley

Hurricane Charley was a hurricane that occurred during the 2004 Atlantic hurricane season. In the United States Hurricane Charley first impacted the state of Florida. “Hurricane Charley made landfall on the southwest coast of Florida new Cayo Costa, just west of Ft. Myers around 3:45 p.m. EDT on August 13, with maximum sustained surface winds near 150 mph.” (Johnson) Hurricane Charley continued to travel across the Florida peninsula. Hurricane Charley traveled into the Atlantic Ocean and turned towards the north and again made landfall in north western South Carolina. Hurricane Charley passed over North Carolina and Virginia before moving back over the Atlantic Ocean and traveling into the North East United States. Emergency officials had to overcome many challenges while preparing, responding to and recovering from the effects of Hurricane Charley. Florida is no stranger to powerful hurricanes damaging the state. Florida learned many lessons from Hurricane Andrew, 1992, which remains the fifth costliest Atlantic hurricane on record. Florida was able to use many of these lessons learned from previous hurricanes to assist and better prepare Florida for response and recovery in future hurricanes, particularly Hurricane Charley.

Overall Hurricane Charley resulted in $16.3 Billion in damages and caused thirty five deaths. When Hurricane Charley made land fall at Cayo Costa with 145 mph it had a storm surge of eight feet, which was less than expected. Still erosion was a major damage that occurred in Lee County. “The county lost an average of 16 shoreline feet, 48% of sea turtle nests, and 14 million tourism dollars.”(Neal) While Hurricane Charley caused catastrophic damage to buildings, coastlines, and trees, many are...

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Works Cited

Commissioners, Volunteer Florida. "Disaster Resonders Request Donations." 14 August 2004. Florida Disaster. Web. 15 April 2014.

FEMA. IS-559: Local Damage Assessment. 31 October 2013. Web. 5 April 2014.

Johnson, Brigadier General David L. Hurricane Charley, August 9-15, 2004. Service Assessment. Silver Spring, Maryland, 2006. Web.

Kilbury, David G. "The Damage Assessment Process in Cape Coral, Florida follwing Hurricane Charley." Applied Research Project. 2007. Web.

Kim, Susan. Disaster News Network Best way to help? 14 August 2004. Web. 2 April 2014.

Neal, Robert. Impacts of Hurricane Charley on the southwest Florida Coastline Focusing on Lee County. Fort Myers, Fl, 2005. Web.

Treaster, Joseph B. "Back-to-Back Punch of Two Hurricanes is Expected to Extract a $40 Billion Toll." The New York Times (2004). Web.