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Two years after Hurricane Charley, some storm victims still haven't escaped a FEMA trailer city. A cloud of white dust rises from the sand road of FEMA's trailer city as a U-Haul van pulls out with a screech of wheels. Down the street, a frustrated mother of five sits in front of a computer in her trailer searching for a housing grant and a way out. In another trailer, a 61-year-old waitress packs up her belongings to move to South Carolina this weekend. As the 2006 hurricane season gets under way, many residents here are still trying to figure out...

Top U.S. disaster official Michael Brown, under fire over the federal response to Hurricane Katrina, cited prior emergency-management experience in an official biography but his duties were “more like an intern,” Time magazine reported. Brown's biography on the Federal Emergency Management Agency Web site says he had once served as an "assistant city manager with emergency services oversight," and a White House news release in 2001 said Brown had worked for the city of Edmond, Okla., in the 1970s "overseeing the emergency-services division." However, a city spokeswoman told the magazine Brown had actually worked as "an assistant to the city...

The poundings that Florida and central Gulf Coast have taken from hurricanes this summer have that region reeling. The widespread damage to homes and businesses, combined with the housing-construction boom in Florida, has left building materials in short supply. Lumber, cement, shingles and the like are sold as soon as they're unloaded from delivery trucks. But the U.S. economy has the strength and Americans have the determination and wherewithal to withstand almost anything that deadly storms might dish out. In the end, the people will endure and life will return to normal. While Americans are fixated on the hurt that...

MIAMI (AP) -- The nation's leaders need to put aside partisan labels to help Florida recover from the devastation of three major hurricanes during the past month, Democratic Senate candidate Betty Castor said Saturday. In her party's weekly radio address, Castor said Hurricanes Charley, Frances and Ivan "have cut a terrible swath of destruction," destroying homes and damaging military bases and the state's agricultural industry. "At times like these, we are not Republicans or Democrats. We are all Americans," Castor said. "The worst of Mother Nature brings out the best in human nature." Castor, a former state education commissioner, defeated...

WASHINGTON — It's an ill wind that blows no good — but for whom? That's a question that political analysts are pondering as a third hurricane takes aim at Florida, the biggest battleground state in the presidential election. Both President Bush and Democratic candidate John Kerry maintain that partisan politics have no part in their concern for the victims of the storms that have battered Florida. But, with voting just over 50 days away, practically any word or action by the Republican president or Massachusetts senator is seen in the context of the Nov. 2 election. The conventional wisdom is...

GOVERNOR BUSH ANNOUNCES WEEKEND OF PRAYERTALLAHASSEE - Governor Jeb Bush today asked for people of all faiths to takea moment during their religious services this weekend to join him in prayerfor those who have been impacted by Hurricanes Charley, Frances andpotentially Ivan.  "The people of Florida have weathered brutal blows, and are braced for yetanother challenge as Hurricane Ivan approaches our shores," said GovernorBush.  "At this time of unprecedented challenge, I've drawn comfort andstrength from my own personal faith, and have been lifted by the prayers ofothers."Attached please find a letter from Governor Bush to faith-based leadersregarding the weekend...

DEERFIELD BEACH, Fla. - Three days before Hurricane Charley hit Florida, the 150 or so parakeets nesting in a power substation in Deerfield Beach seemed blissfully unconcerned. So did the ones in seven huge communal nests on the communications tower of the Broward County Sheriff's office a mile or two away. Jon-Mark Davey, a devoted observer, owner and defender of monk parakeets, was showing the nests to a reporter and said the birds knew when a storm was coming. So it may have been their forecasting that made them appear so devil-may-care in their stick condominiums on light poles and...

We know that America has been dumb downded. Have we also morphed into an ugly, toothless society? I am sure you have noticed this. Watch the news reports on Hurricane Frances. Nearly every single person shown is either a fat slob or butt ugly, normally missing a tooth (teeth?). Has America become an ugly slob society? I have seen about one hundred Floridians interviewed now about Hurricane Frances evacuations. Every last one of them have been so ugly they would scare Janet Reno. I ask all of you--have you seen a well dressed, good looking, good talking Floridian interviewed yet?...

Link post: go the thread below to post commentary for discussion -- thanks! Geology Picture of the Week, August 29-September 4, 2004: New Geology courtesy of Hurricane Charley

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) - Even as tree limbs were cleared away and power gradually returned across eastern South Carolina after Tropical Storm Gaston, officials waited and watched Monday for Hurricane Frances. While Gaston caused some problems, "it's not the kind of catastrophic damage we see in a major hurricane," Gov. Mark Sanford said. He urged coastal residents to monitor Frances, which has 125 mph winds but is still days away from the Southeast coast. An evacuation would be tremendously difficult, warned Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. "The whole state would be naked," he said. "This will be a challenge...

One day after Donald Seither's mobile home was ripped up by Hurricane Charley, the 74-year-old retiree picked up a friend's phone and pleaded for federal aid. Technically, he got it. But mostly, he got ticked off. Seeking the government's help, the Punta Gorda resident — after being put on hold for 2 1/2 hours — got through to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and told his tale: a damaged roof, shattered windows and no electricity. About a week later, a check from the U.S. Treasury came in the mail. Here, Seither figured, was the hundreds, maybe thousands, of dollars he...

WAUCHULA, Fla. - Angel Lopez examined a blue flier that read in English and Spanish, "Disaster Assistance is Available Now," but discarded it as soon as FEMA workers moved on to another house in this neighborhood of migrant farmworkers. Lopez had no intention of applying for federal assistance even though Hurricane Charley ripped off part of the roof of the home he rents and damaged his possessions. "I fear being deported," said the 32-year-old farmworker, who came to Florida illegally from Veracruz, Mexico, two years ago. Fear of deportation is one of the many obstacles preventing illegal immigrants who lost...

PORT CHARLOTTE -- Most of the signs curse Hurricane Charley and defy his power. Others mock the storm, thank volunteers and salute everyone who survived it. Then there are the strange hieroglyphics -- an orange box, a series of numbers -- that appear on inspected or condemned homes. Finally, there are scores of hand-painted markers for storm services. On Peachland Boulevard, one sign advertised "Wench or Tractor." The sign painter probably meant "winch," which would be a powerful tool rather than a sexy servant, but you never know. Good tuna, bad storm The harder an area was hit by the...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Gov. Jeb Bush said Tuesday that he won't attend the Republican Party Convention in New York later this month, where his brother will be re-nominated, because of the importance of the Hurricane Charley relief and recovery effort. "There will be a role later on for me to play," in the presidential race Bush said while speaking to reporters before a Cabinet meeting. "The recovery phase of this is important to get started and ... being up in New York is inappropriate. "It's appropriate for others but not for me," the governor said. Bush said he had planned...

Let the Market Work Even During Disasters By John R. Lott Jr. Distraught over the loss of their homes from Hurricane Charley, some Floridians have turned their anger on “price gougers.” $8,000 for removing a fallen tree from a yard? $5 bags of ice? $3 for gasoline? Newspapers carry stories of an 80-year-old woman who was told when she first called a hotel that a room cost $45, but by the time she called back it was going for $61. How can anyone justify such prices? By last Wednesday, almost 1,900 price-gouging complaints had been filed with the state Attorney...

Bring on the 'Price Gougers'Jeff Jacoby August 23, 2004 Imagine a system that could instantly respond to a calamity like Hurricane Charley by mobilizing suppliers to speed urgently needed resources to the victims. Imagine that such a system could quickly attract the out-of-town manpower needed for cleanup and repairs, while seeing to it that existing supplies were neither recklessly squandered nor hoarded. Imagine that it could prompt thousands of men and women to act in the public interest, yet not force anyone to do anything against his will. Actually, there's no need to imagine. The system already exists. Economists refer...

PUNTA GORDA -- A set of shoulder pads and a football helmet hung on a fence post like a scarecrow at harvest. A cow mooing in a field replaced the shrill of a coach's whistle. On the front of a barn was a salvaged sign that read: Charlotte Tarpons, Class 4A Regional Champs, 2002. Inside the barn, shoulder pads hung beside a horse's saddle and a stuffed boar's head with a Charlotte High hat on its head. There were weights next to feedbags, jerseys next to power tools, and scattered about were 50 high school football players ready to give...

THE PLEASURE OF HIS COMPANY Sen. John Kerry probably didn't gain any votes while traveling through parts of Florida on Friday. The candidate walked through ravaged trailer parks and decimated neighborhoods, and attempted to comfort some of the people who were returning to rebuild their lives. Kerry, in speaking with reporters, called what he was seeing "inspiring." "Not sure what's so inspiring about me not having help," said a resident of a trailer park Kerry visited. "He wasn't offering anything. He just wanted to come here because the president came here." Kerry did travel with Sen. Ben Nelson, some of...

Power Companies Warning from Florida It's been a week here in Florida since Hurricane Charley. My workplace got electric power back Wednesday by a crew from Georgia Power. My new job at a small business employer is getting tax relief, so I got paid for the days I couldn't work. No lost wages is pretty cool. My home power was restored a day later by a power company from somewhere while I was at work. Power companies from more than eight states have poured into hurricane ravaged Florida according to a local newspaper. I have seen power workers from Georgia,...

CHARLOTTE COUNTY -- Vincent and Mary Panettieri helped make Charlotte County into what it was before Hurricane Charley. In the wave of blue-collar retirees with a passion for bingo and sunshine, they were among thousands who, in the 1970s and '80s, chose Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda over pricier Florida destinations to the north, south and east. "We're using our kids' inheritance," Vincent, 89, says in a stage whisper, quoting the classic bumper sticker that has graced many a Charlotte County Cadillac or Buick over the years. Now the Panettieris are part of another movement, this time an unprecedented exodus...