Wilma Damage
10-25-05
On October 24, 2005, Hurricane Wilma gave South Florida the ole 1-2 punch. Broward County got hit very hard, and luckily I was right in the middle of it. My grandma and I watched as trees ripped up and were thrown all around, including right at the front door of her house. It seemed to me like the second half of the storm (after the eye went by) was far worse than the first half, and others around South Florida have commented similarly on the radio. Power was expected to take until mid-November to return to all FPL customers in Broward. The Broward County Courthouse was badly damaged, with every window blown out. Water was undrinkable in most of the county, and some didn't even have water at all. Gas was in short supply without electricity to operate the pumps, and traffic was a mess with no traffic lights. Don't forget the curfews. It was bad, Tommy. Real bad. Here are the pictures from Plantation, where I rode out the storm.
 Right
across the street from my Grandma's house are these apartments. The
tree here was decimated. |
 This
tree branch came from the other side of the house (to the right) and blew
over the roof and right onto the front sidewalk. I was sitting where
those windows are right in front of the branch when it happened. Yowza! |
 All
trees lost their leaves, and the street was blocked, as you can see. |
 The
bushes now lean sideways. |
 This
is the other side of the house as referred to in the second picture.
That's the tree that blew apart. It even went into the windows, if you
look closely. |
 Yes,
the fence blew down. Most all of it. |
 The
tree was uprooted, taking the fence along with it. Anyone have a
chainsaw? |
 More
injured fence. |
 These
branches came from the tree on the other side of the house. This is in
the backyard, by the way. |
 Here's
a closeup of the tree that fell in the backyard. |
 Literally
uprooted. And this isn't just a large banyan or something. This
is a thick tree! |
 A
glimpse of the other neighbors' yards courtesy of the fallen fence. |
 The
idiot on the other side of the fence was fooling with this little dinghy
boat during the middle of the storm. THE MIDDLE!! Man, if you're
reading this, you're an idiot! |
 Another
tree down beyond the fence. |
 Trees
down all over the road. |
 More
trees on the road in Plantation. |
 Can't
even get through the neighborhood! |
 Everyone's
yard is a mess. |
 Poor
sign didn't stand a chance. |
 All
around the houses. |
 See
this? A concrete telephone pole. There must have been some
seriously severe weather here, I think probably a tornado. There have
been at least 2 reports of tornadoes in my grandma's neighborhood alone. |
 Here's
a panorama of the pole. |
 The
Methodist church's roof sustained pretty good damage. |
 Naked
trees at the church. |
 Some
heavier roof damage at the church. |
 Significant
roof damage at the apartments across the way. Power lines down all
over, too. |
 See
the power line hanging down in the middle of the road? Great. |
But on the plus side, the weather after the storm was beautiful, with highs in the mid-70s and lows all the way into the 40s and 50s! No clouds in the sky at night, and without the city lights, you could see every star in the sky. Including the shooting stars. Very nice. So it is not all bad. And it is nowhere near as bad as Katrina was for Louisiana and Mississippi, so thank the nuggets for that.