'04 hurricanes help residents prepare for '05

By Mitch Stacy

updated 12:23 p.m. ET May 16, 2005

LAKE WALES, Fla. - Before last summer, Corrie Pope hardly gave a thought to preparing her rural mobile home for a catastrophic storm.

Being a good 60 miles inland from Florida’s west coast, she figured it would never be necessary. Then came hurricanes Charley, Frances and Jeanne, which crisscrossed in Pope’s tiny Alturas community south of Lake Wales in the space of six weeks in August and September, tearing up her family’s property, knocking out the power and splitting their doublewide at the center.

With a blue plastic tarp still covering her roof and a bare plywood floor still awaiting new carpet, Pope says she won’t be caught unaware when this year’s Atlantic hurricane season opens June 1. The house will be stocked with supplies.

“We’ve got tons and tons of candles and batteries,” says Pope, whose family finally received their insurance check last month to repair the damage. “I’ve got hurricane lamps. ... My dad is coming down to visit next month, and he’s bringing a generator and a chain saw.”

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The four hurricanes that smacked Florida during an unprecedented and unforgettable 2004 season — “The Big 4 of ’04” — rattled the nerves and disrupted the lives of thousands of people, many of whom had dropped their guard after years of hearing about major hurricanes but never seeing one.

With forecasters expecting another active hurricane season — 13 named storms and seven hurricanes are predicted by Colorado State University forecasters — emergency management officials are hoping people have learned the same lessons as Pope and her family: Hardly anyone is safe, and when the storms come, be prepared.

No excuse for amnesia
“There should not be any more hurricane amnesia in Florida,” says Craig Fugate, the state’s director of emergency management. “One of the things we saw time and time again, businesses that were prepared did well and families that were prepared did well. Those that did not suffered.”

Chris O'Meara / AP Corrie Pope, with her daughter outside their Lake Wales home, hardly gave a thought to hurricanes before last year's devastating season since she's 60 miles inland.

First Charley slammed Punta Gorda Aug. 13 and barreled northeast across the peninsula. Then Frances came ashore on Florida’s east coast near Stuart Sept. 5 and raced across the state before Ivan pummeled the Florida Panhandle and Gulf Coast states Sept. 16, collapsing part of Interstate 10. Finally, Jeanne hit Sept. 25, roughly following Frances’ path.

The storms were blamed for at least 130 deaths in the United States, mostly in Florida, and did an estimated $22 billion in insured wind damage. One in five Florida homes were damaged or destroyed. So far, insurers have paid more than 1.6 million claims from the storms.

Although the Federal Emergency Management Agency has paid out nearly $5 billion in assistance, many people are still trying to reclaim their lives as the new storm season rolls around.

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