Re: Florida's still recovering from '04 hurricanes

[Guest guest]

KC, I have seen this first hand. I work in Melbourne once a month and the

number of blue tarps covering the roofs still amaze me. I have been talking to

physicians telling them my story and have told them about Dr. Shoemaker's book.

I have even photocopied the pathway for a few.

tigerpaw2c <tigerpaw2C@...> wrote:

Florida's still recovering from '04 hurricanes

Many roofs unpatched yet new season almost here

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7873338/

• Florida still feeling blue

May 16: With another hurricane season on the horizon, thousands of

Florida residents are still rebuilding from last year's record

storms. NBC's Kerry reports.

Today show

By Kerry

Correspondent

NBC News

Updated: 12:51 p.m. ET May 16, 2005PUNTA GORDA, Fla. - The National

Hurricane Center issued its forecast for the 2005 storm season on

Monday, predicting three to five major hurricanes between June and

November. But walking through the debris left by Hurricane Charley,

it's clear that many residents are still trying to cope with last

year's mess.

New state color: blue

In Florida, the new state color appears to be blue. Nine months

after a record four hurricanes struck the state, residents here are

still living under makeshift blue plastic roofs.

" It's just a horrible way to live, " said Amy as she walked

through the wreckage of her home.

" There's not a room in this house that hasn't been affected. We have

some rooms that leak, we have multiple rooms with mold, we have

rooms where the ceiling is crumbling down, " she said.

She is among the more than 100,000 still living in misery. " It's

been a rough year. It's been a really rough year, " said .

As Florida enters its rainy season, Floridians are bracing for the

worst.

" I can't even believe that hurricane season is on us again, " said

. " It doesn't even feel like I've begun to recover from last

year. "

Roofs still missing

One major challenge has been literally putting roofs over people's

heads.

Roofers estimate it will take two years before houses here are all

patched up.

Hurricane season 2005

• Live Vote: Would you live along coasts?

• Hurricane science has improved, but slowly

• Florida still blue with rebuilding

• 2004 hurricanes meant baby boom

• Residents more prepared this time

• Some cash in on preparations

" I just recently got a new roof put on. That took almost eight

months, " said Melley, a Punta Gorda homeowner. " I got tired of

putting on tarps. I got tired of my wife being upset and water

constantly coming into the house. "

Melley bemoaned the cost and wait to get a roof repaired, saying

it's a " contractor's market. "

Barry Mallory, owner of Mallory and Sons Roofing, has reroofed 200

homes so far and says there is just too much work to handle. " We

quit taking new work and contracts months ago, " said Mallory.

" Everyday, it's [work] before daylight, until way after dark, and

it's been going on like that for months, " he said.

" I'm a Floridian, born and raised, and it's the worst [hurricane

season] I've ever seen, " said Mallory.

Clean-up never ending

And then there is the cleanup. There are piles of debris everywhere.

" Almost nine months after the hurricane and it looks like the

morning after, " said Wayne Sallade, director of emergency management

for Charlotte County, Fla. " That is real scary. "

In Charlotte County alone, Hurricane Charley created enough debris

to fill more than 250,000 dump trucks.

" If that debris of a storm-damaged home is laying there and we have

a storm come by, it's going to pick up that loose wood, that loose

concrete and it's gonna throw it at somebody else's house, " said

Sallade.

The federal government estimates that more than 700,000 homes were

damaged or destroyed in Florida last year.

On Florida's Gulf Coast, and thousands of others are

still living in government-sponsored temporary housing. " I'm not the

only one thinking about the hurricane season coming up, " said

.

With hurricane season beginning in two weeks, Floridians say they

don't know how they will fare if another hurricane makes landfall

again this year.

Kerry is an NBC News correspondent based in Miami.

FAIR USE NOTICE:

---------------------------------