To quote a song from one of the 1970's disaster movies, "There's got to be a morning after..."

And to say the least, we truly dodged a bullet by a hair last evening. Here in north Lakeland, we had heavy wind with gusts of over hurricane force, and heavy rain, for over two hours. Fortunately, the only "damage" at the apartment complex where I live was that a few shingles came off a couple of neighbouring buildings (they had been redone earlier this year), and some light tree branches, but nothing of any consequence. The electricity stayed on throughout, which was not the case throughout the city.

My neighbour and her children decided to stay with relatives in Winter Haven, only 20 minutes east...not a great idea as things turned out. Signs and other debris flew past their apartment, the roof of a neighbouring building began to come off, and overall it turned out to be a scary night. What a difference only a few miles makes, being on the west (weaker) side of the storm's eye and the stonger northeast quadrant.

Here in Polk the areas that really got hammered are Bartow, Lake Wales, and Fort Meade. Lots of serious damage. Nothing to the degree that the folks in Port Charlotte or even Arcadia received, but there will be a number of people and familes that will be suffering during the recovery period. And Polk County Schools have announced they will be out all next week; several of the schools received damage or are being used as shelters or feeding centers for those whose homes have been damaged or destroyed.

There are and will be a lot of organizations moving in to help the victims. The two I suggest everyone support right off the bat are the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army. Both organizations are on top of things from the beginning to help in any and every way possible to make a difficult situation slightly better. Also gotta give a hand to the amateur radio operators who provide communications between the shelters, the Red Cross Chapter HQ in Winter Haven, and the Polk EOC in Bartow. When the power goes down, which usually means most phone service --- including cellular --- goes down as well, ham radio usually provides the only reliable means of instant point-to-point communication. A lot of important information gets through via ham radio, and even now people in areas such as Punta Gorda, Point Charlotte, and Lake Wales are able to get health and welfare messages to their families thanks to ham radio operators.

The hardest part has begun...cleanup.