Hurricane Charley Essay

Trees down every where, houses crushed, roofs gone, thousands of people without power, cars damaged, people dieing. Hurricane Charley was perhaps one of most devastating events that I have ever experienced, in my entire life. The next morning after hurricane Charley hit, we drove outside and saw the devastating remains that Charley left. The roads were full of chaos, with no traffic lights, and the gas lines were insanely long. I was very fortunate to only loose my power and cable, in comparison to some people loosing a loved one. This hurricane caused approximately $20 billion in damages, which is nothing compared the 19 lives it took. I learned to never underestimate the effects of a hurricane, always be prepared for a hurricane, and to always think and help the less fortunate. Hurricane Charley wasn’t perceived as a very powerful hurricane to a lot of people as it progressed more towards Central Florida. I feel that a lot of people were not very prepared for Charley, just as I wasn’t. When I heard about this hurricane coming I thought, â€Å"Oh, another hurricane coming, there is going to be a lot of rain.† I didn’t think it was going to be a big deal at all. After the hurricane hit, I realized that I was completely wrong. One should always be prepared for a hurricane. I think that this statement is most definitely true, and should be carried out by everyone. Every household should have plenty of water, money, gas, batteries, flashlights, and many other things stashed away in their houses. There were major gas outages at the gas stations, because people were filling up their generators and cars. One of the major problems was that almost everyone was out of power, so you could cook or keep things cold without a generator. This lead to everyone needed ice to keep their very expensive groceries cold. When I looked back at what resulted from Charley, I actually feel fortunate. Yes, Charley did cause my dad lost business, left a lot of yard for me, left power and cable outages, and hundreds of dollars of meat to go bad. When I thought about this I felt kind of unfortunate but, when I thought about the people that starve day after day on normal bases in places like Africa, I feel fortunate. A lot of people in other countries don’t ever have power, cable, or even houses for that matter. I think that after events like this,  we should all pull together and help one another. Volunteer to help your neighbors and people that had it worse then you, have free barbeques with your meat that is going to go bad anyway, and most of all give everyone moral support. I think that Charley was a very important learning experience for a lot of us and should be thought about in different views. If you think about it, were you that effected by hurricane Charley? Did you take your power for granted? Were you well prepared for this hurricane? Did you underestimate Charley? All of these are important things to think about as you look back on Charley.