Kochs in Florida Storm

August 20, 2004

Vi Koch received word from Beatle and Sharon Koch who were in the storm in Florida. They are in Cape Coral (North of Fort Myers).

Vi talked to Beatle twice during the storm. They were in Sharon's parent’s house. Electricity was off, but they had a generator. Trees were being uprooted and shingles flying off their neighbors house, (the house they were in has a metal roof). One tree fell on the garage roof and gouged a hole. No damage to the car.

Grapefruit and oranges were shaken off the trees. They said the palm trees were bent to the ground; they must be more flexible than ours.

Later Beatle called to say they were back in their trailer, and okay. There’s lots of clean up to do, and still lots of people without electricity. Sharon and Beatle are lucky as it was off only a short time in their area. They are back to work at their jobs. Said people were coming over from Punta Gorda just to get a cup of coffee. That was the town nearly wiped out, nothing open--no electricity, no water. Sharon said store shelves were nearly bare.