SANIBEL ISLAND, Fla., Aug. 18 -- On the final day of exile, as a postcard sunrise blossomed across the bay in classic Florida pastels, a 2000 Chrysler Sebring inched across the Sanibel Causeway, its occupants hoping their personal paradise was not lost.
Ron Heidel, in the driver's seat, had not slept the night before. His passenger and girlfriend, Brenda Wentworth, was fidgety and voluble. From time to time, she peeked out to watch the news and the police helicopters circling above.
Mark Ryan examines his house on Sanibel Island, Fla. He credits tough building codes for the survival of his home and other structures on the island.
(Charles Rex Arbogast -- AP)
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_____Correction_____
An Aug. 19 article incorrectly said that Captiva Island in Florida was split in half by Hurricane Charley. That damage occurred on North Captiva Island.
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_____Photo Gallery_____
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Hurricane Charley Hits Florida: Hurricane Charley hit Florida on Friday with more force than predicted, leaving thousands homeless.
_____Dangerous Storms_____
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Hurricanes Compared: See how Charley compares with major storms over the past 10 years.
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Florida Gets Aid, Temporary Housing (The Washington Post, Aug 18, 2004)
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Radio Days: Now the Dial Touches Back (The Washington Post, Aug 18, 2004)
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Orange Country Battered and Blue (The Washington Post, Aug 17, 2004)
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FEMA Crews Struggle to Aid Floridians (The Washington Post, Aug 17, 2004)
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Rules May Have Saved Some Homes (The Washington Post, Aug 17, 2004)
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Behind them stretched a line of hundreds of cars, filled with residents of this wealthy resort island who had been barred from the area since Hurricane Charley tore through, toppling thousands of Australian pines, smashing windows, leaving dream homes open to the elements.
Since they evacuated on Aug. 12, island residents had been unable to return because of concerns that the causeway might not be structurally sound and because island roads were impassable. Now, as they crossed the bridge, they got their first glimpse of the damage the hurricane had wrought: Trees flattened. Ponds where there had been dry land. Beaches littered with plastic bottles, garbage cans and chunks of plastic, indiscernible in origin. Roofs opened like the tops of tin cans.
A strange sense of suspended animation pervaded the island. Newspaper dispensers trumpeted a now archaic headline: "Charley Threatens." Huxler's Liquor Store had become Huxler's Li uor Store.
The residents were among the last to know the personal repercussions of a hurricane that killed 22 people and caused billions of dollars in damage as it cut a swath through the heart of Florida.
Residents of Fort Myers Beach, another barrier island in San Carlos Bay, also got their first glimpse Wednesday of Charley's impact on their homes and lives, as officials threw open the gates for the first time since residents evacuated last week.
Everyone else has had days to cope with lives and homes ruined. On Wednesday, repairs were well underway in Punta Gorda, the storm's epicenter, and National Guard troops continued to distribute water and ice from military transport trucks in the city's gutted center. About 438,000 people statewide remained without electricity, officials said.
But for the 6,000 residents of Sanibel Island, the damage has all been conjecture. The same has been true for Captiva Island, which on Wednesday remained off-limits even to residents. Charley had slashed Captiva in half, and officials said the damage there was far more extensive than on Sanibel, which is separated from Captiva by a thin, silt-filled channel.
By Wednesday, Federal Emergency Management Agency officials had opened four disaster recovery centers in the state, and had disbursed 2,600 checks totaling more than $5.1 million for home repairs. On Thursday, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) and FEMA Director Michael D. Brown are scheduled to open a fifth disaster recovery center, in Buena Vista, south of Orlando.
Interlopers have made their way to Sanibel by boat. Police patrols stopped many. The well-connected and powerful -- chief among them Rep. Porter J. Goss (R-Fla.), recent nominee to head the CIA and Sanibel's first mayor -- have been able to fly over the island and see the wreckage.
But for Heidel, who sold his restaurant and nightclub and moved from Northern Virginia last February to retire on an island that he and Wentworth call "a dream come true," his home's condition had remained maddeningly unknown.
The house -- a three-story marvel that backs up to the 12th hole of a pristine golf course -- has a study with a Brazilian cherry wood floor. The cavernous living room has a new plasma screen television the size of a Hummer's windshield. It is everything Heidel ever wanted, and he had no idea what has happened to it.
It was 7:30 a.m., and the Chrysler was almost within sight of the toll booth.
Get paid for your H I P I M P L A N T troubles.>>