PUNTA GORDA, Fla., Aug. 19 -- Normal looks a universe away from here.
Yet, one week after Hurricane Charley brutalized 200 miles of Florida, almost everywhere someone -- emergency directors, homeless retirees, police chiefs -- is talking about it, hoping out loud for it -- normal.
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Hurricane Charley Hits Florida: Hurricane Charley hit Florida on Friday with more force than predicted, leaving thousands homeless.
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Hurricanes Compared: See how Charley compares with major storms over the past 10 years.
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"Almost normal." "Getting back to normal."
This is the new normal in the towns Charley crashed through: Bright blue plastic tarps are roofs. Cardboard boxes are closets; school cafeterias are bedrooms. In some spots, an essence of Old West-style bravado is in the air, along with the stench of garbage. The signs say so: "Looters will be shot."
"It's going to be a long, long time until I feel normal," Christine Williamson said as she watched her husband trying vainly to pull their Punta Gorda trailer home off the roof of her neighbor's. "But our psyche wants that."
The massive storm, the worst in Florida since Hurricane Andrew killed 26 and caused $25 billion in damage in 1992, has left 23 people dead -- and the count keeps rising. The American Red Cross estimates that almost 900 homes were destroyed and 20,000 suffered major or minor damage -- and the count keeps rising. The price-gouging complaints have topped 2,200 -- and the count keeps rising.
At the same time, other numbers are more hopeful: 2.8 million people without power has shrunk to 330,000. The Federal Emergency Management Agency thought it would have to set up temporary homes for 10,000, but now plans on 4,000.
"These people don't have a normal routine," FEMA Director Michael D. Brown said in an interview. "It's not 'What do I wear today?' It's 'Do I have to wear the same thing again today?' "
Power, in great part, dictates the direction of the next few weeks. Florida Power & Light Co., the huge electrical company that serves most of the storm-damaged areas from southwest Florida across the state's ravaged orange groves to Orlando, predicted Thursday that it would have all power restored by Aug. 29.
Wayne Sallade, the emergency management director in Charlotte County, urged residents to be careful about assessing whether their home's internal wiring is sound enough to receive electricity -- without sparking fires -- once the power lines are restored.
"Our fire chief is just -- he's beside himself," Sallade said.
Damage to publicly owned buildings and equipment has been estimated at $500 million in Charlotte County, nearly equaling the size of the county's annual budget of $540 million. The statewide damage total, although still being assessed, could reach $14 billion.
Florida is 11 days away from a tightly contested U.S. Senate primary, which is considered a critical test of the troubled electronic voting machines that will be used in the November presidential election. The logistical challenges of running a primary in towns ravaged by Charley's winds could be monumental. In Charlotte County, plans are being made to compensate for ruined polling places by consolidating voting in "super-precincts."
For all the concerns, there are signs that life is catching its old rhythms in some of the counties most affected by the storm. Television stations in cities near Punta Gorda that the storm missed have eased back into regular programming, some broadcasting soap operas on Thursday for the first time in a week.
