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   You are at: NWS Home » SRH Home » SR News » 2004 » Hurricane Charley

Hurricane Charley

Map of Hurricane Charley's path.

Areas within the yellow boundary indicate tropical storm (39 mph or greater) wind gusts. Areas within the light blue boundary indicate hurricane force (74 mph or greater) wind gusts. The thick dark red line indicates the location of heaviest damage, in the eastern semicircle of the 5 mile diameter eye.
Hurricane hardened citizens of Key West began to heave their first sighs of relief during the morning of August 13 -- as the worst of Hurricane Charley tracked northward about 70 miles to the west. Amid the high wind and wave action that caused minimal damage, they knew their small island had dodged another bullet. Their neighbors in the Florida Peninsula would not be so lucky.

By mid-afternoon, Charley had strengthened to a Category 4 Hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 145 mph. tracking northeast at 20 mph. toward Port Charlotte. At 3:45 p.m. Hurricane Charley made landfall at Captiva Island where the storm surge rose to 15 feet. Charley maintained hurricane force winds as it continued to track northeast toward Orlando, Daytona Beach and into the Atlantic Ocean.

In its wake, at least 16 people died (the toll was expected to rise); hundreds sustained injuries; thousands of homes and businesses were damaged or destroyed; 25 counties were declared disaster areas; up to two million people lost power; and, overall damage estimates are believed to be in the $11 to $14 billion range.

Before, during and after landfall -- National Weather Forecast Offices issued nearly 500 timely and accurate weather products including hazardous weather outlooks; short term, surf zone and marine forecasts; local hurricane, severe weather and precipitation statements; and, tornado warnings (at least 10 tornadoes were spawned in Central Florida).

The combined efforts of the National Hurricane Center; Weather Forecast Offices in Key West, Miami, Tampa, Melbourne, Jacksonville and Tallahassee; the Southeast River Forecast Center; support personnel from the Regional Operations Center at Southern Region Headquarters, WFOs in Houston/Galveston, Austin/San Antonio and Birmingham; and, the Arkansas Basin River Forecast Center - helped assure that Floridians had ample warning about Charley.

The National Weather Service also worked closely with its emergency management and media partners throughout the state to make sure the statements and warnings reached those people in harm's way. As a result, an estimated 2.5 million people were evacuated from coastal and low lying areas. By Saturday morning, the state had more than 200 emergency shelters in operation.

While the final numbers have yet to be fixed, NWS Southern Region Director Bill Proenza credits the life saving efforts of these National Weather Service field offices with helping to minimize the death toll. "It is much lower than it might have been if not for the expertise, commitment and courage of our National Weather Service employees who are dedicated to our 134 year tradition of being there when the nation needs them most - always placing the safety of the public above their own."
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