According to an article in the Tampa Tribune, multiple man-made vulnerabilities in Charlotte County made it, “a disaster waiting to happen.” The county has no hurricane shelters, all utility lines are above ground, and the road system is inadequate for evacuation.

Charlotte County, where one-third of the 153,000 residents are 65 or older, sustained extensive damage. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reported that 80 percent of the county’s buildings were damaged. “Known for its affordable housing stock,” the Tribune said, virtually all of the county’s 8,100 mobile homes were destroyed or damaged. All three hospitals in the county were also damaged, two of them badly.

Hurricane Charley affected the livelihood of tens of thousands of workers and farmers. An official at the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation estimated 120,000 jobs lost as a result of the storm. Thousands of farm workers face uncertain futures within impacted agricultural areas. Insurance companies claiming high losses charge exorbitant premiums in the state and have gotten the legislature to pass measures shifting losses onto the backs of homeowners. While most homeowners are required to buy insurance in order to receive loans for their homes, many of those who owned mobile homes in some of the worst-hit areas paid cash for their homes to avoid paying the insurance premiums, or took only minimal insurance coverage, and are now facing a devastating loss.

Aid to the workers and farmers in the region devastated by the storm has been slow in coming. Nine days after losing their homes, only about 20 families had been settled in FEMA trailers of the 20,000 that had qualified for temporary housing assistance. A local television news channel reported that one woman who called FEMA for assistance was asked first if she was “here legally” before being provided aid.
 
 
Related articles:
Charley’s differential impact
Cubans mobilize to confront impact of Hurricane Charley  
 
 
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