News-Press from Fort Myers, Florida • Page 15

cdtmf tas 24 hoes, derre de escuclas, cantos nias news-pfessxomhurricane THE NEWS-PRESS TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2005 A15 1 Nation 4 World 6A- 3 il 9 miiraira weeiest rowi sianuneo. Clewiston Clewiston clobbered, but no fatalities "It started at 5 am. The worst was between 11 and 12, while the wind was coming over this trailer: It lias been terrible, completely out of this world" Silvia Simon, Clewiston resident of Law Enforcement, Hendry County Sheriffs Office and many other agencies. Charlotte County Chief Deputy William Cameron, his county in shambles last year after Hurricane Charley, helped coordinate the law enforcement response. He said he expected about 100 "assets" by nightfall "This first night show of force is to stabilize the community." Mary Ann Martin, owner of Roland and Mary Ann Martin's Marina in Clewiston, said when the storm began to let up, she came to the marina store to find people huddled inside.

'Please don't be mad at she said one of the women called out They had broken a pane of glass in a side door and broken into the marina after fleeing their yacht which they brought to Clewiston to avoid the brunt of the storm. They were apologetic and offered to pay for the damage and the dry clothes they had donned in the ship's store, but said they were afraid for their lives during the storm. Martin's floating docks were in a total shambles, with piers angling 30-feet into the clearing blue skies. Asked how long she thought it might take to clean up, Martin wasn't sure. "I think it's going to take us, well, we've got to be ready for the FLW" she said of the professional bass tournament series that traditionally begins its year with a tournament in Clewiston.

"So the middle of January. That's the deadline." Staff writers Grant Boxleitner and Byron Stout contributed to this report. "I thought they were going to be ripped out," Buff said. "When the doors started going back and forth, you could feel the pressure change in your ears." Streets that used to be lined by oak trees were filled with debris from sheds and foliage. Buffs house was pummeled by the limbs and me fat fruit of his avocado tree.

The historic Clewiston Inn appeared to survive the storm without any structural damage, but some palm trees on the property were toppled. The headquarters of US. Sugar Corp. was not as fortunate. Three of the four ficus trees planted on each corner around the red brick building were toppled by the storm.

One, on the northwest side, leaned against the north entrance of the building. The tree on the southwest corner blocked at least one lane of west- bound US. 27. Crews from the Florida Department of Transportation managed to trim the tree back Monday afternooa Law enforcement agencies used Wal-Mart parking on U.S. 27 as a staging ground.

Monday evening it was busy with the arrival of staff and vehicles from the Florida Department BYDONRUANE CLEWISTON A military-style helicopter, olive-drab green with open doors, hovered Monday above Clewiston as its 6,500 residents began recovering from Hurricane Wilma. What the pilot saw was devasta-tioa There was a trailer park where mobile homes were stripped from their chases, leaving piles of debris without walls. Clewiston's business district was shattered. "There was nothing to prepare me for the damage from that storm," said Clewiston Police Chief Don Gut-shall, whose own home had a severely damaged root Amazingly, there were no known fatalities from the hurricane in Clewiston as of late Monday, Hendry County Sheriff Ronnie Lee said. Lee and others went to county mobile home parks and churches over the weekend, warning residents of the approaching storm in English and Spanish.

Many evacuated to county shelters. About a dozen looters broke into storage buildings and a convenience store in Clewiston while the the -storm was winding down, Gutshall said. No arrests were made and it wasn't immediately known what was taken, he said. Hendry County Sheriffs Office officials requested help from neighboring counties such as Highlands, 'V '4' fiV" PAIM BEACH COUNTY LIE HENDRY COUNTY COUNTY BROWARD I COLLIER COUNTY 4 COUNTY Charlotte and Lee. Emergency managers have asked for the state National Guard.

A curfew is in effect in Clewiston beginning at noon Monday, with no expiration time. The rest of Hendry County is under a 6 p.ra to 6 a.m. curfew. A search-and-rescue team from Jacksonville searched for residents who may have been trapped or injured at Clewiston Trailer Park. Several other mobile home parks in the Clewiston area also were dotted with hundreds of damaged homes.

Hilario Velasquez, 44, had evacuated from his home Sunday night He returned today to find his trailer wrecked, his possessions destroyed. "I've got to call my brother's family or something." Velasquez tried to help a neighbor who wandered the park aimlessly, hands in pockets. "He's, like, lost," Velasquez said. Another resident, Silvia Simon, 65, rode out the storm huddled in her bathtub with her husband. It started at 5 am The worst was between 11 and 12, while the wind was coming over this trailer," she said.

"It has been terrible, completely out of this world." She said the trailer was pelted with if 1 tr ..4 61 ADES MoorecauNTV Haven PALM BEACH COUNTY iff C.0ONTY HENDRY COUNIY BROWARD COUNTY COUlf COUNTY no deaths or injuries were reported as a result of the storm, but it caused about 3,000 power outages. Until the power is restored, Glades County will have a dusk-to-dawn curfew. Although Osceola said a total dam i roof parts and other trailer parts throughout the storm. Asked what she needed, Simon said, "We need electricity. Most people are poor and need some food." Most of the residents at Clewiston Trailer Park are migrant laborers who work in the sugar cane fields.

In the business district, streets were flooded, windows broken, signs destroyed. There was more damage to see. Utility poles tilted at awkward angles. Sugar cane looked like it had been combed flat, toward the south. It clearly recorded that Wilma's final winds came from the north across the nearly 5 square miles of the Hendry County town.

Damage to sugar cane, citrus groves and other crops in the Clewiston area could total in the millions, said Hendry County sheriff's Sgt Archie Maynard. After destroying the mobile home park between US. 27 and the sugar mill south of town, the hurricane crossed the highway and struck the wealthier neighborhoods of single-family homes. Ron Buff, 51, watched the French doors leading to his swimming pool bow about an inch with the wind. age assessment was continuing, more than 60 homes were destroyed.

Moore Haven residents Stephanie Dominguez and her husband, Macario Dominguez, said they spent Monday morning huddling with their two children as Hurricane Wilma ripped the roof off their mobile home. "I don't see how this could be only a Category 2," Stephanie Dominguez said of Hurricane Wilma once it reached Moore Havea "Hopefully, we'll get FEMA out here to start helping us." Until the Dominguez family receives help, they said, they will i i I rjf, 1 VALERIE ROCHETHE NEWS-PRESS formed in her eyes as she gazed upon a downed tree that crushed half of her home. "Fourth hurricane, fourth tree," she said in disbelief of her experiences with hurricanes and trees landing on her home the last two years. Bell said that because of the trees surrounding her home, she was unable to acquire insurance. "I only had three more payments" she said.

"You still da" replied Glades County Sheriffs Sgt John Gadson in asS cessful attempt to make Bell laugh. 1 Anna R0C)rigUez, 9, looks for her things in what was once a shed before Hurricane Wilma hit her family's home in Moore Haven on Monday. Homes, roofs sustain damage in Moore Haven remain in their roofless, waterlogged skeleton of a home. "There is as much water inside as there is outside," she said, pointing to a shin-deep puddle in her front yard. Stephanie Dominguez said their beds are soaked, but they plan on sleeping in them anyway after she covers them with plastic.

"We're going to have to stay here," she said. "We have no place else to go. This is home." Like the Dominguez family, Glades County Sheriffs Deputy Qucenie Bell was visibly choked up upon assessing the damage to her home. Tears No deaths, injuries reported; power out BY TERRY BRADY Homes were destroyed, roofs ripped off and fences resembled a pile of toothpicks. This is what the 115-mph wind gusts of Hurricane Wilma left residents of Moore Haven on Monday.

Glades County Emergency Management Director Angie Osceola said.