Photos of Punta Gorda, Florida

[lionkingcmsl]

As some astute perusers of my journal may recall Punta Gorda was basically wiped off the face of the earth by hurricane "Charley". You may also remember that I mentioned my dad's parents used to live there. I am also very fond of the mission style train station that is there and concerned on how it fared.

Well, today my father went down and took some photos of the area.



This was my grandmother's last trailer:


This was a double wide mobile home that was built in the late '80's or so. There was a shed attached to it. My grandmother would be heartbroken to see this. It was what she wanted; a double wide with a full laundry.

Personally, I don't think there is enough left to put 1/4 of the trailer back.

This was her former trailer that she shared with my grandfather until he passed away:


This mobile home was built in the early 60's and is only a few doors down from the first pic. The trailer is leaning and has lost part of its roof, but it survived.
A note on this trailer is that it was moved from its former location at the Municipal Trailer Park, that was right on the Peace River, when the city of Punta Gorda wanted to make that a park. I do believe if it was still located there before Charley, it would be in the Peace River now.

Now for the train station. Did it survive?



The answer is yes!! It survived with some relatively minor roof damage and some broken windows along with some minor cosmetic damage (i.e. the control rods to the order boards seem to be bent (not evident in this photo, but noticeable on the full size one)).

The railing is not part of the original structure, as there was a track located next to the platform for unloading freight.

My father says that "downtown" is a disaster zone still, with a lot of the strip stores being nothing but empty shells sans roofs and walls.

So my curiosity has been abated.

EDIT: I forgot to note that the train station was built in the 1930's, IIRC. I will do more research and find out when it was built and using what materials.

Comments

[jarylanvulpine.livejournal.com]

That's a pretty little train station...reminds me of some of the ones I saw in Japan. Haven't seen much of the rail lines at all since that trip really.

[u-t-tiger.livejournal.com]

Looks like that train station would've made a good storm shelter.

[yaochi.livejournal.com]

Is that a concrete building ?

[lowen-kind.livejournal.com]

I don't know if it is concrete, but it is masonry, concrete block possibly, with a stucco covering.

Oh, I forgot to mention that the building was built in the 1930's or so.

[kamau-d-lyon.livejournal.com]

I'm hoping I understand you that the destroyed trailer was a former dwelling not one used by your family at present. Seeing you made no mention of it here I'm assuming your parents are okay.

As for the overall damage, well I've had others say about the same thing and show the same. Those people got hammered three times over and it will take years to get anywhere back to normal. I just hope and pray that there are not too many lasting effects.

[lowen-kind.livejournal.com]

Understandable on your concern/confusion.

Here is a pic of where my parents live:

This house is located in South Venice, Florida, about 20 air miles north from the devastation in Punta Gorda. Though the pic was taken in 2000, the house looks the same. They only got rain and a little wind. There wasn't so much as a leaf knocked off their trees in the past 3.5 hurricanes (Charley, Frances, remnants of Ivan, Jeanne). They've been very lucky.

[kamau-d-lyon.livejournal.com]

And I've got all paw toes crossed that it stays that way. Give them my best.

PS Final travel plans to follow later today via email.

[mooivos.livejournal.com]

Wow....pretty amazing photos there. Glad your parents weren't affected. They are definitely part of a lucky group of people that haven't been affected by the storms.

[rrwolf.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to see that the old ACL Punta Gorda Train station survived the hurricane somewhat.