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Even after taking Wilma's sucker punch, we started to bounce back immediately.
Hotel owners, merchants, restaurateurs and residents began sweeping, hauling and piling up the storm clutter just hours after the winds died. Crystal clear sunshine, minus the humidity, rolled in right away too, temperatures in the 70s.
One day following Wilma, bicyclists and runners resumed their exercise routines around the beachfront and city streets. And Fort Lauderdale got water flowing everywhere within 24 hours, despite some broken mains.
Some downtown Fort Lauderdale restaurants were open by the day after. Many more, including upscale hot spots, unshuttered their windows and fired up their stoves within 48 hours, as power returned there.
On Thursday, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport got travelers going and coming once more. Incredibly, the freak hurricane barely delayed the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, knocking this huge event back just a week.
Damage, yes. Definitely! Devastation, no. Hardly!
The now-famous 14-story Broward education building, its west-facing windows blown out, was decades old and never built to current codes. Most of our skyscrapers, hotels, motels, restaurants and shops stood up to Wilma's fierce winds, their buildings relatively unscathed.
During the first weekend, nightclubs and bars prepped for Halloween revelers. Stretch limos parked near posh high-rise condos. Electricity returned to thousands more businesses and homes around greater Fort Lauderdale.
Here comes the sun!
And the cleanup continued, everybody eager to get back to normal life.
That's already happening, the familiar things replacing the post-storm strangeness. Today, of course, only one week after, we're not completely there yet. Cutting up downed trees, fixing power lines, replacing windows takes some time.
But we're getting there, and very quickly.
Obviously, there's little that's good about a hurricane hitting anywhere, whether in Louisiana or North Carolina or Florida. But sometimes what comes after the storm...that's what inspires optimism.
And so as greater Fort Lauderdale recovers its sunny lifestyle, all of us who love this place can take heart: If history shows us anything, we shouldn't have to worry about doing this again for another 50 years.
Hotel owners, merchants, restaurateurs and residents began sweeping, hauling and piling up the storm clutter just hours after the winds died. Crystal clear sunshine, minus the humidity, rolled in right away too, temperatures in the 70s.
One day following Wilma, bicyclists and runners resumed their exercise routines around the beachfront and city streets. And Fort Lauderdale got water flowing everywhere within 24 hours, despite some broken mains.
Some downtown Fort Lauderdale restaurants were open by the day after. Many more, including upscale hot spots, unshuttered their windows and fired up their stoves within 48 hours, as power returned there.
On Thursday, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport got travelers going and coming once more. Incredibly, the freak hurricane barely delayed the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, knocking this huge event back just a week.
Damage, yes. Definitely! Devastation, no. Hardly!
The now-famous 14-story Broward education building, its west-facing windows blown out, was decades old and never built to current codes. Most of our skyscrapers, hotels, motels, restaurants and shops stood up to Wilma's fierce winds, their buildings relatively unscathed.
During the first weekend, nightclubs and bars prepped for Halloween revelers. Stretch limos parked near posh high-rise condos. Electricity returned to thousands more businesses and homes around greater Fort Lauderdale.
Here comes the sun!
And the cleanup continued, everybody eager to get back to normal life.
That's already happening, the familiar things replacing the post-storm strangeness. Today, of course, only one week after, we're not completely there yet. Cutting up downed trees, fixing power lines, replacing windows takes some time.
But we're getting there, and very quickly.
Obviously, there's little that's good about a hurricane hitting anywhere, whether in Louisiana or North Carolina or Florida. But sometimes what comes after the storm...that's what inspires optimism.
And so as greater Fort Lauderdale recovers its sunny lifestyle, all of us who love this place can take heart: If history shows us anything, we shouldn't have to worry about doing this again for another 50 years.
posted by LauderBLOGGER at 11:21 PM
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