On August 10th, a tropical weather disturbance 600 miles from Jamaica became Tropical Storm Charley. With winds over 65 miles per hour, the name Hurricane Charley would soon be its perminant name. As of Aug. 11, 2004, the storm got its official name: Hurricane Charley. After crossing Cuba and causing three reported deaths, Charley passed west of the Florida Keys as a Category 2 hurricane in the early morning hours of Friday the 13th. Later in the day, the hurricane unexpectedly picked up strength at is headed for the west coast of Florida. As of mid-afternoon on the 13th, Charley was rated a very dangerous Category 4 storm, expected to make landfall south of Tampa, around Sanibel Island. Sustained winds are in the range of 145 mph. A storm surge of up to 15 feet has been predicted, with property damage perhaps reaching $15 billion.
The hurricane is expected to proceed northward across Florida, bringing drenching rains. It will probably proceed up the Atlantic seaboard states for a couple days, causing high potential damage to agricultural crops in its path.
For a map of the progress of "Charley", please click here to see the map.
