Venice on the web
A semi-regular column

Frances pics -- photo essay
Venice -- before, during and after Hurricane Frances
-- John Patten, 09/06/04
-- jpatten@veniceflorida.com

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For the most part, Venice came out OK after Frances. A few trees damaged, some power lines knocked down. Overall, the damage was remarkably minimal, with the exception of the Sharky's restaurant.

DAY 1 -- MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 5

12:15 PM: Venice (starred) as seen from a NOAA satellite -- Frances
is just making landfall on the east coast

Here's another shot, courtesy of NASA, also taken at 12:15 PM -- if you
study the cloud formations in the two pics carefully, this second pic looks
like it was taken a minute or two before the satellite pic; there's an optical
illusion in this NASA pic: Frances looks like she's over the center of the
state, this due to the angle of the shot and the distances between the
land, the top surface of the hurricane and the space station

Venice, as seen from the ground at the same time; you'd think
from the pics above that we were already in the thick of
it, but we weren't; the storm was just beginning to kick in for
us-- a few preliminary gusts, a few sprinkles, nothing
to complain about... yet

Traffic is brisk at the 7-11 -- beer, cigs, newspapers and donuts
were the big sellers, in spite of the fact that the media was
screaming at everyone to get off of the road and seek
shelter NOW!

A few hours later, and we're in the thick of it; the grey is due to all of
the rain, and those trees were swaying ferociously; this is a daytime
shot using the same light settings as the pics above, and it's not being
shot through a window or a screen

Screenshot of NOAA's 5:00 PM strike probability chart; note the
numbers for Venice -- you may now start screaming in blind terror

DAY 2 -- TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6

A look at downtown Tampa the next morning, courtesy WFLA-TV

Much of the island was out of power -- city utilities workers
had to rig a pump up to a sewage lift station that had lost
power -- no sewage was spilled at the station

Police Officer Ginger Stone directing traffic at U.S. 41 and Venice
Avenue while (out of this shot) county workers were re-hanging
the traffic lights directly above her

Sharky's owner Mike Pachota assesses the damage at Sharky's On
The Pier; sand everywhere, computers filled with sand, part of
the roof taken off, and he says he'll be open by tomorrow

The pier came out looking OK

Sharky's employees digging out

No more nude sunbathing in this yard

There are pigs all over town as a promotion for the Venice Art
Center, they were left outside during Frances; none of them
flew, although this one could use some serious post-trauma
counseling

Bill Willson (at right) had half a tree land in his yard

John Patten is the head of Web Operations for Creative Pages, and has worked in broadcasting for over 12 years. He can also be incredibly rude at times.