written by Alix Kazan

On Monday October 24th, 2005 the wind that was Hurricane Wilma made landfall on Florida's west coast. Reported as the strongest hurricane ever recorded a few days earlier, Wilma had been downgraded to a category one hurricane and my software, "Tracking the Eye," gave the forecast of "damage minimal." During the early daylight hours Wilma's enormous front side passed across the state seeming to do small mischief with it's strong winds. There was calm which made us feel we had gotten off easily. People were at home rather than in shelters as we had been led to believe we were in no actual danger. Then the back side of Wilma ripped through Broward/Miami Dade/Palm Beach counties and this was the result: the suction of thousands of 'vortices' or small tornado embedded in the backside of Wilma ripped roofing membrane from tens of thousands of roofs throughout the County; some people hid in closets or bathrooms and listened as floodlights and air conditioners were ripped from roofs and propelled back and forth with a rumble like cannon; in one section of Stonebridge Gardens, in Lauderhill, a roof collapsed on a family and expectant mother huddled below. Giant trees were ripped from the ground and slammed horizontally into buildings. All roads throughout were impassable due to large downed trees and other heavy debris. Only two traffic lights remained in heavily populated Broward County. For Broward County, sandwiched between Palm Beach and Miami-Dade Counties, it was worse than Hurricane Andrew; it was the worst hurricane in 55 years. It was as formidable, said a representative of All State Insurance, as a strong category three.

Elsewhere in the tri-county area the damage was also dramatic. Photos by the Sun-Sentinel.

On the morning of October 24th, 2005 hundreds of thousands of people throughout South Florida were left without power, food, gasoline, traffic lights, a solid roof or the basic necessities of life. FEMA opened water/ice centers but, without gasoline or the means to buy gasoline, many could not reach the distribution sites. This is a quote from Lauderhill Mayor Richard Kaplan, "On October 24, 2005, our community was visited by the worst hurricane ever to hit this area, Wilma. The devastation caused exceeded Hurricane Andrew, and affected all of Broward County. A State of Emergency was declared, and a county-wide curfew was put into place. Over 95% of the electricity in Broward was out, and 98% of the water and sewer systems failed."

More from the Sun Sentinel:

On the afternoon of Monday October 31st, 2005 the Fire Marshal red tagged all sixteen residential buildings of Stonebridge Gardens as unsafe due to missing roofing material and thousands of residents ordered to leave the property. At the gate were the Lauderhill Police. Families in which some members were absent were split. Sons could not remain with their mothers if they were sent to shelters. People walked around parking areas aimlessly dropping and picking up clothing and belongings, clinging to relatives, friends, strangers.

From Lauderhill Mayor Kaplan, "Cities are the first responders in such emergencies, and are not supposed to be the only responders. But when other governmental agencies failed to respond timely, it fell to local governments to do what they could in their limited capacity."

Many of us who survived Wilma hid that rainy night in the ruins of our homes. Guns were loaded and people took turns patrolling their own neighborhood. There were no incidents. The Red Cross arrived within a day but no sightings of the Salvation Army or any other charity were reported. Police were permitting residents to leave the Stonebridge complex but not to return and those others permitted inside were required to surrender their driver's license at the gate and collect it prior to 3 PM. Crowds were everywhere and MSNBC news vans camped across the street while inside people asked one another, "Where will you go?" The answer was almost always, "I have no where to go." Only a tiny minority, perhaps one percent, had family who agreed to take them in. Frustration and justifiable anger competed with tears as we discovered that a catastrophe brings out the best and the worst in human beings. Friendships and familial relations needed to be reevaluated in the clear cold light of who cared to bother with those less fortunate. Some old bonds were broken while new ones tended to be formed among fellow victims finding common cause.

Another quote from Lauderhill Mayor Kaplan, "There was a breakdown by the Red Cross, county, state and FEMA, as to the PODS (Points of Distribution Stations). Incorrect information was given to the city and its residents about location, time of operations and supplies to be available. Much of the promised materials never arrived. Staffing of the PODS, beyond city employees and local volunteers, were also an issue."

Ken Kaye, staff writer of the Sun-Sentinel, had the following to say: "Tony Carper, Broward County's director of emergency management, noted Doppler radar recorded winds of almost 160 mph at an altitude of 5,000 feet over west Broward.

"At some point, those high winds might have mixed down to the surface, which was why some areas might have looked like they got hit by a stronger hurricane," he said.

Wilma was the 21st named storm of the most active, intense and destructive season on record.

In all, 27 storms formed, including an unprecedented 14 hurricanes."

Nieman Watchdog.com; Remembering the Forgotten

This site
is a salute to the brave men and women of Broward County, Florida who have, despite all odds and in the face of supreme adversity and deprivation, prevailed by surviving. No government, local, regional, or Federal, housed you in a four star hotel for even one night. You slept on park benches and in cars and trucks and in the ruins of what was once your home. You needed a hand up and found that hand at the end of your own wrist. You beat the odds by simply enduring and you did it by yourselves. You, you citizens of Lauderhill, transcended adversity in a town, in a state, which, I believe, has all the compassion and caring and helpfulness which, if stuffed into a gnat's navel, would still leave room for the entire Encyclopedia Britannica and the Gutenberg Bible.

People of Stonebridge Gardens:

Several years have passed since Stonebridge Gardens faced a forced evacuation. Many of the condo units have since been foreclosed by mortgage holders. After waiting nearly two years, during which reconstruction stopped and started over and over, we bailed.

Leaving Florida was the best decision we ever made.