Photos: The Hurricane “Mean Season” of 2004 (2024)

Cheryl Prather, of Fort Myers Beach, with her cat, Lestat, watches as a home next to hers burns down after Hurricane Charley on August 13, 2004.

People on Fort Myers Beach drag a manatee down Estero Boulevard. The manatee was stranded out of water after Hurricane Charley passed through on Fort Myers Beach on August 13, 2004. The manatee was released into a local waterway and swam away.

Damage from Hurricane Charley in the Windmill mobile home community in Punta Gorda on August 14, 2004.

Storm surge of Hurricane Charley crashes up against the bar outside the Diamond Head Resort on Fort Myers Beach on August 13, 2004.

A waterspout drops from the clouds over the Gulf of Mexico near Sanibel Island in Fort Myers on August 12, 2004. The residents of Sanibel Island were issued a mandatory evacuation earlier during the day because of Hurricane Charley.

A renter bows his head as a fire, from a home next door, approaches his apartment after Hurricane Charley passed through Fort Myers Beach on August 13, 2004. He evacuated his belongings along with four other people.

Mobile homes and a car are demolished by Hurricane Charley in a mobile home park in Port Charlotte on August 14, 2004.

A home in Punta Gorda on August 16, 2004.

Everett Cowan, 91, strolls through Biel's trailer park on August 14, 2004, the day after Hurricane Charley ripped through Florida. Cowan told his friends he wasn't moving from his home and survived without injuries, but there was some damage to his home.

Terry Frey, left, breaks down crying, and is comforted by his wife Kathy Frey, both of Port Charlotte, and Father Jerry Kaywell on August 15, 2004 after seeing the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Punta Gorda. The church held mass in the parish center and then let members view the church damaged by Hurricane Charley.

Timothy Livingston, 20, crawls through the wreckage of his grandmother's mobile home at Cap'n Mac's Park in Bokeelia on August 15, 2004. He was searching for anything salvagable. The mobile home park, at the north tip of Pine Island, had six of its homes completely demolished by Hurricane Charley.

081604 - Port Charlotte - Jenny McCloud, resident of Punta Gorda, lives in a mobile home park on Rio Villa. She is crying because she was trying to get law enforcement officers to do something about sightseers driving through her devastated mobile home park. "I can\'t stand people driving through sightseeing in their air conditioned cars, Punta Gorda is a mess. Stay out of here. We don\'t appreciate gawkers around here." [CHRIS MATULA/palmbeachpost.com]

081304 - As night falls, Jane Duke stands watch with her pistol as she salvages the remnants of her store, Westchester Gold Fine Jewelry & Antiques, on Tamiami Trail in Port Charlotte Friday, Aug. 13, 2004. "It\'s just disgusting around here," she said, "Everywhere." [CHRIS MATULA/palmbeachpost.com]

Boats are piled up on the North end of Pine Island after Hurricane Charley.

081804 - A resident of Captiva Island heads down Captiva Road with some of his belongings after residents and business owners were given permission to return to their properties for the first time Wednesday after Hurricane Charley hit the island last Friday. [GARY CORONADO/palmbeachpost.com]

081404 - Evidence of the storm surge appears on the golf course at South Seas Plantation on the North end of Captiva Island the day after category 4 Hurricane Charley passed through. [ALLEN EYESTONE/palmbeachpost.com]

8/15/04...The sign to the Shell Factory on Highway 41 leading into Punta Gorda shows a little damage from Hurricane Charley. [PAUL J. MILETTE/palmbeachpost.com]

081404 - A boy on his bike checks out a downed tree in downtown Arcadia. [ALLEN EYESTONE/palmbeachpost.com]

Hurricane Frances is shown in this NOAA satellite image taken at 11:15 a.m. EDT, Friday, Sept. 3, 2004. (AP Photo/NOAA) ORG XMIT: NY137 ORG XMIT: MER0705141553225638

9-6-04 - In preparation for Hurricane Frances, zoo officials at the Dreher Park Zoo moved these Spoonbills and Ibis into the women's rest room at the park. To make them feel out home, they also threw in some large tree branches for them to perch on. [DAMON HIGGINS/palmbeachpost.com]

Lewis, a two and a half year old, 450-pound North American Black Bear, gets a ride on a Bobcat from his exhibit to a secure area of the Palm Beach Zoo at Dreher Park, Thursday September 02, 2004, in West Palm Beach. Staff members are placing most animals in secure facilities and many of the keepers plan to spend the next few days at the zoo. [BILL INGRAM/palmbeachpost.com]

090404 -- Brian Mudri, of West Palm Beach, leaned into high winds produced during a feeder band of Hurricane Frances, on the intracoastal waterway south of the north (Quadrille) bridge in downtown West Palm Beach. [UMA SANGHVI/palmbeachpost.com]

090304 - Jensen Beach - Caretaker Bonnie Yonkowski, right, kisses Lottie Harris, 80, after the two spent Thursday night at Jensen Beach Elementary School. Yonkowski is moving Harris to Challenger School which is a special needs shelter. [MEGHAN MCCARTHY/palmbeachpost.com]

090304-Stuart-A taped window in Stuart Gardens Apartments challenges Hurricane Frances. [MEGHAN MCCARTHY/palmbeachpost.com]

090104 - The line formed early Wednesday for patrons needing propane tanks filled in order to be ready for Hurricane Frances. A propane filling station located in front of the store "Nautical But Nice" along US 1 in Stuart Wednesday morning. Stuart resident Rufino Perez, left, writes his name and phone # on his tank-employee Doug co*ker was telling people to come back 4 hours later to pick up the filled tanks. [DAVID SPENCER/palmbeachpost.com]

090404 - Sailboats broke loose from their moorings and bobbed aimlessly in the Intracoastal at the Palm Beach Yacht Club on Flagler Drive just north of the middle bridge. One sailed into the closed bridge and sheared off its mast. [ALLEN EYESTONE/palmbeachpost.com]

9/2/02 Robert Nadaskay, of Delray Beach, sits in the Special Care Unit hurricane shelter at the Palm Beach County Fairgrounds Thursday afternoon, ready for Hurricane Frances. The shelter, which has 480 beds set up and more ready if needed, is available only for adults or children with special medical needs who have pre-registered. [LANNIS WATERS/palmbeachpost.com]

090504 --The Lake Worth Pier was torn apart in Hurricane Frances, and the waves continue to swell from its damaging winds. [CYDNEY SCOTT/palmbeachpost.com]

090604 -- The Fort Pierce City Marina is littered with smashed docks and boats after Hurricane Frances came through the area. [GREG LOVETT/palmbeachpost.com]

9/6/04 - Pam Moulton, right, hugs her mother, Lucille Laythe, who lost her home to Hurricane Frances Saturday night. Moulton came to help her mother salvage whatever they could at the Pleasure Cove mobile home park in Ft. Pierce. [DAVID LANE/palmbeachpost.com]

090804 --Palm Beach Gardens--Jill Muolo rests on her screened in carport where the family spends most of their time since they have had no power for a week in the Cabana Colony home they rent. She lives their with her ten month old son Christopher Barrett and fiancee. [GREG LOVETT/palmbeachpost.com]

090504 - West Palm Beach-- Dorothy Dufrane gets help from friend Terry Pollack as they leave her York St. house in the Pineapple Park neighborhood and wade through the flood waters. [UMA SANGHVI/palmbeachpost.com]

09.07.04--Brown Apartments, a set of buildings with a common green running between them, in the Pineapple Park neighborhood of West Palm Beach is still coping with the effects of Hurricane Frances. The neighborhood experienced some of the worst flooding in the city with many of the streets under two to four feet of water. Anne Lubin tends to Caleb Merilus, 1, a son of one of her neighbors. [THOMAS CORDY/palmbeachpost.com](

090604 -- Hundreds of grapefruits float under flooded trees on Sun Ag, Inc. groves near route 60 west of I-95 in Indian River County Monday afternoon. Grove owners are concerned because citrus tree roots can only be covered with water for a few days before their roots begin to rot. [RICHARD GRAULICH/palmbeachpost.com]

090604 - Royal Palm Beach- Roberto Rubio and Ernesto Paredes, both of West Palm Beach, push Patricia Oliphant's car along Okeechobee Blvd. after it ran out of gas waiting in line for gas at a Citgo station West of U.S. 441. [ALLEN EYESTONE/palmbeachpost.com]

090604 - Customers wait their turn to shop as they found out the Winn-Dixie store at the intersection of 45th St. and Australian Ave. in Mangonia Park was open for business Monday, Sept. 6, 2004. The line stretched across the front of the store and the length of the parking lot to 45th St. [CHRIS MATULA/palmbeachpost.com]

The crowd grapples for bags of ice at the Publix supermarket on Southern Blvd. near Parker St. in West Palm Beach. Each customer was allotted two bags of ice. [SUSANA RAAB/palmbeachpost.com]

090804 - President Bush hands a bag of bottled water to a victim of Hurricane Frances at a water distribution center at Lawnwood Recreation Area in Ft. Pierce, Fla., on Wednesday Sept. 8, 2004. [JAY JANNER/palmbeachpost.com]

090604 -- St. Lucie County--Residents of Rain Tree Forest subdivison take a boat through the flooded streets after Hurricane Frances. [GREG LOVETT/palmbeachpost.com]

090604-- Residents of Hutchinson Island wrote a sign in the sand that covers their street after Hurricane Frances. [GREG LOVETT/palmbeachpost.com]

092304 - Roofers and other contractors - such as Impact Roofing, who worked on Bilboa Street in Royal Palm Beach on Thursday - are swamped already with work from Hurricane Frances. If Hurricane Jeanne hits, it will just make it more difficult, if not impossible, to get all the work done anytime soon. [UMA SANGHVI/palmbeachpost.com]

090804 - Jim Bounds takes a break from digging his house out from sand on Wednesday Sept. 8, 2004, in Fort Pierce. Several homes next to the Indian Hills Golf Course were buried in sand meant for the sand traps in the golf course that was under construction when Hurricane Frances hit. [JAY JANNER/palmbeachpost.com]

090704 -- Hutchinson Island...At Island Dunes (Oceanside), crabs peek in to the first floor social room area. Approximately 18" of sand was pushed up against one of the glass doors to the building...many crabs were making the first floor their new home at the building. [DAVID SPENCER/palmbeachpost.com]

IN SPACE - SEPTEMBER 15: This National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association satellite image shows Hurricane Ivan heading bearing down on the Gulf Coast the morning of September 15, 2004. The storm is currently a category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 140 mph. Ivan was blamed for at least 15 deaths in Jamaica and 39 deaths when it passed through Grenada. (Photo by NOAA via Getty Images)

091604 -A wet pelican tries to keep its balance while wind and waves crash against the seawall along the Mobile Bay after hurricane Ivan's eye passed over Fairhope, Alabama early Thursday morning. [GARY CORONADO/palmbeachpost.com]

091804 --Pensacola Beach--Sand covers the Pensacola Beach area after Hurricane Ivan came ashore. [GREG LOVETT/palmbeachpost.com]

091504---Pensacola--Annette Burton, of Pensacola, feels the winds of Hurricane Ivan, as she visited Wayside Park to see the power of the storm. [GREG LOVETT/palmbeachpost.com]

091604 --Pensacola ---Alex Norton breaks down after seeing her childhood home destroyed along Scenic Highway. She and her family just sold the home before the storm hit, but she grew up in the home and was devastated to see it demise. [GREG LOVETT/palmbeachpost.com]

A living room at Coquina Isle condo in the Florida Panhandle after Hurricane Ivan passed through. [LANNIS WATERS/palmbeachpost.com]

091704 --Pensacola-- A family photo found amongst debris at Grande Lagoon after Hurricane Ivan. [GREG LOVETT/palmbeachpost.com]

091604 - Rusty Gilbert, from left, Adrian Tannler and Brad Johnson, all zoo staff, capture an Asian Fallow buck that escaped from the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo after hurricane Ivan caused severe flooding along the coastline in Gulf Shores, Alabama Thursday. Flooding in Gulf Shores is up to 12 ft. in places. [GARY CORONADO/palmbeachpost.com]

091804 --Pensacola--Debris is strewn everywhere in the Grande Lagoon subdivision after Hurricane Ivan came through. [GREG LOVETT/palmbeachpost.com]

091804 --Pensacola--A truck ended up in the swimming pool in the back of a home in the Grande Lagoon subdivision. [GREG LOVETT/palmbeachpost.com]

091704 - Blountstown, Fla.--Katrina Coleman, 17, from left, T.J. Ayco*ck, 16, Kyla Hires, 16, and Adrianna White, 16, become emotional while looking at the destroyed home of their friend Evelyn Lindsey, 13, in Blountstown, Fla., located northeast of Pensacola, Friday. A tornado touched ground causing the Terry's trailor home to be pitched into the Lindsey home Wednesday evening as hurricane Ivan approached the Gulfcoast region. Four deaths were caused by the tornado in Blountstown. Katrina Coleman was with Evelyn Lindsey when the tornado hit the home. Katrina survived and Evelyn had a broken hip and leg. [GARY CORONADO/palmbeachpost.com]\r

091804 --Pensacola--The I-10 bridge gave way as Hurricane Ivan pounded the area. A trucker caught on the bridge during the storm plunged to his death in his truck cab when the bridge gave way. [GREG LOVETT/palmbeachpost.com]

091604 -Pensacola - Lillie Mae Bogan, sits on her front porch where Hurricane Ivan leveled her home. She tried to ride out the storm in her home but had to take shelter in her car as the brunt of the storm came ashore. [GREG LOVETT/palmbeachpost.com]

092204 - PENSACOLA BEACH, FL - Two different townhouse units that are part of the White Sands community on Pensacola Beach after Hurricane Ivan Wednesday. [RICHARD GRAULICH/palmbeachpost.com]

091604 --Pensacola--The road along the downtown area's waterway was heavily damaged by Hurricane Ivan. [GREG LOVETT/palmbeachpost.com]

092204 - PENSACOLA BEACH, FL - Residents walk along Fort Pickens Road after parking their cars near the base of the bridge on Pensacola Beach Wednesday. Some people walked for miles along sand-piled roads before seeing the damage to their homes. [RICHARD GRAULICH/palmbeachpost.com]

092004 --Blountstown, FL --J.W. Marshall grieves as he touches the caskets of his brother James Harold (Bull) Marshall and sister -in-law Mary Marshall, who died when a tornado spun from Hurricane Ivan struck their mobile home. J.W.'s daughter Mary Taylor consoles him. [GREG LOVETT/palmbeachpost.com]

092404 Hobe Sound--People battle the wind to put a blue tarp on the roof of a home to protect it from leaking as Hurricane Jeanne approaches the Florida coast. [GREG LOVETT/palmbeachpost.com]

092404 --Lantana--A sign on the Premiere Aviation of Palm Beach hangar at the Lantana Airport as Hurricane Jeanne approaches the Florida coast. [GREG LOVETT/palmbeachpost.com]

(092304) Diane Kelly, of West Palm Beach, stands in line at the Home Depot on Palm Beach Lakes Blvd. to purchase five gallon gasoline containers to power her generator if Hurricane Jeanne hits the area. [GREG LOVETT/palmbeachpost.com]

None

092604 Russhelle Curry of Clewiston applies her make up as news of hurricane Jeanne is broadcast hours before making landfall in Martin County Saturday September 26, 04, in Clewiston. Friends and family made the trek to the Clewiston Inn to celebrate ahead of the fourth storm of the year to hit the state. [BILL INGRAM/palmbeachpost.com]

092604 -The Epcot center is shrouded in rain as Hurricane Jeanne makes its way through the Orlando area with hard winds and heavy rains. [SHANNON O'BRIEN/palmbeachpost.com]

092604 - Jensen Beach - Department of Transportation workers survey the damage to the old Jensen Beach Causeway Sunday. Large portions of the road were washed away during Hurricane Jeanne. [MEGHAN MCCARTHY/palmbeachpost.com]

092904 - "SOS send sand" is the message written on the roof of a beach front home just south of Satellite Beach. Many of the beach front homes were damaged by Hurricane Jeanne\'s storm surge. [ALLEN EYESTONE/palmbeachpost.com]

George Henderson, rests in his chair and stares up at his missing roof after Hurricane Jeanne. Henderson lives with his son Willie Henderson in the Pleasure Cove mobile home park in Fort Pierce.

092604 - Seminole Golf Club is flooded after Hurricane Jeanne. [ALLEN EYESTONE/palmbeachpost.com]

09-26-04 - Ocean Ridge Circle in the Ocean Ridge Development In ORCHID ISLAND, VERO BEACH. Hurricane Jeanne finished off this home on the beach on Orchid Island that had been badly damaged two weeks earlier by Hurricane Frances. The home was whole and intact before Jeanne blew in during the early morning hours Sunday. [TAYLOR JONES/palmbeachpost.com]

In the aftermath of Hurricane Jeanne, a swimming pool has been overcome by sand at a complex on Hutchinson Island, Sep., 26, 2004.

092804 - Port St. Lucie - An aluminum window awning is stuck in the fronds of a palm tree after being blown off a home at Spanish Lakes 1 during Hurricane Jeanne. [SHANNON O'BRIEN/palmbeachpost.com]

092604 - A collapsed wall crushed a van, trailer, boat and another vehicle parked for safety behind the Stuart Shopping Plaza. Graham Tyler checks out the situation Sunday. [DAVID SPENCER/palmbeachpost.com]

9-28-04 - This boardwalk at Avalon State Park on North Hutchinson Island was almost completely destroyed by winds and waves from Hurricane Jeanne. [DAMON HIGGINS/palmbeachpost.com]

092904 - At Springhaven Estates, the only road in and out is impassible: even for heavy-duty pickup trucks. Wednesday evening, Janette Brewer got stuck after delivering a gasoline generator to De Garrett, left. Garrett saved the day like he has been doing ever since Jeanne struck, by bringing out his tractor (can be seen at upper right of frame) and hitching up. Here, Brewer hands off a wet towel she used to soak up water that intruded into the cab of the truck while she attempted to get out. A short time later, Garrett pulled Brewer, Linda Kennedy and Rani Beasley (who was riding in truck bed with provisions including "meals ready to eat" as well as other relief supplies to a passable section of the road. [DAVID SPENCER/palmbeachpost.com]

092604 HUTCHINSON ISLAND - A Corvette sits in a parking lot covered with sand from Hurricane Jeanne's storm surge outside the Ocean Rise condos on Hutchinson Island Sunday. Sand was pushed from the oceanside, around the buildings, and almost all the way to A1A. [RICHARD GRAULICH/palmbeachpost.com]

9-28-04 - Rescue workers on N. Hutchinson Island came across this two by four inch board that apparently had been driven into the pavement by winds from Hurricane Jeanne in the parking lot of Avalon State Park. [DAMON HIGGINS/palmbeachpost.com]

09-27-04. INDIANTOWN, FL. Cows look for higher ground at the 1,200 acre ranch of Iris Wall in Indiantown. Hurricane Jeanne flooded the ranch. Wall believes runoff and pumping from nearby citrus groves made it worse. Out of the 700 cattle, only one has died so far. Wall expects others might die because of the stress of the storm. [TAYLOR JONES/palmbeachpost.com]\r

092904 - FORT PIERCE - The Cypress Bay Mobile Home Park flooded after Hurricane Jeanne, forcing residents to wade through the water or take a canoe to get to their home. [LIBBY VOLGYES/palmbeachpost.com]

9/27/2004--FT. PIERCE--Meg and Bud DeFore leave their home surrounded by the waters of the North Fork of the St. Lucie River, Monday. Waters had receded about 2 feet since Hurricane Jeanne hit Sunday. [BOB SHANLEY/palmbeachpost.com]\r

092604 - Jensen Beach...At Cinnamon Tree , Karen Crow clutches her head as she walks through her living room in route to collect belongings. Crow hid underneath a laundry room table during Hurricane Jeanne until her brother came through the storm to rescue her, breaking down the door in the process. [DAVID SPENCER/palmbeachpost.com]

092804 --Vero Beach--Residents wait in line to cross the New Merrill Barber Bridge to see their homes on the barrier island since Hurricane Jeanne hit the area. Residents of the barrier islands were allowed back in at 10 a.m. Tuesday morning. [GREG LOVETT/palmbeachpost.com]

JENSEN BEACH - Priscilla White and one of her eight persian cats return home to Ocean Breeze Trailer Park after Hurricane Jeanne caused her, her cats, and one canary to flee south. [SUSANA RAAB/palmbeachpost.com]

092704 --Port St. Lucie --Diane Cuomo, a volunteer, rests a bag of ice on her head to cool off for a minute as she passed out bags of ice at the City Center where ice, tarps, and water were being distributed. [GREG LOVETT/palmbeachpost.com]

092804 -- Heaps of aluminum and metal from mobile homes and lanais turned in for recycling at the Palm Beach Metal Inc., buyers and processors of scrap metal, in unincorporated Palm Beach County Tuesday. Sellers of the scrap metal have been cashing in collecting around $150 per load. [GARY CORONADO/palmbeachpost.com]

092904 - Vero Beach, FL - Ms. Pacman marks the path of Hurricane Jeanne through Florida on a map at the Emergency Operations Center in Vero Beach. [ALLEN EYESTONE/palmbeachpost.com]

9/29/04 Beachgoers in Indialantic sun amongst the debris left by Hurricane Jeanne. [LANNIS WATERS/palmbeachpost.com]

09.26.04--Mandatory curfews have been in effect since Hurricane Jeanne affected Palm Beach County last weekend. Anyone out on the streets, whether they be driving or walking or riding a bike between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. are in direct violation of the curfew and run the risk of being arrested and taken to jail. Homicide Detective Mike Bianchi detains one of the many arrested at a checkpoint. The prisoner's paperwork is processed and then they are transported by bus to the jail. [THOMAS CORDY/palmbeachpost.com]

092604 --West Palm Beach--Power is out as the sun sets on Southern Blvd near South Olive Avenue after Hurricane Jeanne. [GREG LOVETT/palmbeachpost.com]

None