2 billion in property damage (estimated to be about twice that of the insured damage), and $460 million in crop damage. The fast movement of Hurricane Charley limited rain fall totals to 4 to 6 inches along the track of the hurricane's eye wall.
Every event with a place to put it; 3 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS TBW wrote it up.
The collective effects of Hurricane Charley in southwest and west central Florida during August 13th resulted in 8 direct fatalities, 16 indirect fatalities, 792 injuries, eight tornadoes, an eight foot storm surge in Lee County, an estimated $11.2 billion in property damage (estimated to be about twice that of the insured damage), and $460 million in crop damage. The fast movement of Hurricane Charley limited rain fall totals to 4 to 6 inches along the track of the hurricane's eye wall. River flooding of one to three feet above flood stage was found on area rivers south of Interstate 4. In Hardee County there were 6 injuries, zero fatalities, and damage was estimated at $750 million. A wind gust of 109 mph was recorded in Wauchula. Approximately 1,400 homes were destroyed and 3,600 homes had minor to major damage. The storm knocked out the power to the entire county. Many citrus groves north of Wauchula were severely damaged. In Highlands County there were reports of severely damaged homes in the Sebring and Avon Park areas. A radio tower was blown down near Sebring and numerous trees and power lines were downed in the eastern and northern parts of the county. In Polk County there was one direct fatality and six indirect fatalities. There were six injuries, mostly due to carbon monoxide poisoning from backup generators used after the storm. Half of the county lost power. A 50 foot deep sink hole opened up and swallowed a car on State Road 60 east of Bartow. A wind gust of 64 mph was recorded at the airport in Winter Haven before the instrument stopped working due to a power outage and before the hurricane arrived. A peak gust of 69 knots (79 mph) was recorded in Haines City. The Bartow and Lake Wales area were hit the hardest. In all, 22,994 structures were damaged and 739 were destroyed. Citrus groves around and south of Lake Wales were severely damaged. The damage total listed was estimated by doubling the insured losses. The doubling accounted for uninsured losses and damage to the public infrastructure. Flood damage was included within these totals because it was not possible to extract the flood damage information from the available data.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Tampa Bay, FL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 13, 2:54 PM EST, 1 hour 6 minutes earlier.
WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL 354 PM EDT FRI AUG 13 2004 .DISCUSSION...EXTREMELY BUSY THIS AFTERNOON SO WILL MAKE THIS BRIEF. MAJOR HURRICANE CHARLEY CONTINUES TO MOVE NORTH-NORTHEAST LATE THIS AFTERNOON. SEE THE LATEST ADVISORIES ON CHARLEY FROM NHC. EXPECT HURRICANE CONDITIONS TO BEGIN TO IMPACT THE CWA THROUGH TONIGHT AS CHARLEY MOVES N-NEWD AND INLAND OVER CENTRAL FLORIDA. MAY MAKE SOME LAST MINUTE ADJUSTMENTS TO THE ZONES AND COASTAL AFTER THE 4 PM NHC CONFERENCE CALL...OTHERWISE WILL LEAVE PRODUCTS AS IS...AS I WILL BE DEALING WITH WARNINGS. WITH EXPECTED HEAVY RAINS...I MAY NEED TO EXTEND THE FLOOD WATCH THROUGH SATURDAY AS WELL AND WILL MAKE A DECISION ON THIS BY THIS EVENING. ON SATURDAY WE SHOULD SEE SOME IMPROVEMENTS BUT IT CONTINUE QUITE WINDY WITH PERIODS OF RAIN...SOME LOCALLY HEAVY. ALL RESIDENTS OF WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST SHOULD REFER TO LOCAL STATEMENTS AND ADVISORIES FROM WFO TAMPA BAY AND THE NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER FOR COMPLETE INFORMATION ON HURRICANE CHARLEY. && .TBW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... HURRICANE WARNING IN EFFECT FROM BONITA BEACH TO SUWANNEE RIVER OUT 60NM INCLUDING THE COUNTIES OF LEVY...CITRUS...HERNANDO...PASCO... PINELLAS...HILLSBOROUGH...MANATEE...SARASOTA...CHARLOTTE... DESOTO...AND LEE. INLAND HURRICANE WIND WARNING FOR SUMTER...POLK...HARDEE AND HIGHLANDS COUNTIES. TORNADO WATCH UNTIL 5 PM TODAY FOR PINELLAS...HILLSBOROUGH...POLK... MANATEE...HARDEE...DESOTO...HIGHLANDS...SARASOTA...CHARLOTTE AND LEE COUNTIES. FLOOD WATCH IN EFFECT THROUGH SATURDAY FOR LEVY...CITRUS...SUMTER... HERNANDO...PASCO...PINELLAS...HILLSBOROUGH...POLK...MANATEE... SARASOTA...HARDEE...DESOTO...HIGHLANDS...CHARLOTTE...AND LEE COUNTIES SHORT TERM...JCM LONG TERM...RD
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL 634 AM EDT FRI AUG 13 2004 FLZ039-042-043-048>052-055>057-060>062-065-131520- CHARLOTTE-CITRUS-DE SOTO-HARDEE-HERNANDO-HIGHLANDS-HILLSBOROUGH-LEE- LEVY-MANATEE-PASCO-PINELLAS-POLK-SARASOTA-SUMTER- 634 AM EDT FRI AUG 13 2004 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA. ...HURRICANE CHARLEY HEADED FOR THE SUNCOAST TODAY... ...HURRICANE WARNING ARE IN EFFECT FROM BONITA BEACH TO SUWANNEE RIVER INCLUDING TAMPA BAY... .DAY ONE...TODAY: ...SYNOPSIS... HURRICANE CHARLEY WILL CONTINUE MOVING NORTH TOWARD THE WEST COAST OF FLORIDA AND IS EXPECTED TO MAKE LANDFALL THIS EVENING. THE PRIMARY HAZARDS FROM THIS STORM WILL BE WIND DAMAGE...AS WELL AS STORM SURGE OVER AND SOUTH OF WHERE CHARLEY MAKES LANDFALL. HEAVY RAINS AND FLOODING REMAIN A SECONDARY HAZARD...BUT THE SPEED OF THE STORM SHOULD LIMIT THE EXTENT AND AMOUNT OF HEAVY RAINS ON THE SUNCOAST. ...EXPECTED WIND HAZARDS... ON ITS CURRENT TRACK...TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS WILL AFFECT SOUTHWEST FLORIDA BY AFTERNOON AND CONTINUE UP THE COAST BY THIS EVENING. SUSTAINED HURRICANE FORCE WINDS AND GUSTS ARE POSSIBLE VERY NEAR WHERE THE CENTER MAKES LANDFALL...ESPECIALLY IN THE EASTERN SEMICIRCLE OF THE STORM. WIDESPREAD MINOR TO MODERATE WIND DAMAGE IS A REAL POSSIBILITY WITH THIS STORM...EVEN WELL INLAND. ...STORM SURGE... THE MOVEMENT OF THE STORM WILL CAUSE THE POTENTIAL FOR A RAPID RISE IN WATER LEVELS ALONG AND TO THE SOUTH OF WHERE THE CENTER CROSSES LAND. THERE IS STILL SOME UNCERTAINTY WHERE EXACTLY THE CENTER WILL CROSS...AS THE POTENTIAL EXISTS FOR THE STORM TO TRACK VERY CLOSE TO THE COAST BEFORE SWINGING INLAND. ...HEAVY RAINS... STORM TOTAL RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF 3 TO 6 INCHES WITH LOCALLY HIGHER AMOUNTS ARE EXPECTED AND WITH THE GROUND ALREADY SATURATED ACROSS PORTIONS OF THE SUNCOAST...ANY ADDITIONAL WIDESPREAD HEAVY RAINS COULD EXACERBATE THE FLOOD POTENTIAL ON RAIN SWOLLEN RIVERS AND LOW LYING OR POOR DRAINAGE AREAS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY: SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS MAINLY AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED EACH DAY. THE PRIMARY THREATS FROM STRONGER CELLS WILL BE FREQUENT CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING AND BRIEF HEAVY DOWNPOURS. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS LIKELY TODAY AS CHARLEY SWEEPS UP THE SUNCOAST. && FOR ADDITIONAL WEATHER INFORMATION...CHECK OUR WEB SITE AT HTTP://WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/TBW (LOWER CASE) FOR TROPICAL CYCLONE INFORMATION...CHECK OUT HTTP://WWW.NHC.NOAA.GOV PRC
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL 150 PM EDT FRI AUG 13 2004 FLZ039-042-043-048>052-055>057-060>062-065-GMZ830-850-853-856-140600- CHARLOTTE-CITRUS-DE SOTO-HARDEE-HERNANDO-HIGHLANDS-HILLSBOROUGH-LEE- LEVY-MANATEE-PASCO-PINELLAS-POLK-SARASOTA-SUMTER- 150 PM EDT FRI AUG 13 2004 ...TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 750 IN EFFECT UNTIL 200 AM EDT... THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN RUSKIN HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WATCH FOR PASCO...SUMTER...LEVY...CITRUS...HILLSBOROUGH...SARASOTA... HERNANDO...POLK...HIGHLANDS...HARDEE...DE SOTO...PINELLAS...LEE... CHARLOTTE AND MANATEE COUNTIES. MAJOR HURRICANE CHARLEY IS FORECAST TO MAKE LANDFALL ALONG THE FLORIDA WEST COAST LATER THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING. MULTIPLE BANDS OF CONVECTION AHEAD OF THE HURRICANE WILL CONTINUE TO SPREAD NORTH AND NORTHWESTWARD ACROSS WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA THROUGH TONIGHT. INCREASING WIND SHEAR AND INSTABILITY WITHIN THESE BANDS WILL INCREASE THE THREAT OF SMALL FAST MOVING TORNADOES WITHIN THE WATCH AREA THROUGH THE PERIOD. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR YOUR LOCAL MEDIA OUTLETS FOR UPDATES. && FOR ADDITIONAL WEATHER INFORMATION, CHECK OUR WEB SITE AT HTTP://WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/TBW (LOWER CASE) JCM
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL
440 PM EDT FRI AUG 13 2004
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1205 PM TORNADO 10 SE ZOLFO SPRINGS 27.39N 81.68W
08/13/2004 HARDEE FL EMERGENCY MNGR
PUBLIC REPORTED A TORNADO MOVING ALONG CR 634 NEAR
CREWSVILLE IN RURAL SOUTHEAST HARDEE COUNTY.
0100 PM TORNADO LAKE WALES 27.90N 81.59W
08/13/2004 POLK FL BROADCAST MEDIA
PUBLIC REPORTED A TORNADO IN LAKE WALES. RELAYED BY
CHANNEL 28.
0116 PM TSTM WND DMG 1 N SEBRING 27.51N 81.45W
08/13/2004 HIGHLANDS FL EMERGENCY MNGR
SEVERAL POWER LINES DOWN NORTH OF SEBRING.
0155 PM TORNADO 1 E DAVENPORT 28.16N 81.59W
08/13/2004 POLK FL EMERGENCY MNGR
TORNADO OCCURRING AT MARIGOLD AVE. AND CYPRESS IN RURAL
NORTHEAST POLK COUNTY.
0310 PM TORNADO BROWNVILLE 27.30N 81.81W
08/13/2004 DESOTO FL AMATEUR RADIO
TORNADO ON GROUND MOVING NORTH NEAR MCINTYCE RD. AND US
17. LASTED APPROXIMATELY 5 MINUTES. ONE BUILDING WAS
DAMAGED.
0323 PM TORNADO CAPE CORAL 26.58N 81.99W
08/13/2004 LEE FL TRAINED SPOTTER
WATERSPOUT MOVED ASHORE AND DOWNED APPROXIMATELY SEVEN
TREES...THEN LIFTED.
0404 PM TSTM WND DMG ENGLEWOOD 26.96N 82.35W
08/13/2004 SARASOTA FL TRAINED SPOTTER
SEVERAL TREES DOWN FOUR BLOCKS EAST OF INDIANA AND RIVER
ROAD.
&&
JLCPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL
449 PM EDT FRI AUG 13 2004
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0320 PM WATER SPOUT 5 SE CAPE CORAL 26.52N 81.93W
08/13/2004 LEE FL TRAINED SPOTTER
WATERSPOUT OVER ESCALON BAY.
&&
JLCThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High Wind, Polk | 2004-08-13 | 61 | Male | Vehicle/Towed Trailer | Direct |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Florida in 2004Every state in 2004This day in weather historyWarnings in Florida, August 2004
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5417279, 5417280, 5417281.