Hurricane Frances

Hurricane Frances - Labor Day Weekend - September 4th - 6th
Hurricane Frances visited Central Florida just three weeks after Charley came to town - over Labor Day Weekend. The storm took quite a while to move over the state - causing a 36-48 hour "weather and rain event" - as the officials called it. After riding out Charley at the Ranch we decided to do the prudent thing with Frances, and evacuate. There was a good chance that Frances would damage the house, and a mobile home is NOT where you want to be in such an event. Cowboy Dan ended up in Gainesville (about 2 hours NW of Orlando), but Frances' size meant she impacted much of the state. Gainesville was hit harder than some areas of Orlando (and the Ranch). Again, as with Charley we were very fortunate at the Ranch because our damage was minimal compared to the devastation some people experienced. Below are some picture of the damage and effects at the Ranch. The horses and cows came through the storm just fine. We ended up evacuating the horses to a larger ranch in North Florida. We hear they're loving "hurricane camp." There was no damage to any of the buildings at the Ranch. Even the new barn withstood the second onslaught! As it turns out we were without power for only two days this time - just amazing!
	Bessie, the Lake Douglas Ranch Quality Assurance Cow

Hurricane Frances impacts the Ranch Click on a thumbnail pic to enlarge

Hurricane Frances as it covers the state of Florida. Click on the above picture to see the animated GIF

Debris on the deck - again	Small limbs strewn around the back yard

Another view of the limbs	A huge limb came off an oak in the back yard

Another shot of the big oak limb	A close up shot

Where the limb broke	Our canvas shed (for the mowers and small equipment) doesn't fare too well

The canvas shed gets moved a number of feet...	And ends up hanging partially from a tree

The side are a bit beat up	Bending the steel supports

A citrus tree goes down	Another view - an older tree that couldn't take the winds

Another citrus tree takes some damage	Another citrus tree loses a limb

Another citrus tree tries to hang on to this limb	Another view

An older citrus tree beaten quite a bit	Yet another citrus tree loses a few limbs

The cow's favorite corner - another limb goes down	A close up

The deck - the main railing isn't looking too "straight"	Another view of the railing - a bit askew

The windmill up front gets knocked over again	Another angle - in case you weren't sure by looking at the first picture

The only "full" tree to go down as a result of Hurricane Frances

Our Mailing Address:

Lake Douglas Ranch
PO Box 1133
Ft. Christmas, FL 32709