Monday, February 05, 2007

Unreported Storm News

Deck of Disney Wonder cruise ship, 4:30 am Feb. 2

Shortly after tornadoes ripped through central Florida last Friday, causing what is now believed to be 20 deaths and damaging "more than 1,850 in Lake, Lake, Sumter, Seminole and Volusia counties," as reported by the Miami Herald, the Disney cruise ship Disney Wonder at sea on its way to Nassau experienced "near gale force winds" as high as 67 mph and seas measuring 18-20 feet. Geysers of saltwater illuminated by the ship's spotlights shot through the inky black night in great white sheets while needles of rain stabbed at the starboard side deck and then, spent, washed back into the ocean like an exhausted tide.

Because of its superior design, almost none of the nearly 3,000 passengers aboard were aware of the storm raging all around them. At most, those asleep in their staterooms experienced an almost-imperceptible, gentle rocking every few seconds. Only the crew, which could not quite hide its nervousness, and a handful of insomniac passengers beheld the storm that had enveloped them.

More on the Disney cruise later.

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