The state of Florida suffered its worst hurricane since 1992 when Hurricane Charley raged across south Florida and its worst hurricane season since 1964.

Hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan, Jeanne and Tropical Storm Bonnie all paid visits to Florida.

On Tuesday August 10th Mike Cauley, the Florida REACT Council Emergency Coordinator, requested that the Florida Council go to LEVEL 1, the first general notification that the Council needed to prepare for activation for Hurricane Charley.

Hurricane Charley at the time was forecast to travel across Cuba turning north and making landfall somewhere along Florida’s gulf coast. Tropical Storm Bonnie was rapidly moving toward the panhandle where tropical storm warnings and hurricane watches were posted.

On Thursday August 12th, Tropical storm Bonnie slammed ashore near Panama City. However Tropical Storms are usually spread out and their impact widely felt. The Storm Prediction Center issued a Tornado Watch effective Thursday afternoon as conditions became ripe for Tornadoes across north Florida due to Bonnie’s impact.

At 5:57 PM Assistant Warning and Coordination Meteorologist Angie Enyedi and the staff at the National Weather Service in Jacksonville detected a possible tornado developing over Flagler County. REACT members observed a wall cloud and the warning was promptly issued. With in 2 minutes REACT members had their storm spotter net up and running on the GMRS 462.675 MHz repeater. REACT members checked in and reported conditions across the county as the potentially severe storm crossed Palm Coast. One member at the County’s Emergency Operations Center ran Net Control and tracked member’s information. Fortunately this storm dropped no tornado and the warning expired with no incident.

However in Jacksonville, 60 miles to the north, a widely seen tornado did strike, hitting the local Amtrak station as well as destroying a number of buildings.

But it was not over. Bonnie was gone but Charley was coming and the real monster had yet to be seen.

Friday the 13th of August, 2004, hurricane warnings were flying along the entire west coast of Florida from the Suwannee River through the Keys. The monster was coming. Charley was rapidly strengthening and on target to make landfall near Tampa.

But a special advisory from the National Hurricane Center changed everything,. We were now dealing with a fast moving Category 4 hurricane rapidly approaching the Fort Myers area. The projected track had changed. The storm would not ravage Tampa but race towards the southwest Florida coast and head for Orlando and Flagler County.

Teams in the storm’s path suddenly found themselves rapidly preparing for the CAT 4 hurricane.

That evening, like a scene out of the movie Independence Day, the dark round cloud shelf of the hurricane closed in on Flagler County. The formidable solid dark cloud was rounding the horizon like some sinister starship bent on destruction of the communities below it after sweeping across Florida. And it was now bearing down on us.

Flagler County Assist REACT was now at activation LEVEL 4. All of its available members were in full activation staffing the EOC or in the field operating for Skywarn. REACT members worked side by side with the Flagler County Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) who were providing communications to the county shelters.

REACT and ARES members worked together setting up and coordinating Skywarn communications nets, passing critical information to the National Weather Service Jacksonville office.

At 11:08 PM, Ray Aguiar, REACT 14, reported a sudden increase in winds on the south side of Flagler County. In 10 minutes the winds went from 10-20 mph to near 60 mph with gusts to 70. Charley had come to Flagler County.

Flagler County Assist REACT members relayed reports to the National Weather Service as well as to Emergency Services staff at the EOC. Soon the center of the weakened hurricane, now a CAT 1 storm, with 85 mph winds was raging over Flagler County.

Within a few minutes, power flashes filled the sky and 80% of Flagler County was without power. Nextel service failed immediately. GMRS and Amateur radio were the only links to shelters staffed by the ARES members.

At dawn's light the true nature of the devastation was revealed. The horror of Charley’s wrath was seen in southwest Florida where over 20 people were killed in mobile homes after they had refused evacuation orders. However Flagler County escaped the worst of the devastation.

Flagler County Assist members reported that the southeastern part of Flagler County had the worst damage. The mostly cosmetic damage occurred with downed trees and power lines. A few homes had major damage from trees being blown onto them.

But Hurricane Season 2004 was not over. The tropics would spin off another monster from the south. This time hurricane Frances bore down on the state. Frances was a lot different. Instead of rocketing across the state in hours, this one would take days.

Once again Flagler County Assist REACT activated, members establishing Skywarn nets and helping where needed. REACT members hunkered down and prepared for the onslaught of Frances.

This storm was much different. Frances hammered the state slowly, sending millions into the dark as numerous power systems failed.

In Flagler County, members Chuck Bowers, Sam Carcione and Linda Woodson along with assistance from Irene Pickering and Merrill Musikar spent several days working out of the EOC. Members helped run radios, answer e-mails and track storm reports and information.

Richard Frazier and Kalem Cossette kept a communications link open to the Palm Coast Fire Department. REACT 13, Jack Rhine, began to report falling trees and Nick Bereda, REACT 18, and Al Breyer, REACT 20, reported flying shingles as a squall with 70 – 90 mph winds blasted across the county. Other members reported phone outages as well as falling trees. Though choppy at times, the GMRS system stayed up through the whole event.

Numerous tornadoes fell from the sky like air to surface missiles. Homes were damaged as Frances slowly marched northward.

Monday, September 6th the winds finally began to die down. Power was out everywhere. Teams began to help in recovery efforts and assess the damage done by Frances. Word was received it would take one to two weeks to get power restored in the region. Flagler County Assist REACT provided assistance to the City of Palm Coast during notifications to residents who had no power or available assistance.

But there was little time to recoup. Members of Flagler County Assist REACT watched as two more storms developed and headed our way. Ivan would swing by and miss our area but Jeanne was coming. Many members weary from hours of work during the past few storms prepared for yet another.

On September 25th Hurricane Warnings were flying on the coast as all made final preparations for the storm. REACT volunteers, Richard Frazier, Teresa Cerretta, Al Beyer, Chuck Bowers and Jack Rhine responded to the EOC pre-storm helping set up tables, computers, equipment, coolers and other logistics that would be needed for EOC activation.

Jeanne’s first weapons were tornadoes, though not as many as there were with Frances. Jeanne kept a good head of steam making progress and lashing southern Brevard county with her eyewall as she made landfall on September 26th.

Flagler County Assist REACT members staffed the Flagler EOC throughout the entire event, some members for more than 20 hours. A GMRS communications link was established from the Sheriff’s Office to the EOC as a back up. Other members worked with the ARES in Flagler County helping with shelter communications and others kept everyone up to date with storm conditions, relaying reports from their homes via radio.

Jeanne slogged across Central Florida crossing over Bartow, the same town that both Frances and Charley had gone over. It took until Monday morning the 27th for Jeanne to clear the area.

As September drew to a close, many REACT members realized that Florida has just endured a historic hurricane event.