Victims Need Cake, desperately. Not to mention, oh yes, I mean to mention, others in the Gulf States.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-zpay02nov02,0,2958732.story?coll=sfla-news-sflaStorm hits S. Florida's hourly workers squarely in the pocketbooks
By Doreen Hemlock and Marcia Heroux Pounds
Business Writers
Posted November 2 2005
As if it weren't enough that Hurricane Wilma knocked out electricity and hammered homes, some employees in South Florida won't get paid for the time they missed at work, either.
Employers for the most part have no legal requirement to pay wages for time not worked, unless the employees are exempt from overtime or have special clauses in their contracts, said Anne-Marie Estevez, a partner in the labor and employment practice of Morgan Lewis law firm in Miami.
"If you're an hourly worker, it's really up to your employer if they want to pay," said Rudy Gomez, a partner with Allen Norton & Blue in Coral Gables.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-chousing02nov02,0,3769269.story?coll=sfla-news-browardRains collapse damaged roofs in Broward, forcing more than 1,000 to flee
By Shannon O'Boye, Tonya Alanez & Kevin Smith
Staff Writers
Posted November 2 2005
A deluge from powerful thunderstorms collapsed Wilma-weakened roofs across Broward County on Tuesday, forcing the emergency evacuation of more than 1,000 people, rendering hundreds of apartments and condos unsafe and testing the police and shelter resources of city and county officials.
Many residents in Fort Lauderdale, Oakland Park, Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach, Lauderdale Lakes and Sunrise found themselves fleeing their buildings, some with barely enough time to grab medicines or other essentials before making their way to shelters.
The storms were the first major rainfall since Wilma battered the area 10 days ago. As much as 4 inches drenched parts of the county Tuesday, causing the massive collapses. Local, state and federal officials, who still have not decided what to do with thousands of displaced residents, will have to find long-term homes for potentially thousands more. More than 2,000 buildings have been deemed unsafe or uninhabitable since the hurricane, a number that will grow with Tuesday's storm.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-pglades02nov02,0,2036580.story?coll=sfla-news-front'Lines to nowhere' plague poor in Belle Glade as rumored aid doesn't show up
By Josh Hafenbrack
Staff Writer
Posted November 2 2005
Belle Glade · The line to nowhere that formed Tuesday was filled with people such as Patricia Jordan.
After standing for three hours in the same spot outside Mount Zion Church, Jordan still wasn't exactly sure what she was waiting for.
But in the poor 'Glades communities, crippled by Hurricane Wilma, anytime a queue forms, there is a good chance someone is giving something away.
"Whatever they are giving," Jordan said, "I'm probably needing."
American Red Cross vouchers were the advertised purpose for this line, as it turned out.
Belle Glade leaders said the Red Cross promised to come at noon, and word of free money spread like wildfire. By lunchtime, the crowd was 600.
The Red Cross never came.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-chousing01nov01,0,3310515.storyHundreds of Broward residents evicted after homes are declared unsafe
By Shannon O'Boye, Toni Marshall and Megan O'Matz
Staff Writers
Posted November 1 2005
Mattresses straddled car tops and plastic bags transported clothes, shoes, important papers and toys, as roughly 1,000 residents of a Lauderhill condo complex were given a few hours Monday to pack up and move out, rendered homeless by Hurricane Wilma.
City officials deemed all 416 units in 16 buildings unsafe at the Stonebridge Gardens condominiums in the 2900 block of Northwest 55th Avenue. That put many nurses, technicians, beauticians and secretaries on the growing list of thousands of people whose homes need serious repairs before power can be restored safely.
Some face yearlong repairs and no one is sure where these people will go long term.
County officials struggled Monday to get a handle on the problem.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-precovery02nov02,0,7462258.story?coll=sfla-news-palmThousands evacuate from homes as damaged roofs collapse
By Chrystian Tejedor, Mike Clary & Jennifer Peltz
Staff Writers
Posted November 2 2005
CORRECTION: This article from Wednesday's Local section originally misstated the number of homes destroyed by Hurricane Wilma in Palm Beach County. The number of destroyed homes is about 2,800.
The first hard rain since Hurricane Wilma tested the region's recovery -- and its roofs.
As dark clouds moved into Boynton Beach from the ocean at mid-afternoon Tuesday, Dorothy Levins glanced up at the tarp on the roof of her sister and brother-in-law's trailer in the Hypoluxo Harbor Club. Hurricane Wilma destroyed Levins' own trailer last week.
"We got electricity yesterday," Levins said. "Now, if the roof doesn't leak ..."
Across the county, roofs not only leaked but also collapsed, forcing the evacuations of thousands from Boca Raton to Palm Beach Gardens, officials said. An estimated 2,000 people were evacuated from the Greenways Village South complex in Royal Palm Beach, 60 from the Village Royale on the Green retirement community in Boynton Beach, and an unknown number from at least two buildings at the Century Village condominiums west of Boca Raton and the Camberwell Apartments in Palm Beach Gardens, officials said.
"A lot of these roofs are already damaged, and they're buckling because of the water," Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue Capt. Don DeLucia said.
I'm not complaining, I finally have power again after nine days, but low income people are being EVICTED because their domiciles are unsafe - and that concerns me. All is "not well" in South Florida, regardless of what Jeb says.
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