SPEED DIAL

Keith Bridges may be new to Mount Pleasant's Old Village, but he's becoming quite familiar with the local tree services.

After he purchased his Hibben Street home about two weeks ago, Hurricane Charley knocked a tree from a neighboring church onto his pool house, damaging the roof. On Sunday, Gaston split a large water oak in his front yard, sending half the tree crashing down over the roadway.

"We're two for two," he said with a chuckle as he watched a public works crew take chain saws to the tree Monday. "I've got all the tree services on speed dial."

Bridges' wife, Patti, said she and her husband have spent so much time cleaning up after trees that they haven't had time to move in their furniture.

Still, the Bridges chose to look on the bright side. The falling oak missed their two-story home and the Mercedes that was parked just a hair from the point of impact. They just wonder what's in the store for the future.

"It seems like we're a tree magnet," Keith Bridges said. "We're going to have to open up a firewood store."

A STREAM OF GAPERS

A huge red oak lay through an Otranto home like a monstrous balance beam -- high above the yard. No one was inside the home when the tree crashed through the roof, teeter-tottering precariously in the air with its top forming a canopy over the back yard and its roots pointing toward the street.

The neighbors fought against Gaston's wind and rain Sunday to tarp and cover the damage.

"It's almost as if it were a rehearsed operation. I've never seen anything like it," said one neighbor.

By Sunday evening, the tragicomic spectacle attracted a steady stream of gapers in cars.

Nancy Volland, and Bill Godwin, daughter and son of Bill Godwin, the home's owner, arrived in Hanahan on Monday morning to find that their father's neighbors had assisted in mobilizing much of the cleanup effort.

"This is ironic because, with Hurricane Hugo, there was no damage," Volland said, watching a crew equipped with a crane carefully remove sections of the tree.

On Sunday and Monday, so many curiosity seekers inched down the street to gawk that a neighborhood teen quit counting at 72.

ONE ERRANT TREE

James McNab picked his way through dense branches and debris covering his front yard Monday as he tried to make some sense of what had happened to his home.

McNab had spent the better part of seven years painstakingly restoring the 19th century Bennett Street house, one of the oldest in Mount Pleasant's Old Village. All it took was one errant tree to make the home unlivable.

Gaston toppled a towering live oak, sending it crashing onto the roof near a bedroom where his 16-year-old daughter was asleep. She wasn't injured, but the house was. The impact cracked the roof down the middle, causing a collapse on the second-floor.

A section of the roof now hangs off the front porch, which sits at an odd angle. The home's walls are bowing and there is water damage throughout the house. The damage will likely run into the tens of thousands of dollars.

"I didn't think this would be much of a storm," he said, shaking his head. "I'm in a state of shock right now."

Adding to his disbelief: He had spent $1,000 one week before to have the live oak trimmed to ensure it was healthy and ready for a storm.

INTERRUPTED

The jurors couldn't be reached. The judge wasn't going to make it. A murder trial to begin Monday in Berkeley County was postponed until Nov. 1 due to problems caused by Gaston and concerns that Hurricane Frances may head to the Lowcountry.

Many members of the jury pool didn't have electricity or phone service Monday or unexpectedly had children at home because of school closings, Deputy Solicitor Blair Jennings said. The judge wasn't going to be available Tuesday, and it appeared there would be no way to finish the trial by the end of the week.

David S. Haws, 21, of Hanahan, was to go on trial for the May 3, 2003, stabbing death of 20-year-old Kevin M. Boyd. Boyd was stabbed 11 times.

SHELLED SHRIMP

Fred Madere stood in his driveway in Cooper Estates in Mount Pleasant thumbing through pages of the instruction manual for a new generator he bought Monday.

"I don't know why I didn't do this 40 years ago," he said.

Madere couldn't bear the thought of another day without air conditioning or the loss of the bags of cleaned and shelled shrimp in his freezer. He and other residents in the community had been in the dark since early Sunday morning. The heat in the house chased his wife to the library Monday, Madere said.

By 5:30 p.m., power was back on at his house. "I'll save the generator for Frances," he said.

Just down the road, Ruth Taylor raked leaves and plucked debris from her front lawn. She and her husband used their generator to keep their freezer going overnight Sunday. She made coffee for neighbors Monday morning then lent the generator to owners of a house down the street.

"We trying to help neighbors so they won't lose everything," she said.

Taylor said she and her husband were managing. If the electricity didn't come back by nightfall, they planned to cook chicken on the grill, she said.

"Thank the Lord. We're not like the people in Florida. Their houses were destroyed," she said.

STRIKING A DEAL

Across the street from Boulevard Diner at about 3:30 p.m., the gas station was open for business, and so was the bank and Andolini's Pizza. But at the diner on Coleman Boulevard in Mount Pleasant, the parking lot was empty and the glass doors opened to darkness and aroma of bleach.

"I don't understand why we don't have electricity and others do," said manager Kim Perry.

When Perry surveyed the restaurant and found no noticeable damage Sunday after the storm, she returned home. But just before 6 a.m. Monday, her phone at home rang. Employees opened and found no power. Most of the food in the freezers was spoiled.

Seeking to salvage what was left, Perry struck a deal with employees at the pizza parlor across the street.

"We gave them some desserts, they gave us some freezer space," she said.

A SAFE PLACE TO SLEEP

Bruno Snaukstas peered through the minivan's windshield and pointed to signs of damage as he drove through Mount Pleasant Monday morning.

"What we're looking at over there is just yard debris," he said, pointing to a pile of branches. "Up ahead, there's some minor damage. There's siding hanging off of that house."

Snaukstas, a retired businessman, was leading a three-person team of volunteers from the Carolina Lowcountry Chapter of the American Red Cross as they conducted a tour to assess damage. Other teams were conducting similar tours throughout the region.

Their work will help determine what's needed to help people recover from the immediate aftermath of the storm.

"We're the first people they see as part of the recovery," Snaukstas said. "We're not really there to restore them to their pre-storm levels. We're basically there to make sure people have a safe place to sleep tonight."

The trio drove through the Old Village neighborhood looking for property damage, flooding and other signs of distress, dutifully recording their observations on a clipboard.

Others volunteers would use the information to conduct door-to-door visits and compile more detailed assessments.

Along the way, they encountered Hootie & the Blowfish guitarist Mark Bryan, who was busy pumping water from his flooded yard.

A tree had also hit Bryan's roof, causing about $1,000 in damage. He didn't need any assistance, but he was impressed by the strength of the storm.

"We've been here for 5-1/2 years, and this is the worst we've had by far," Bryan said.

Click here to return to story:
http://www.charleston.net/stories/083104/loc_31vignettes.shtml