Excerpt from an email received from somebody who rode out Wilma in a
Ft. Lauderdale hotel. Doesn't sound like much fun.


Quote begins:

The threat of the hurricane looming was on everyone's mind and a big
topic
of conversation. I think that most of the people that attended IBEX got
out
in time, as did Vic, but Niel and I were staying to attend the Ft.
Lauderdale boat show the following week. Big mistake! I've been through
a
typhoon in China, but hurricane Wilma was much more than I expected. I
had
checked into a strong and sturdy hotel, a few miles inland, in Ft.
Lauderdale to ride out the storm but that wasn't enough. About 350
guests
were summoned to the ballroom at about 5:30 AM, just before it really
hit.
The windows in the rooms across the hall from mine had already blown
out and
it didn't take much urging to get me into the windowless ballroom. I
did
sneak up to the second floor balcony above the main lobby just as the
skylights and some of the two story tall lobby windows broke through.
There
were actual small tornados inside the lobby throwing chairs and other
furniture around. It lasted about three hours before it started to
subside.
We had all been given flashlights and it was a good thing because the
power
went out on my way to the ballroom. The water went out a short time
later
and that was our biggest problem, with that many people and no
sanitation
facilities. I realized that there would be no boat show or reason for
me to
stay, so I drove to Orlando, the nearest open airport, and got the
first
available seat home, which was two days later. I'm sorry that I didn't
get
to meet with those of you that had planned to meet me in Ft.
Lauderdale, but
I want to assure you that we still got a lot accomplished, in regards
to our
new boats, at the IBEX convention. Vic, Niel and I came away with a lot
of
ideas and promotional materials which will be put to good use.

End of quote.