In the eye of the storm

Tintor gets first-hand look at Charley

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Eli Tintor had never been a serious storm before, but he got an eyeful Friday — as in an eyeful of Hurricane Charley.

Tintor, who is playing for the Gulf Coast Twins, was in a hotel room while the storm was taking place.

Coming from Northern Minnesota, Tintor hadn’t even seen a tornado, let alone a Category 4 hurricane.

"We were right in the middle of it — the eye of the storm," Tintor said. "There were 130 to 140 mile per hour winds. It was pretty nuts."

According to Tintor, Charley hit Fort Myers at around 3 p.m. Friday. He was sitting in his hotel room watching all the chaos happening around him outside.

"Trees were down. Wires were down," Tintor said. "Houses were torn down. I guess there were casualties, too."

Was Tintor scared?

"I was looking forward to it," he said. "I like storms, but I’ve never seen one like this. It was a little bit scary Some stoplights came flying through the parking lot.

"You couldn’t get outside without getting hit by debris."

Now Tintor knows what the wrath of a hurricane can do.

"It was my first hurricane, so I didn’t know what to expect," Tintor said. "Everybody was telling me to prepare for it, but it wasn’t that bad."

Tintor said two more hurricanes were brewing by Cuba and taking the same route as Charley.

Tintor was sitting in his hotel room with no running water and no electricity. He didn’t know how long that was going to continue, but he and the members of his team were going to be transferred to their clubhouse if the water and electricity stayed out any longer.

"There’s nothing open," Tintor said. "No gas stations. No stores. Not anything."