Storm Keeps Man Sleepless In Sebring

After experiencing Hurricanes Charley, Francis and Jeanne, a tropical storm shouldn't have been cause for a sleepless night for Lance Harris.

Harris watched the weather Tuesday morning from a lounge chair in the carport of his manufactured home near DeSoto City.

"Though I knew it wasn't going to be bad, I still didn't sleep all night long," he said. "Just a little worried; I've got a new granddaughter; she's only 2 months old.

"I kept watching The Weather Channel and going outside because they were saying we might get tornadoes and stuff. Living in a trailer is a little scary."

Harris and his daughter, Sheelah Selph, switched between The Weather Channel and News Channel 8 to monitor the storm's progress.

"It's going to come right through us ... the last track I've seen," he said.

Harris, a carpenter, had been working recent days on a home addition project near Avon Park.

"We dried it all in real good to make sure they are not going to get any damage," he said. "Did you see on the news the man in Fort Lauderdale with the kite?"

He was referring to the frequently shown video of a kite surfer on Miami Beach who slammed into the ground and then was blown into the side of a building.

Harris' daughter, Sheelah Selph, said "I couldn't believe it when I saw it."

Harris was living in Seminole County in 1992 when Hurricane Andrew struck south Florida.

"I was there 11 hours after it hit and didn't come home for three months," he said. "It was pretty much devastation there."

Harris said he earned good money with his carpentry skills during those three months, but the nearest place he could find to live was in a motel in Hollywood.

Harris' stepson, Brian Selph, 24, is an unemployed carpenter.

"It's gotten real slow around here," he said. "I love it when hurricanes and tropical storms come. I hope it brings more work."