Landfall was close by, yet Marco was spared

MARCO ISLAND - Coastal communities usually bear the brunt of storms' landfalls, but Marco Island -- south of Naples and just east of Fay's ground zero -- was an exception.

A few downed tree limbs and deep puddles were about the only signs that Tropical Storm Fay had passed through.

After crossing the Florida Keys without causing major damage Monday, Fay moved ashore about 5 a.m. Tuesday at Cape Romano, just south of Naples and within miles of Marco Island, with sustained winds of about 60 mph. Cape Romano is the same spot where Hurricane Wilma, a Category 3 storm, made landfall in October 2005.

On Marco, Burhan Yardimici was one of the unlucky ones -- or lucky ones, depending on how you look at it.

Tuesday afternoon, he stood in the driveway of a friend's North Collier Avenue home, clearing a downed magnolia tree with a power trimmer and a hacksaw.

"At 2, there was nothing wrong -- it was just raining," said Yardimici, in town from Long Island to interview for jobs teaching English as a second language.

But just before 5 a.m, around the time Fay came ashore, he awoke to a crash. "Then I came out here and saw this mess," he said.

It could have been worse. He and his friend argued Monday night about whether to move their car in the garage.

Yardimici won.

"Thank God we saved the car," he said.

He was virtually alone on the city's streets, with only surfboard-toting teenagers, city workers and the occasional jogger passing by. On the streets, swarms of dragonflies vied with armadas of cherry-picker trucks from Florida Power & Light and vans from Comcast.

Supermarkets on the 13,000-resident island were moderately busy.

Outside a Winn-Dixie, Naples resident Yvonne Camille picked up some groceries with children Kvone, 3, and Isaiha, 1, in tow. All three slept through the storm.

"When we woke up, it was really raining. Just the electricity was off," Camille said.

School teacher Debbie Goforth, an island resident, said it was like the aftermath of any other storm. "It was just an inconvenience," she said. "A lot of trash to clean up."