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My first hurricane

MIAMI - It is 1:10 am ET Tuesday as I write this and reporter Michelle Kosinski and I are bunking on two couches generously provided by our generator-friendly affiliate WTVJ in South Florida.

For team Kosinski, today was supposed to be the culmination of four days of waiting and waiting and waiting for Hurricane Wilma to strike Florida's West Coast. This would be my first hurricane, and surrounded by several news veterans of hurricane coverage, I was ready.

We were posted in Ft. Myers Beach. Four days and three hotels later (the first one kicked us out following mandatory evacuations; and we only lasted a day in the Hawaiian-themed, Spring Break friendly but structurally unsound second hotel) Wilma roared ashore at 6 a.m. Monday morning.

Michelle was ready to report on its effects for the Today Show but at 6:45 a sudden wind shift threatened to send our satellite dish to that great satellite truck in the sky. The wind was fierce, but after all the build up, a little anti-climactic as we were on the northern edge of the cone. But we were still unable to broadcast from our location all morning.

There was some property damage in Ft. Myers Beach, but overall it did not seem so bad. The region that had been hit so hard last year by hurricane Charley had largely been spared an encore. So that is why, at around noon, when we were dispatched to the Miami area we were not completely ready for what we saw as we emerged on I-75 from Alligator Alley. Road signs ripped apart. Roofs and business signs shredded. Traffic lights strewn over the middle of intersections. And the most dramatic scene: the entire facade of a 15-story building in downtown Ft. Lauderdale gone. The county sheriff told us he'd never seen anything like it here.

And yet, there was this common sentiment among residents. They were shocked by the extent of the damage, perhaps lulled into a false sense of security thinking that since Wilma would hit the West side of the state, the East side would be spared major damage. But as a National Hurricane Center official told us for this morning, the flat Everglades helped make sure that was not the case.

So today there are 3.2 million people in three counties without power. With the damage and falling debris from buildings in West Palm Beach, Ft. Lauderdale and Miami, residents are thankful there were few serious injuries and -- as of now -- no deaths. Luckily for them, a cold front has dropped the temperatures into the low 50s -- cool for this part of Florida -- but perfect sleeping weather. Even for three hours on the gold suede couches off the main lobby of our affiliate station here.

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