The southern twang, the warmer weather, the biscuits and gravy, and....hurricane season...Yep, hurricane season..the time between June and November is yet another reminder that we have moved south. The weather forecasters, in their glory as a storm approaches, reminding us that they won't know the exact path until it's..well...actually happening, the local stores with lines that can drive any sane person crazy, the way people swarm over newly stocked shelves of water and canned goods the way flies would on honey...ahhhh hurricane season...gotta love it.
I have not lived down here long enough to fully appreciate hurricane season and all it has to offer but I sure have had a taste. So far I have the storms Isabel, Charley and Ernesto under my belt with promises of more tropical depressions sure to turn into hurricanes in the forecast. We have been very lucky thus far to not get hit hard like some of the more southern coastal states. I can't even imagine what it is like going through a strong hurricane. I pray I never find out.
I spent Isabel alone with our daughters while Matt was out to sea on the ship. We decided to bunker down and ride it out. I draped our windows in full sheets of heavy duty plastic, had a full stock of batteries for the flashlights and radios, a nice stock of water and canned good bought days in advance so as to beat the panicked crowds of procrastinators, and a few "surprises" for Jules to keep her occupied should we lose power. I was set. We did lose power..for 2 days...not nearly as bad as some but enough to spoil all our food and make me think I would go nuts if I heard "Mom? Is the tv working yet?" just one more time. But we had a nice time...playing cards by candlelight..visiting with neighbors. We were still living in the apartment when Isabel hit, surrounded by some nice tall cedars, none of which fell luckily. Our building held up like a champ and I even caught some people fighting their way to 7-11 during the worst of it. When it was all over, I looked around and said "Is that IT?!" The next morning, however, I saw how badly people got hit just a few miles away from us. Trees coverings houses, powerlines down blocking roads, traffic lights out, and you were hard pressed to find a food store that didn't lose power and still had fresh dairy goods. I felt lucky.
Tropical storm Charley was added to my list in 2004. Luckily Matt was home with us for this one. We didn't buy into the pandemonium as our neighbors bought generators and people raided the local home depot and food stores; we looked around the house and figured we were pretty well stocked. Matt did, however, make room for one of our cars in the garage, but that was about as far as we went for preparation this time. It really ended up not being as bad as some said it would be. Sure, we got a lot of heavy rain and some pretty strong winds but again, we were left feeling pretty lucky. Heck, we didn't even lose power this time and all those tall trees surrounding our house stood strong.
Now I have tropical storm Ernesto under my belt. This was a storm much like Charley for us, however, Matt was at work when it hit the hardest and it took him 2 hours to get home to us (it's usually a 20 minute ride). I finally saw him pull into the cul-de-sac with water flying up over his truck. After the rain died down a bit, Matt took the girls out for a boat ride in our street while the neighbors all took pictures and video. I think it's official that we are the craziest family on the block.
I've documented our experiences with photos (there's a surprise huh? ;) and thought I'd share them here. I will, of course, add more when they come about. Enjoy!
~Stace~