The Storms of Summer

Until you have experienced the wholesale destruction of a hurricane, you cannot appreciate how hellish things are after one has come and gone after making landfall. The Northeastern states that make up the coastline and just inland, have been handed a nightmare that those of us in Florida have experienced before, and will experience again. The situation, in a word, sucks. Yes, the Northeast gets it's fair share of Nor'easter's and Nor'wester's that come and visit during the winter months, bringing plenty of rain and/or ice and snow. But those "blows" are not the same size and power as a rotating mass of energy that swirls along, getting stronger as it sucks up fuel from the bathtub-warm waters of the Gulf, the Caribbean Sea and southern Atlantic Ocean. Florida has dodged a bullet this last week, watching Hurricane Irene pass by as a Cat 3 storm and pushing up towards the north, towards many of our families and friends, who don't need or want the storms of summer to ruin theirs. Florida, who had so many people from so many states come to our aid after the twin hurricanes of 2004, sent crews of electrical workers from Florida Power and Light to help with the restoration of power in the several states. It was the least we could do.

We still have 2 1/2 months of "hurricane season" left to endure, and we are way down on the list of names. Right now, Hurricane Katia is headed into the far north Atlantic, away from everyone, while Tropical Storm Maria heads towards us, albeit messily, and may give us aggravation by next week. In the Gulf, another depression formed and created Tropical Storm Nate, who is building strength in the Yucatan Peninsula, and is forecast to become a hurricane, possibly a Cat 2 which is headed toward Brownsville, Texas. The remaining Gulf coast states just endured a visit from Tropical Storm Lee, who also headed north after dumping loads of rain in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and even part of the Florida Panhandle.

I have been slowly freezing my bottled waters, which I started to do when Irene was first on the move towards us. I will keep freezing them, in batches, stacking them up in our mini freezer. I have candles, matches, flashlights, but need more batteries, weather radio (on all the time), two good-sized coolers, a gas generator in the shed, gas chainsaw (next to the electric one - ha ha) and a machete. I don't have the supply of canned food I should, or extra gas in my six gas cans, but the price of that has kept us from being able to stash a good supply of it. My biggest and best hurricane supply is my husband. He lived in the Virgin Islands when he was younger, then in Miami. He has been through all five categories, including the deadly monster Andrew. He has skills. His Irish/German and Russian roots give him the strength and stamina necessary to deal with the prep before and messy after of the storms. His knowledge of the combustion engine is vital to maintaining a power source until the electricity comes back on. He knows how to fix almost everything, and his barbecuing skills are excellent. We even cooked a pizza on our gas grill during the 2004 storms. It can be done. We are as ready as we can be for the storms of summer. I just hope they don't come.