All this business with Isaac this past week has me thinking about hurricanes. I came here today expecting to post a Flashback Friday dealing with hurricanes, most likely Gustav and Ike, back in 2008. But I discovered I've never written a post on hurricanes. I started this blog in September 2008, a few weeks after Gustav and Ike. And that's the last time Lake Charles really had to deal with a hurricane.
The good thing about hurricanes, if there can be a "good" thing, is that, with today's weather technology, we have plenty of time to get ready for one. Unlike tornados, which often have little or no warning. We track hurricanes through the tropics for a good week or more, watching the spaghetti models and wondering about the odds of the storm coming our way. We have plenty of time to "prepare." We gas up the vehicles in case we need to evacuate. We load up on water and non-perishables, batteries, gas for the generator, toilet paper and such, should we need to "hunker down." If the path of the hurricane appears to be leading to our front door, we board up the windows. But along with those days of preparation can come a lot of anxiety.
I recall the first real hurricane we had to deal with -- Gustav. I remember watching the news and seeing that swirling ball of storm headed straight for us. My stomach was in knots for days. My fear of the unknown was palpable. I'd never felt so at the mercy of nature, no ability whatsoever to control the situation. We evacuated to my sister-in-law's in Houston, though we wouldn't have needed to. I don't think we even lost power. Hurricane Ike came barely a week later. We didn't have the heart to evacuate again. And again, we didn't need to. We didn't so much as lose a roof shingle, let alone power. Having underground lines helps immensely with that.
In 2007, Humberto came along as a Category 1 and basically was not much more than a windy rain event. This past week, Isaac scooted east of Lake Charles and only brought a bit of rain. School is always cancelled in these situations because hurricanes are unpredicatable. You just never know. All in all, in the five years we've lived here, we've been extraordinarily lucky in not having been negatively impacted by hurricanes.
My thoughts and prayers are with all the people in east Louisiana who have had extreme flooding and power outages from this recent hurricane.
The good thing about hurricanes, if there can be a "good" thing, is that, with today's weather technology, we have plenty of time to get ready for one. Unlike tornados, which often have little or no warning. We track hurricanes through the tropics for a good week or more, watching the spaghetti models and wondering about the odds of the storm coming our way. We have plenty of time to "prepare." We gas up the vehicles in case we need to evacuate. We load up on water and non-perishables, batteries, gas for the generator, toilet paper and such, should we need to "hunker down." If the path of the hurricane appears to be leading to our front door, we board up the windows. But along with those days of preparation can come a lot of anxiety.
I recall the first real hurricane we had to deal with -- Gustav. I remember watching the news and seeing that swirling ball of storm headed straight for us. My stomach was in knots for days. My fear of the unknown was palpable. I'd never felt so at the mercy of nature, no ability whatsoever to control the situation. We evacuated to my sister-in-law's in Houston, though we wouldn't have needed to. I don't think we even lost power. Hurricane Ike came barely a week later. We didn't have the heart to evacuate again. And again, we didn't need to. We didn't so much as lose a roof shingle, let alone power. Having underground lines helps immensely with that.
In 2007, Humberto came along as a Category 1 and basically was not much more than a windy rain event. This past week, Isaac scooted east of Lake Charles and only brought a bit of rain. School is always cancelled in these situations because hurricanes are unpredicatable. You just never know. All in all, in the five years we've lived here, we've been extraordinarily lucky in not having been negatively impacted by hurricanes.
My thoughts and prayers are with all the people in east Louisiana who have had extreme flooding and power outages from this recent hurricane.
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1 comment:
Dealing with the fear, the wind damage, and the flooding has got to be very difficult. Adding my prayers...
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