After Irene

Depending on where you live and what you were expecting, Hurricane Irene was either a tragic storm or very disappointing. I know that, as of right now, 37 people died from the storm and there is 2 to 3 billion dollars worth of damage. And I know that with the flooding still happening, one or both sets of those numbers may go up. But, where I live, for my life, it wasn’t that bad of a storm.

As I mentioned in the last posting, I prepared for this storm. I was well stocked up on food, gas, batteries and water. And I didn’t have to use any of it.

Granted yesterday morning, the drive to and, especially from, church was a bit difficult. At times it was just drizzling and then, a second later, buckets of water were coming down and the wind kept trying to blow my vehicle off the road.

Then there was walking from the parking lot to the church and back again. It was just drizzling when I was parking my van and the very second I opened my door, it began pouring. So I put the hood up on my jacket and started walking to the church. It died to a drizzle and then began pouring. My jacket was pretty soaked by the time I walked in the building. The same thing happened leaving the church. I guess that is why they call it bands of rain.

Once I arrived home, I set about making some bread since I was out. I figured I had a few hours before my power might go out so, rather than waiting, I did it right away. By the time the wind really kicked up, my bread was out of the oven and cooling. (It tasted really good as well – after it cools for a minute, I always try the end of one of the loaves with a little butter on it. As far as baking bread is concerned, there is nothing better than that very first piece of bread).

By mid afternoon, the wind was really blowing. Constantly blowing at a pretty good clip with stronger gusts barreling through. There was one gust that I actually heard coming. It sounded like a freight train heading towards me so I got up and looked out the door and I could see trees across the street bending and then the ones right next to the house. I’m surprised that nothing fell down but it just roared on by without causing any damage outside my house.

The wind kept up all night long. But the rain had moved farther west and north so all we had here at the coast was the wind. When I woke up this morning, everything was calm, the sky was blue and it was positively beautiful outside.

As far as the after effects from the hurricane for me, the only thing I noticed were the ceiling tiles in my kitchen. I had the windows open most of the afternoon yesterday even though the wind was blowing so hard. The rain had gone and I liked the fresh air coming in cooling things down.

This morning, as I was fixing breakfast, I looked up and noticed one of the tiles had moved about a half an inch. I could see up into the space between drop ceiling and the original ceiling. I grabbed a large wooden spoon and popped the tile back in place. I thought about it for a minute trying to figure out how it moved when I noticed another tile was popped up. Then it occurred to me that the wind coming in my windows had popped up the tiles. So that was the only damage from the hurricane for me.

All in all, I’m glad I prepared as much as I did. Otherwise, I would have probably lost my power, had real damage to my apartment and/or van and been hugely inconvenienced from this storm. It was because I prepared so well that I came through unscathed.

It was also worth all the hype on the news. Granted some of the coverage was a bit over done but people need to take these things seriously because nature is unpredictable. This storm could easily have been so much worse for everyone. And we aren’t done with storms yet. There is another one forming off the coast of Africa right now not to mention that the hurricane season lasts until November. Even if people think this was blown out of proportion, they need to take the next one seriously as well as every storm after that. Otherwise, more people will be hurt or killed and more homes and businesses destroyed.

I’m thankful that Irene wasn’t as strong as they had predicted and didn’t cause as much damage as they thought she would. But I won’t be complacent with any storm that is predicted. Complacency could lead to mistakes being made and injuries happening. I plan on staying prepared no matter what nature wants to throw my way. As should everyone else.