Every hurricane season I think about our time in Florida and all our hurricane preparedness meetings at church (thanks to Roland Steadham, the local LDS meteorologist).With the recent craze of hurricanes hitting in the gulf, I've thought about all the Texans dealing with Ike and all our friends in Florida dealing with that stress this season. Honestly - that's not something I miss worrying about.
During our stay in Florida from 2000 - 2003, we luckily didn't face any major hurricanes. Jimmy had an internship at Mattel Latin America in Ft. Lauderdale the summer of 2004 so we went for the summer just after Abe the Babe was born.
August rolled around and right before heading back to Arizona for the last year of MBA school, Hurricane Charley hit the radar and started heading our way. Jimmy's family was in Orlando and since the hurricane was supposed to hit Tampa, we figured we'd be out of the storm if we headed to be with the fam.
My dad jokes about us being storm chasers because last minute the storm rerouted and ended up going straight through Orlando while we were there. Oops! So the entire fam hunkered down in Stephen and Lisa's house.
I was a little stressed out (ok - very stressed out!!!) because for our little family, we weren't prepared because we were traveling and not in our own home and with 2 little kiddos. And I felt bad that all of us were bombarding Jimmy's brothers house and I'm sure they felt a little responsible for every one's safety.The entire experience helped me realize the importance of being prepared for disasters because once that power goes out, you have no fridge or stove or lights or A/C or heat. And then there is the water and food issue.
When Hurricane Charley hit the west side of Florida from the Gulf of Mexico on August 13, it was a category 4. It was a smaller-sized hurricane so that was one good thing going for it. Even for a small storm you can see that the outer bands still covered most of Florida.
By the time the hurricane hit Orlando, it was a Category 2 with winds gusting up to 106 mph. So we watched the news which told exactly when it would hit our area right until a few minutes before when we lost power (which I think was out for a week or so in Orlando).
As we sat in the front room with a huge window, we realized that may not be the safest place to be. Mostly I was nervous about the tornadoes that are created in the hurricane. But we ended up being quite safe.
Both of our tots slept right through the hurricane (Hannah loves hearing this part of the story). Stephen's house had damage in the yard and neighborhood with downed trees and fences. It was crazy to drive back to south Florida the next morning and see all the damage. Overall, that hurricane caused $16.2 Billion in damage.
I can't imagine dealing with the huge clean-up of utter disastrous hurricanes such as Katrina or Andrew. Jimmy went 3 times to Mississippi to clean-up after Hurricane Katrina and he saw a little of the devastation there.
Anyhoo - that is my experience with being a hurricane. Something to note for posterity's sake.
The day before Hurricane Charley hit, we went to Ormond beach on the Atlantic Ocean side of Florida. The weather was a bit blustery which may or may not have been related to the hurricane heading from the other side of Florida. But we still had a great time.
It was fun for me to look back and see Hannah so little and enjoying herself in these photos. She loved, loved, loved it all. We left Abe the wee babe with Lisa because 2-month-old tots don't enjoy all that icky sticky sand.
When Hurricane Charley hit the west side of Florida from the Gulf of Mexico on August 13, it was a category 4. It was a smaller-sized hurricane so that was one good thing going for it. Even for a small storm you can see that the outer bands still covered most of Florida.
By the time the hurricane hit Orlando, it was a Category 2 with winds gusting up to 106 mph. So we watched the news which told exactly when it would hit our area right until a few minutes before when we lost power (which I think was out for a week or so in Orlando).As we sat in the front room with a huge window, we realized that may not be the safest place to be. Mostly I was nervous about the tornadoes that are created in the hurricane. But we ended up being quite safe.
Both of our tots slept right through the hurricane (Hannah loves hearing this part of the story). Stephen's house had damage in the yard and neighborhood with downed trees and fences. It was crazy to drive back to south Florida the next morning and see all the damage. Overall, that hurricane caused $16.2 Billion in damage.
I can't imagine dealing with the huge clean-up of utter disastrous hurricanes such as Katrina or Andrew. Jimmy went 3 times to Mississippi to clean-up after Hurricane Katrina and he saw a little of the devastation there.
Anyhoo - that is my experience with being a hurricane. Something to note for posterity's sake.
The day before Hurricane Charley hit, we went to Ormond beach on the Atlantic Ocean side of Florida. The weather was a bit blustery which may or may not have been related to the hurricane heading from the other side of Florida. But we still had a great time.
It was fun for me to look back and see Hannah so little and enjoying herself in these photos. She loved, loved, loved it all. We left Abe the wee babe with Lisa because 2-month-old tots don't enjoy all that icky sticky sand.
Hannah and Aunt Christine
1 comment:
What adorable pictures of you all on the beach! And what a great record of your experience for posterity. I'm sure all of the past hurricans have hit home with you since you've been right in the middle of them before! Hurricanes are something I've never been in thankfully, but we were telling our kids about the one in Texas and they couldn't believe things like that actually happen. Glad you and your family have always been safe Heath!
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