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Sitting on the Hurricane Sidelines

Much to my wife's dismay I spent a lot of time this past weekend watching Hurricane Irene coverage on the Weather Channel.  I don't live anywhere near the east coast as my website name implies, but I cannot resist good hurricane coverage.  It was far more interesting to sit in my easy chair in the cool air conditioning, sipping a beer, and watching the weather guys talk ad nausea about storm surge, flooding, rain and wind than it was to prepare for a storm like this.  Hey, I deserve to sit this one out.  After all, I am veteran of three hurricanes in my lifetime so far.  I rode through Ike a few years ago, Rita a few years ago before that, and then Alicia back in 1983.

Hurricane Irene

I think what is lost on folks about hurricanes is not so much the storm itself but the time it takes to recover from it.  Once the rain and wind is gone it takes a long time to get life back to normal, mainly because of power outages.  Power outages suck, especially in Texas during the months of August and September.  It gets hot - damn hot, and add a bunch of humidity to that it can make the time after a hurricane much more painful than the storm itself.  The roads usually get cleared in a day or two, your yard gets cleaned up, trash piles form along the street, but the power can stay out for a very long time.  Add to the fact that many of your regular conveniences such as grocery stores, gas stations, etc., are without power and are closed just adds to the misery.

When Ike threatened Texas a few years ago I was proactive and spent the money on a generator.  What a life saver that was!  I remember what a blessing these little noise makers can be  from my experience with Hurricane Alicia in 1983.  My dad ran out a few days before the storm and rented a generator.  He ran that thing during and after the storm to power our refrigerator, freezer, television, and a fan in the kitchen.  It sure as hell made it a lot more bearable as we were without power for a week.   I remember spending hours upon hours on the living room floor playing board games with my neighborhood friends.  I had a "boom box" that was tuned into the local top 40 station where we listened to "Electric Avenue" by Eddie Grant.  To this day when I hear that song I think about playing board games on the sea-foam green carpet in our living room waiting for the power to come on.  (Yes, sea-foam.. That's a different blog entry all together).

So, when you read all of these stories of damage and heartbreak from Irene, and then the statistic of "1 million people still without power" pops up on your screen, say a little prayer for those folks.  I am sure they are thankful to be alive and survived the storm but their true trial of survival is just getting started until the power switch is flipped back on.  =)

Share your hurricane stories with me - I'd love to hear them.