My Thoughts on Hurricane Irma and Why I Decided to stay in South FL

News of impending doom from hurricane Irma came about as I was in my own state of impending doom. Nothing major just my house was in disarray, toys everywhere, laundry backed up, the tile man was supposed to come, anticipating another mold clean up, etc. We’d already been sleeping in the living room as the house was temporarily rearranged as floors were being ripped up and mold dealt with from a previous leak. Then on top of that, work, single parenting and the demands of two kids was making it all a bit too much for me to think about. As news of Irma was emerging in S. FL I was already in a state of overload, not ready to take on anymore.

Irma got more of my attention Tuesday night when coming home from a job and I had to get gas. I was shocked and annoyed by all the cars queued up for gas and…. not that’s it’s important, but I had to buy the most expensive gas which signaled an internal alarm: gas was being bought up. That was the first red flag. The good news is that I did get gas and made it home. It woke me up a little and I decided I wasn’t going anywhere anymore. Why risk it?

Now that I think about it… backing up a day or two, Monday night, Labor Day. Coming home from a job I stopped at Whole Foods and was shocked by how barren the shelves were. I had never seen it like that before. Suppose that's what I get for spending the day kayaking around Biscayne Bay in Miami. Sunburned and tired, I didn't expect to see empty shelves. Tuesday morning went back to Whole Foods just to check it out. There were still some empty shelves and just wondering how serious this was, I checked out the water isle: no water. Well, at least I could start shopping. The store was very crowded by the way.

I personally haven’t been able to buy water yet at all, but I wasn't necessarily out to get some, even though secretly I wanted some. I have gone everyday shopping, so much as to buy food but also just wondering if I'd ever get some water. Nope. Just little details like that to give you a wake-up call about the severity of your situation.

On a positive note, I have plenty of food. And... things happen the way they happen for a reason, I believe. In retrospect, I was not an early bird. I was too wrapped up in other responsibilities to even begin processing all of this until too late. It seems that by
Wednesday, (when I learned that Palm Beach County had canceled school Thursday and Friday) my daughter's teacher already had a plane ticket for that afternoon. Another friend posted that afternoon that she had already made it into Georgia. It seems that if anyone had gotten: 1.) a plane ticket 2.) gas and drove out 3.) all the bottled water, that they obviously did so before I even knew what was going down.

Okay, so I did get 3 plane tickets that afternoon, for me and my daughters but apparently, I acted too late. I bought them on Wednesday but the earliest I could get a flight was for Saturday at 1:15, which has thus, been canceled.

Today is Thursday September 7th. The folks who are going are gone and really had to make those plans by Monday or Tuesday. Some neighbors left this morning but those are the ones who are going to other parts of FL like Orlando or the west coast. Really, what's the point of that? It's becoming evident that the folks who are around now are the ones like me who didn't have the time or the awareness or the means, etc to jump to it immediately and get the hell out. There was no time for processing.

I have had no choice but to bunker down.

Before I could even think about the hurricane or the water, I had to deal with the mess that was my house. It took me a whole day (today) and in fact, at 11:30 pm I still got laundry going with a few more loads to go.

It was actually quite helpful for me for me to have the time to clean and process it all while doing so. Little tokens of awareness to help get me through it: my condo is concrete, all around, walls and ceilings. Although, I am on the ground floor, 1 mile from the beach, I am not in a flood zone according to FEMA. The storm surge could change all that I’m aware. If it does flood, I have a plan for that: duct tape and plastic weighed down by 7 bags cement. Cleaning out closets reminded that I have several large storage containers which will hold 18 gallons of water each. Plus, I have a kombucha drinking problem and ample glass bottles laying around to fill with water and my Propur water filter to take all the nasties out.

I already know we will not have power so I’ve got 6 fluorescent laterns.

This time of survival for me, will be about slowing down, conserving, not panicking. Trusting. It’ll be the couple of days or week or two of camping that I’d been thinking about doing. Only it’s the real thing. No running back to society for that nice cold comfort know as refrigeration or A/C. As much as I love nature, I do hope no structural damage will happen to my unit so no animals will get into my house to scare the crap out of me while I'm trying to sleep at night.

I know, I always got to count my blessings and look at the positives. I have food, worked out my water problem and have a concrete home. It comforts me to think about a story I read once about a pioneer family in FL in the late 1800’s who got stuck in a category 4 hurricane while they were traveling. They had to hold on for dear life to their little canoe and ride out the storm under it. It'll be an adventure and anything's possible. I’m just… a little spoiled.

Everyday since Tuesday I’ve gone to the store and bought at least $200 a day of non-perishable food. I feel like I have a lot of food, plus I had a 3 month supply of emergency food I have had from when I thought the world was going to end (couple of times already). Although, it’s never really felt like it was going to end till now. It still doesn’t feel like it’s going to end but, they say it’s the worst ever, even worse than Andrew. When I tried to tell the ladies that they were overreacting to the hurricane, they told me I didn’t know what it was like to have to pick my underwear up from the neighbor’s back yard. They lived through Andrew.

I will write a follow up post after the hurricane. Although it probably won’t get published for sometime thereafter because of no power. I am anticipating that at best 3 days like they say, but it could very well be 2 weeks or more. GULP!