Tag Archive for: hurricanes

Surviving the Storm

/in , , , , , , /by

Ever heard of a derecho?

I hadn’t, until recently. It’s related to a tornado, and can be just as deadly. Instead of twisting up everything in its path and tossing it around, a derecho’s furious winds wreak devastation in a straight line, like a giant hundred-mile-an-hour freight train.

Last May, one barreled through two hundred miles of Texas, including our neighborhood. It tore through swaths of open landscape and mowed down houses and other buildings, leaving hundreds of thousands electricity customers in the dark.

People died from falling trees. If you want to know what our derecho was like, these videos from the Houston Chronicle pretty much gives you a taste. Yes, it was scary.

In our neighborhood, it was mostly the trees, those majestic century-old oaks in our urban forest that suffered the greatest damage.

And then in July…

Hurricane Beryl hit us with howling winds and high water. Thousands of homes were ravaged. Thousands of businesses lost power—many, for weeks. People lost their lives from the sweltering heat.

After two previous summers of drought, the May derecho, and July’s hurricane, many more stately trees succumbed. Some, still standing, are leaning at ominous angles over homes and streets and sidewalks. Others are stripped down to mere skeletons of their former lushness. So many sad sights where once there was beauty and abundance.

We’re used to summer storms around here. The Body in the News, Book 3 in my Samantha Newman Mystery series, revolves around the aftermath of one of the worst hurricanes to hit these parts in recent history.

Clean-up and repairs from the May derecho weren’t completed when the July hurricane hit. We’re now two months beyond Beryl, yet a walk around the neighborhood still bears sad reminders of the destructive forces of nature. And now…

Here comes another one!

As I write this, the weather service is serving us updates on Francine, the tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico that’s expected to become a hurricane today. It, too, is headed our way, or somewhere between us and New Orleans. In case it arrives ahead of schedule, and we lose power again, I’ll wrap this up and get it posted. But before I sign off, there’s one more thing… 

I’ve come to understand the therapeutic benefit of immersing oneself in a leafy retreat, which is why I mourn losing so much of the neighborhood greenery. However, in the larger scheme of things, life can hit us with more serious hardships at any time, so, it’s important to keep this in mind:

Trees can be replanted. Lives lost are irreplaceable.

Instead of wringing our hands over what is lost, or what may happen next, let’s celebrate the people and things that bring beauty to our lives today.

Let’s appreciate what we have with with renewed attention and open affection.

And, if the mood strikes, while you’re hugging those dear to you, it might also help to hug a tree. Turns out, they can be as fragile as people.

Have you ever weathered a scary natural disaster?

Please leave your comments below…

Gay Yellen is the award-winning author of the of the Samantha Newman Mystery Series: The Body Business, The Body Next Door, and The Body in the News.

 

 

 

My Three Hurricane Experiences or I’ll Take Earthquakes Any Day

/in /by

1. If this particular hurricane had a name, I don’t remember it. We knew we were traveling south to Norfolk VA as the hurricane was heading toward the same destination. Our goal, to get there before it did. We nearly made it. Winds were blowing about 50 miles an hour when sailor husband checked me into a cheap motel with our two daughters, one 3 the other, one month old. We had no food with us except formula, no way to heat the baby’s bottles. Manager loaned me a one burner hot plate and a sauce pan–but I still needed food to eat for me and my other daughter. The only other person in the motel was the maid, I asked her to babysit the girls while I braved the horrible wind and rain to get to a grocery store where I bought crackers, p-nut butter and soup. I don’t remember all the details, just that through the worst of the storm we were holed up in that dingy room because hubby was ordered to stay on the base. I do remember how scared I was.

2. This was that same year after we lived in Navy housing off base. Another hurricane visited, this time I was braver. Hubby, I and kids went to the beach to watch the huge waves. The wind tore the heavy front door off the apartment house. A cargo ship went aground and the foreign sailors waded ashore and ate at the beach restaurants.

3. I know the name of this one, she was called Isabel. We flew into DC, rented a car (a brand new one) and were told to hurry to our destination which was hubby’s hometown of Cambridge MD where we were to attend hubby’s class reunion. I was also supposed to have a book event at the local library the next day, but it was called off. I stopped in at the bookstore I had a signing lined up for the following day and I told them I’d be there no matter what. (Ha!)

That night the news was full of the weather–of course. We were staying with hubby’s relatives who lived right on the Chesapeake Bay. The electricity went out during the night. When we woke up the next morning, there was no yard, only water.

Our brand new rental car was bobbing in the front of the house as it floated. A young neighbor man came to check on us, wearing his chest high waders. He tied our car to the front porch. Everyone feared when the tide went out, the car would go with it.

People went by in boats where the road had been. A bit later kids swam in the front yard. There was no way I could go anywhere that day. We had plenty to eat, our hostess prepared well, and we played board games.

The tide did go out finally, relatives in a big truck came and got us and took us to their house where they still had electricity so we could shower.

We called the rental car place and because we’d taken out flood insurance a huge truck brought us another car and took the ruined one away.

My husband’s high school reunion was still held the day it had been planned for and we went and had a great time.

Hubby’s relatives lost their pier and their cars were ruined, but the house came through without a problem. We saw many homes that weren’t so fortunate.

My heart goes out to all those who have lost so much during this latest hurricane.

Frankly, I think I’ll stay on the West Coast from now on.

Marilyn