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Hurricane Memories and Lessons from Wilma

Irene never really had an interest in me and so I never really worried much about her. Living coastal in the South Carolina Lowcountry, I knew early on from news reports that Irene was one storm that was going to pass me by. She was heading north, leaving me with only outer bands of rain. But there once was a storm in South Florida that I’ll never forget, her name was Wilma.

I was new to South Florida in October 2005, having only moved there eight months before. And I was all alone. Although a sister of mine moved to Florida with me in February, by May, she and my two nieces were back home in Kentucky. So when Wilma came in October, it was just me, alone in an overpriced two-bedroom apartment. Oddly though, I wasn’t fazed and I wasn’t afraid. Wilma, early on, a Category 5, battered the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico first.

After hammering down on the resort town of Cozumel, Mexico, Wilma headed due northeast, and crossed the Gulf of Mexico to Florida, where she made landfall near Naples as a very strong Category 3. Crossing the Everglades she headed east for me, alone in my apartment in Plantation, Florida, Broward County; right outside of Fort Lauderdale. And I wasn’t ready. I wasn’t prepared. Sure I had heard plenty of warnings on the news, and it was only just a couple of months since Katrina, but I did not think this would be that bad. I stocked up on candles and some chips and bottled water and that was it. I didn’t fill up my gas tank, nor plug water in the bathtub. I didn’t even think to stock up on non-perishable food items. So when the storm came my way first thing on a weekday morning, I called my boss to let her know I wouldn’t make it into the office, and then I went back to bed for a late morning of sleep-in.



What sounded like a freight train jolted me awake. Still, I would have stayed holed up in my bed, if not for the sound of a crash that sent me to my feet. Wilma roared, howled, and pounded all around me, and the screen door off the balcony flew loose and there was nothing I could do about it.



I had to admit to myself, I was scared. But she didn’t stay around long. She tormented me and the rest of South Florida for a little over four hours, and then like that, she was gone, exiting off the coast near Palm Beach. She had conquered and moved on, killing more than sixty people and leaving millions without electricity. She left us with downed trees and power lines, evidence of tornadoes, and then, a sky full of Florida sunshine. Looking up, you would have never known that she had been there. Looking down and around; the destruction spoke for itself.

I was without electricity for an entire week. Gas stations ran out of gas, and I later drove around Broward County on less than a quarter-tank of gas in search of a fully operational grocery story only to find empty shelves. Before making that drive in my little red Neon, I decided to take a walk to survey the damage. Out in the parking lot, I noticed my car was just fine. But not all of my neighbors were so lucky. What I learned that October; all hurricanes must be taken seriously, and preparation is key. And this is what I saw…









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