Wilma @ MindSay 
hurricane
I believe I mentioned before about Boss A being on vacation during the same time I was away. What I don’t think I mentioned was where she was going.
And that would be Cancun.
Yes, she knew Wilma was coming. She and her friends still went.
And surprise…! She and her friends are still there.
The latest update we got was that there was a strong chance of them flying out within three days.
I’m not expecting to see her this week.
Now, you have to understand first that Florida Power and Light (FPL) was saying that it would be up to a month before power was restored. We were trying to get used to life with no power. So, after a few days of eating non-perishables gently warmed over a candle with the pan propped up on empty cans, I dug out my camp stove. We live in a condo but that wasn't gonna stop us. Oh, no.
Never mind I've had this stove for 20 years and never, not once, have I lit it. Never mind I had some vague recollection that there was something tricky about it. Or that I have 2 small kids living here who wouldn't want to lose their mama. I'm smart. I can do it!
I spent 25 minutes trying. Pump, light, pump some more, poof. Try again. Something like that. Finally, I ask Al to help out because it seems to require quickness and hands being in more than one place at a time. The baby wakes up and I leave him to it. Ten minutes later he lights it. One minute later, the screaming starts. In I run. He's holding the fire extinquisher and watching the stove which is blazing on our counter. He wants to throw water on it. No! I get him to stop just in time. I want to blow it out. He gets me to stop redirecting the flames into the strategically placed pile of paper plates which are just behind the stove on the counter. (No!) (YES! Darwin material, no?)
So, he asks, what do we do. SMOTHER it! With what? Never mind our place is about to catch fire and after having been left standing by Wilma, we're gonna burn the sucker down. Won't our neighbors love us. I don't want to sacrifice any of my precious belongings to smothering the thing. Finally I reach for a large pot and put it over the top.
Then I ask him why he didn't just use the fire extinguisher. It turns out he tried but it, like the stove, was one of those useful things we just had but that didn't actually WORK. He quickly read the instructions, pulled the pin, squeezed the handles, and....nothing. It's on the list to get that looked into. It makes a satisfying swish-swish when you shake it. Not sure what the problem there is. Nor where to get it serviced. Well anyway, we'll freecycle the stupid stove to someone who lives in a house and promises to use it outdoors during hurricanes or who actually GOES camping! And we'll put our names down for the Darwin Survivor's Award!
http://sobebabies.com
Hurricane Alpha. You know the American Hurricane Center named the new hurricane, hurricane Alpha. Meanwhile it's nothing more then a tropical storm. But hurricane Alpha. Why hurricane Alpha? Simple because the names on the list of the Hurricane Center are finished. Hurricane Wilma that hit Mexico and Florida. Hurricane Alpha was hurricane number 22 of the hurricane-season and that's a record. Last time there were 21 hurricanes at that was in 1933, so that was a while ago. Oh, and last year there were 'only' 15 hurricanes. So it's not like there is a trend. But last year there were also some very heavy hurricanes in Florida. But this year there were more and more devistating.
Like hurricane Katrina that left a devistating track in New Orleans. That's the most well known from this year. But don't forget before Katrina there were also enough hurricanes. But since Katrina everyone helds an eye on hurricane near some area's, especially around the USA. That's why the USA was probarly that good prepared for Hurricane Rita. Rita went just past New Orleans and went ashore in Texas. Towns were destroyed, but there weren't as many deads and 'damage' as in New Orleans. Meanwhile on the other side of the world near the Pacific hurricane Stan made a path of destruction. Again like Rita this hurricane got a lot of attention. Then while the habbitants of New Orleans and the hit city's in Texas and the Pacific were building up everything. And a new hurricane was born that got a lot of attention. Hurricane Wilma.
Wilma made a bow went a near-miss by Cuba. Hit Mexico very hard. And then hit Florida were everyone was prepared. Cancún was hit hard by Wilma. Some foreign tourists were hit. The newspapers here in the Netherlands were full of stories of people that were "hit" by Katrina, Rita and Wilma.
On the news on television there were also stories like that. And people that said they had 'knowledge' of hurricanes. Meanwhile they have as much of knowledge of hurricanes like me and you. But meanwhile people forget hurricanes that had hit the USA before hurricanes, like hurricane Andrew and hurricane Mitch (South-America). They were on number 5 hurricane. Those number are based like earthquakes (Richter), tornado's (Fuji) and warmth (Celcius/Fahrenheit) on a scale people made. The hurricane one is Saffir/Simpson. And a number one already reachs windspeeds from around 125 kilometres per hour. A number five can do 250 kilometres per hour. Hurricane Wilma was that fast, but it was also big. There was even that if you were in the eye of the storm, that you was out of the wind for like 5 hours.
What will the next months bring? I remember that last year had some pretty hard storms on the last months. Will it happen again? I think with this year everything is possible? And next year? Even more hurricanes? I don't know. If you see that in 1933 there were 21 hurricanes and that has been the record since then? That probarly means it's gonna decrease. Also if you look that last year had 'only' 15 hurricanes, I think the USA and the Pacfic will be pretty safe. But then again I am not working for the Hurricane Center, neither am I studying for weatherman. I am just studying to be a journalist, so I don't know a thing about how the weather acts. We will see next year. I just hope there are less.
This was our street just a few hours after Wilma passed through.
Not all neighborhoods were so fortunate as to keep the tops of their trees.
This sign bit the Big Burger.
I don't know what that thing was, but it blew off the top of a shopping center.
WHEW!
We could finally feel her. Not to take any storm too lightly -- I enjoy them in all their power and majesty, but I respect them, believe me -- we here on the southwest coast of Florida had grown edgy while waiting for Wilma. Many people had evacuated long before Sunday night, when her first winds started to let us know she was making a grand entrance.
A hurricane doesn't generally just show up, as you know if you watch The Weather Channel. Jim Cantore, Stephanie Abrams, and all that gang will be out getting sprinkled and breezed a bit, keeping you "ahead of the storm" while sharing what we locals are doing about it.
For my family, we boarded up and got our papers together. Laundry was all done. Food was portable. Just in case we had to scoot. But we didn't. Instead, we waited. The storm was headed south of us, making us in the "good" part of the storm: the northern left quadrant.
The winds were just starting to whistle a little as we got the boys to bed and settled in ourselves to watch TWC until we fell asleep. We didn't know if we'd have power or cable or anything when we awoke.
I woke up at a little after two in the morning. Yep, we still had power and oh, boy, was Wilma ever around. Rain was knocking on my office door, since it faced right into the storm. It didn't just patter, no. Patter is too soft a word. The rain pounded, drumming on the door as if there were a thousand angry faeries trying to get in from the storm. I could just see them, wings bristling and enormous frowns on tiny faces. I got up and jogged across the house to make sure that rain hadn't invaded my office (Oh! My computer!) or seeped under the door. Nope, all was well.
I then made myself a cup of tea. While it was steeping, I took my camera outside to try to catch an image or two. Yep, I went out into a hurricane in a flannel nightgown. I must have looked...odd. But don't worry...Wilma hadn't made landfall. Yet.
I snuggled with my tea (red ginger!) and watched the guys and gals on The Weather Channel. The angry sprites continued to try to gain entrance to my office, and wind occasionally screamed through the small spaces between the 2 x 4 braces Spousal Unit had attached under some of the windows and the plywood that was used to protect the glass.
Oddly enough, I dozed off sometime around four in the morning. Woke up again at half past five to hear that -- according to TWC, Wilma was making landfall. Well of course, up I go with my camera to try to take another picture. That was...interesting. I had mostly dried off from the time before, but not entirely, and the wind was...wild! :) My daddy always said that I didn't have sense to come in from out of the rain. And he was right. ;)
I didn't get any really good pictures until the sky lightened up. By then, we were catching the hind-end of Wilma. I could make all sorts of crude jokes concerning that wind, but...I'll refrain. The departing winds were stronger, here, than the oncoming, however.
Thus she came and thus she left. Hours after the eye passed south of us, all was sunny, clear and cool here near the Caloosahatchee River. But the debris...was everywhere. Thankfully, in our neighborhood, no one lost roofs anything, but there were screens ripped (off!) and branches strewn in the road. We all have power on the street, now, and no generators grind during the day.
Oh, someone asked what we did during and after the storm after we lost cable. I read books and my guys...ready?...my guys played on the Playstation and watched movies.
I guess I can go put all those papers away, now. Tropical Storm Beta is named and heading to Nicaragua. Let's hope that we don't have to delve further into the Greek alphabet before the season is over.
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