...in the course of 6 or so weeks.
Let me tell you it's not fun. Some of us have developed what they call hurricane stress and/or hurricane fatigue.
Charley (Aug 13.)was the absolute worst for our area. Wind gusts of up to 110 mph is what did our pool enclosure and some roof shingles in. See my picture thread from a while back.
But the winds of Frances Sept 4, and Jeanne Sept. 25, blew off the nailed down tarps on the roof causing rain to come into the house each time and making us wonder how long our ceiling would hold out.
After Charley, when the power was out in the area for so long, the thing that I was amazed at was the gas lines. It was reminiscent of the gas shortage of the 70's. The problem was electricity is needed to run the pumps and the few stations that were open ran out of gas. And getting fuel into the area was a long time coming. We were afraid to travel long distances for fear of running out. Some folks were seen following tankers to gas stations.
My local grocery store, Publix, who were without power for several days after Charley had to throw all their parishables away. It was so sad to see the cold cut, meat, dairy and frozen food shelves empty on my first trip back.
Debris from Charley sat at my front walk for 5 weeks before being picked up by a company all the way from Minnesota! So we had to cover it up with tarps (which by then Home Depot was running out of) so as not to create flying missles when Frances came.
Missed school days here in Orange co is up to 10 I think. I lost count.
On the upside of all this is that we got to know our neighbors even better and it was amazing how we helped one another out! You also grow to appreciate how lucky we really are compared to some poor folks in manufactured homes, in low lying areas, and beach front homes who may never be able to rebuild.
Just one Floridian's take.
Leen
Let me tell you it's not fun. Some of us have developed what they call hurricane stress and/or hurricane fatigue.
Charley (Aug 13.)was the absolute worst for our area. Wind gusts of up to 110 mph is what did our pool enclosure and some roof shingles in. See my picture thread from a while back.
But the winds of Frances Sept 4, and Jeanne Sept. 25, blew off the nailed down tarps on the roof causing rain to come into the house each time and making us wonder how long our ceiling would hold out.
After Charley, when the power was out in the area for so long, the thing that I was amazed at was the gas lines. It was reminiscent of the gas shortage of the 70's. The problem was electricity is needed to run the pumps and the few stations that were open ran out of gas. And getting fuel into the area was a long time coming. We were afraid to travel long distances for fear of running out. Some folks were seen following tankers to gas stations.
My local grocery store, Publix, who were without power for several days after Charley had to throw all their parishables away. It was so sad to see the cold cut, meat, dairy and frozen food shelves empty on my first trip back.
Debris from Charley sat at my front walk for 5 weeks before being picked up by a company all the way from Minnesota! So we had to cover it up with tarps (which by then Home Depot was running out of) so as not to create flying missles when Frances came.
Missed school days here in Orange co is up to 10 I think. I lost count.
On the upside of all this is that we got to know our neighbors even better and it was amazing how we helped one another out! You also grow to appreciate how lucky we really are compared to some poor folks in manufactured homes, in low lying areas, and beach front homes who may never be able to rebuild.
Just one Floridian's take.
Leen
