Freaking Out
Sep. 9th, 2017 11:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
geeklover80I'm in Florida (around West-Central FL) and waiting around for Hurricane Irma. I've definitely spent many parts of the last couple of days in a near panic and close to tears. I barely slept last night. We don't have cable, but I've been watching some coverage on YouTube and reading about it. At certain points, I just want to stop and bury my head in the sand because all of the news is freaking me out more. But I can't do that because have to know what's going on. I've taken a lot of breaks though.
I've actually been fairly lucky. I've lived in FL most of my life and the only major hurricane I've really experienced was Hurrican Andrew when I was a pre-teen. We were lucky though because we didn't live in the area hurt the worst by Hurrican Andrew - our house barely had any damage. But it was a major production getting prepared for it and riding it out with all of us sleeping in the living room.
I think I've experienced two more - though I guess they must have been on the minor side since I barely remember them. I was living with my sister and I remember we had a power outage and we had to fill buckets with water and wait until we knew if we could use the water safely. But other than that I don't think there was any damage. Another time I was staying with my mother and Will in their apartment. There was another power outage. Will tried to plug into the generator for the apartment building and we had some power for awhile until they cut him off. I think the power outage then lasted a day and a half, but - again - other than that it wasn't bad.
I think that's why for the most part I've been pretty lackadaisical about being prepared for hurricanes. Even when they talk about it on the news and mention they think one might be hitting here, I don't panic because most of the time they don't end up being that bad. But after Harvey and with how dire they're being on the news about Irma, I'm freaked. After Harvey, I'm worried about flooding and worried about wind damage. Though Greg told Michael that our area doesn't flood too badly and Jean said our roof is fairly new. I know that we need to be prepared even though I'm hoping my "luck" with hurricanes holds out now.
Micahel seems to share that lack of urgency, even now. He's lived in FL for about 7-8 years and never experienced a hurricane so he's unfazed by it. He thinks it's not that big a deal. We had a discussion about it when we were talking about whether or not to move to Maryland or stay in FL. I was worried about potential hurricanes and Mike said it was a non-factor for him. When we moved to the new house and I worried about the big tree in front, again, he didn't think it was a big deal and said the tree was too strong anyway.
At the beginning of the week, we didn't really talk about the hurricane too much. We were somewhat prepared. We already had plenty of water and a lot of canned goods. We have some batteries and a flashlight (though it is pretty small.) We have a ton of candles. Around Wednesday, Mike came home and he said he'd read that the hurricane was projected to move east and we would experience a lot of the wind and about three inches of rain, but it wouldn't be too bad. I talked to my sister and she said that the direction could change, which I knew. So I didn't feel as calm as Michael.
My mom had texted me and suggested we go to my aunt's in Orlando. I wasn't sure if my aunt would even be staying at her house because she lives alone and I thought it might be worse in Orlando, but I still told Michael about my mom's suggestion. Mike said no. He said if I wanted to go I could but he wanted to stay and protect the house. He said if the house started to take in water, he wanted to be able to unplug the electronics and move them higher. He half joked about the house being filled with water. I asked what could he possibly do if the house filled with water and he said he'd just go to the roof with the tv or that it didn't really matter that he could swim. I think the tv on the roof comment was a joke (had to be) but he was mostly serious about swimming. I said he couldn't really wade around in flood water because it would be contaminated. I didn't really explain it very well so he didn't really pay attention.
On Thursday, I asked him about getting boards or shutters for the windows but he said he thought it was too late. By Friday, he seemed to be taking it somewhat more seriously. He bought a lot more food and he came with a bunch of cardboard from work and masking tape. He taped up the windows and was using cardboard. I thought that was not the greatest idea, plywood is stronger than cardboard. But it was better than nothing. Even though he had a lot of cardboard he only boarded up the windows in our room. Thankfully, our house is relatively small and it doesn't have that many windows.
After he did that my mom sent me this article about if the bathroom was the safest room in the house to hide out in. The article mentioned that taping up your windows is probably the worst thing you could do, which just heightened my anxiety.
I did manage to get gas relatively easy. I left early for work to try and find gas but all of the places around were out. After work, I decided to stop by somewhere closer to Jean and Greg's. It's a smaller gas station and even though it's on one of the main roads, it's sort of hidden. I did find gas there and didn't have to wait too long - just for about 10-15 minutes. It was also nice that they had someone who worked at the gas station directing traffic and telling people where to go; I didn't see that at other stations.
On Friday night, we did try and go to the movies because Mike has been dying to see the new It movie since he saw the trailer. We drove past the theater and assumed it would still be open Friday night. My work closed for the weekend and so did Mike's job but they were still running on Friday. But when we came back another couple told us the theater was closed. A sign on the door said it would be closed Friday and Saturday, which made no sense to us since the worst of the storm is supposed to be on Sunday and Monday.
It's been so nerve-wracking because they still seem to not have a clear idea of where this is going to land. It doesn't appear that my area will experience the eye of the storm, but things are still up in the air. I thought about potentially asking Mike if we shouldn't go over to his mom's house. I'm not exactly sure if it would be safer there. Their house is somewhat of a lightning magnet. A couple of years ago the tv got fried when the house got struck by lightning. Right after we moved they had another lightning incident and I think part of the sidewalk got cracked. They also have a huge pond in the backyard and lots of potential debris there.
But, still part of me wants to go because with how unpredictable - and big - this storm is, it's not the storm I want to be our first taking on by ourselves. Also, I feel there could be safety in numbers. We had a lot of people in the house during Andrew and it made me feel a little better. Another big thing is they have a generator at the house. I'm worried about the power going out and how long that will last. I don't want us to not have a way to really find out what's going on. We both have our phones and we have a portable cell phone charger, but I don't know how long our phones will last. And, if the power goes out, the wifi will probably go with it. We can usually use our smartphones even without wifi because it has LTE, but sometimes that doesn't always work that well.
I didn't get a chance to ask him about going to Jean and Greg's because my mom beat me to it. She said she asked him about it and he said no. Once again, he said I could go if I wanted to but he wanted to stay at the house. he said he wasn't scared at all. He really has been almost freakishly calm about this while I have been a nervous wreck all day. We watched news coverage this morning, but it didn't alarm him. He's been out gardening and talking about how nice the weather is. Right now, he's sleeping like a baby. Normally, he's a very light sleeper and just the slightest movement or sound causes him to wake up, but I had the tv on and got up a couple of times and he barely moved.
To his credit, he's definitely noticed how nervous I am and has tried to cheer me up. After he taped up the windows he showed me where he thought the safest parts of the house would be and he said that the walls surrounding our room are made of concrete so it should hold up well (I know nothing of architecture, but that made me feel a little better.) He bought sangria, which is awesome. I may try and get drunk so I can worry less tomorrow. He's cracked a lot of jokes and tried to put me more at ease.
I am a little calmer than I was this morning. It helps that Irma's gone from category 5 to a category 3 (though one "cheery" article I read said that doesn't matter because Katrina was a category 3 and that was the worst hurricane in history.) It's helped me that our area did not have a mandatory evacuation. I watched the news a couple of hours ago and right now my county seems to be forecasted to have the least amount of wind. There were some counties that had an estimate of 90-125 mph winds but mine is predicted to have 75-95. That's still bad but considering this morning we were looking at 155 mph, that is much better. We're predicted right now to possibly get 6-10 inches of rain and have a storm surge of 3-6 ft.
Part of me just wants this to be over with, but I try not to even think that because the last time I had that thought it was just before the election in November and we all know how horribly that turned out.
Stacey
I've actually been fairly lucky. I've lived in FL most of my life and the only major hurricane I've really experienced was Hurrican Andrew when I was a pre-teen. We were lucky though because we didn't live in the area hurt the worst by Hurrican Andrew - our house barely had any damage. But it was a major production getting prepared for it and riding it out with all of us sleeping in the living room.
I think I've experienced two more - though I guess they must have been on the minor side since I barely remember them. I was living with my sister and I remember we had a power outage and we had to fill buckets with water and wait until we knew if we could use the water safely. But other than that I don't think there was any damage. Another time I was staying with my mother and Will in their apartment. There was another power outage. Will tried to plug into the generator for the apartment building and we had some power for awhile until they cut him off. I think the power outage then lasted a day and a half, but - again - other than that it wasn't bad.
I think that's why for the most part I've been pretty lackadaisical about being prepared for hurricanes. Even when they talk about it on the news and mention they think one might be hitting here, I don't panic because most of the time they don't end up being that bad. But after Harvey and with how dire they're being on the news about Irma, I'm freaked. After Harvey, I'm worried about flooding and worried about wind damage. Though Greg told Michael that our area doesn't flood too badly and Jean said our roof is fairly new. I know that we need to be prepared even though I'm hoping my "luck" with hurricanes holds out now.
Micahel seems to share that lack of urgency, even now. He's lived in FL for about 7-8 years and never experienced a hurricane so he's unfazed by it. He thinks it's not that big a deal. We had a discussion about it when we were talking about whether or not to move to Maryland or stay in FL. I was worried about potential hurricanes and Mike said it was a non-factor for him. When we moved to the new house and I worried about the big tree in front, again, he didn't think it was a big deal and said the tree was too strong anyway.
At the beginning of the week, we didn't really talk about the hurricane too much. We were somewhat prepared. We already had plenty of water and a lot of canned goods. We have some batteries and a flashlight (though it is pretty small.) We have a ton of candles. Around Wednesday, Mike came home and he said he'd read that the hurricane was projected to move east and we would experience a lot of the wind and about three inches of rain, but it wouldn't be too bad. I talked to my sister and she said that the direction could change, which I knew. So I didn't feel as calm as Michael.
My mom had texted me and suggested we go to my aunt's in Orlando. I wasn't sure if my aunt would even be staying at her house because she lives alone and I thought it might be worse in Orlando, but I still told Michael about my mom's suggestion. Mike said no. He said if I wanted to go I could but he wanted to stay and protect the house. He said if the house started to take in water, he wanted to be able to unplug the electronics and move them higher. He half joked about the house being filled with water. I asked what could he possibly do if the house filled with water and he said he'd just go to the roof with the tv or that it didn't really matter that he could swim. I think the tv on the roof comment was a joke (had to be) but he was mostly serious about swimming. I said he couldn't really wade around in flood water because it would be contaminated. I didn't really explain it very well so he didn't really pay attention.
On Thursday, I asked him about getting boards or shutters for the windows but he said he thought it was too late. By Friday, he seemed to be taking it somewhat more seriously. He bought a lot more food and he came with a bunch of cardboard from work and masking tape. He taped up the windows and was using cardboard. I thought that was not the greatest idea, plywood is stronger than cardboard. But it was better than nothing. Even though he had a lot of cardboard he only boarded up the windows in our room. Thankfully, our house is relatively small and it doesn't have that many windows.
After he did that my mom sent me this article about if the bathroom was the safest room in the house to hide out in. The article mentioned that taping up your windows is probably the worst thing you could do, which just heightened my anxiety.
I did manage to get gas relatively easy. I left early for work to try and find gas but all of the places around were out. After work, I decided to stop by somewhere closer to Jean and Greg's. It's a smaller gas station and even though it's on one of the main roads, it's sort of hidden. I did find gas there and didn't have to wait too long - just for about 10-15 minutes. It was also nice that they had someone who worked at the gas station directing traffic and telling people where to go; I didn't see that at other stations.
On Friday night, we did try and go to the movies because Mike has been dying to see the new It movie since he saw the trailer. We drove past the theater and assumed it would still be open Friday night. My work closed for the weekend and so did Mike's job but they were still running on Friday. But when we came back another couple told us the theater was closed. A sign on the door said it would be closed Friday and Saturday, which made no sense to us since the worst of the storm is supposed to be on Sunday and Monday.
It's been so nerve-wracking because they still seem to not have a clear idea of where this is going to land. It doesn't appear that my area will experience the eye of the storm, but things are still up in the air. I thought about potentially asking Mike if we shouldn't go over to his mom's house. I'm not exactly sure if it would be safer there. Their house is somewhat of a lightning magnet. A couple of years ago the tv got fried when the house got struck by lightning. Right after we moved they had another lightning incident and I think part of the sidewalk got cracked. They also have a huge pond in the backyard and lots of potential debris there.
But, still part of me wants to go because with how unpredictable - and big - this storm is, it's not the storm I want to be our first taking on by ourselves. Also, I feel there could be safety in numbers. We had a lot of people in the house during Andrew and it made me feel a little better. Another big thing is they have a generator at the house. I'm worried about the power going out and how long that will last. I don't want us to not have a way to really find out what's going on. We both have our phones and we have a portable cell phone charger, but I don't know how long our phones will last. And, if the power goes out, the wifi will probably go with it. We can usually use our smartphones even without wifi because it has LTE, but sometimes that doesn't always work that well.
I didn't get a chance to ask him about going to Jean and Greg's because my mom beat me to it. She said she asked him about it and he said no. Once again, he said I could go if I wanted to but he wanted to stay at the house. he said he wasn't scared at all. He really has been almost freakishly calm about this while I have been a nervous wreck all day. We watched news coverage this morning, but it didn't alarm him. He's been out gardening and talking about how nice the weather is. Right now, he's sleeping like a baby. Normally, he's a very light sleeper and just the slightest movement or sound causes him to wake up, but I had the tv on and got up a couple of times and he barely moved.
To his credit, he's definitely noticed how nervous I am and has tried to cheer me up. After he taped up the windows he showed me where he thought the safest parts of the house would be and he said that the walls surrounding our room are made of concrete so it should hold up well (I know nothing of architecture, but that made me feel a little better.) He bought sangria, which is awesome. I may try and get drunk so I can worry less tomorrow. He's cracked a lot of jokes and tried to put me more at ease.
I am a little calmer than I was this morning. It helps that Irma's gone from category 5 to a category 3 (though one "cheery" article I read said that doesn't matter because Katrina was a category 3 and that was the worst hurricane in history.) It's helped me that our area did not have a mandatory evacuation. I watched the news a couple of hours ago and right now my county seems to be forecasted to have the least amount of wind. There were some counties that had an estimate of 90-125 mph winds but mine is predicted to have 75-95. That's still bad but considering this morning we were looking at 155 mph, that is much better. We're predicted right now to possibly get 6-10 inches of rain and have a storm surge of 3-6 ft.
Part of me just wants this to be over with, but I try not to even think that because the last time I had that thought it was just before the election in November and we all know how horribly that turned out.
Stacey
