Hurricane Wilma

Hurricane Wilma came and went, but the recovery is just beginning.  As I type this, I am one of the very few fortunate to have my electricity back.  It is Tuesday, October 25, 2005 (at least I think it is!), but I am sure you won’t be reading this for days.  I wanted to get my thoughts and experiences down while they are still fresh in my mind, although it is something I will never forget!  
     Wilma was supposed to come through as a Category 1 when it hit the East Coast of Florida.  It was supposed to be a fast moving, non rain event.  Well, as compared to how long it hung out in Mexico, it was fast moving, and pretty much a non rain event, but, unfortunately it came in as, and stayed pretty much a Category 3 as it ravaged the East Coast.  Around midnight Sunday night, the winds began to pick up.  Around 2am, I managed to get my son to sleep, and I too fell asleep for about 30 minutes.  Somewhere around 3 am, the winds got stronger, howling through the cracks in the windows and doors making relaxing impossible.  Some how I was able to keep my satellite picture on my t.v. as well as my power, so I could watch the storm move on to the West coast just South of Marco Island.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with hurricanes, there is a “clean side” and a “dirty side” to a storm.  The “dirty side” is the NE quadrant of the storm and this is the side that Dade County got.  The eye wall is the strongest part, but next to that is the “dirty side”.  Around 7:30 am, the power went out, and the winds began to really blow.  It was still dark, and you couldn’t see what was going on outside, you could only hear.  Things banged against the walls, the wind blew so hard that the rain literally came through the wooden front door, the window next to the door buckled, and at many points I thought we would lose that window.  The sliding glass doors in my living room buckled as well, with the wind coming through the gap between the doors.  Daylight finally came, and my son and I could actually see what was happening outside – I think we were better off not knowing!  Roof shingles littered my yard, unbeknownst to me that they were all mine!  My privacy fence wiggled like a loose tooth, finally giving way and collapsing.  The wind swirled in front of our eyes, picking up debris and tossing it across the yard.  The American Flag that was attached to my house whipped in the wind, sounding like a machine gun being fired.  Looking out the front window you could see things flying by.  At one point we saw a kid’s ball fly from the back of the house to the front, and then two minutes later, it flew from the front of the house to the back (we later found that same ball about 2 blocks away).  My neighbor left a carpet remnant outside, and that flew by only to come back towards his house, wrapping itself around my mailbox and knocking it down.  My van was parked where it always is during a hurricane, against my house, and out of view from the window, so I had no idea if it was damaged.  With as much debris that was flying around, I just knew I had lost a window or three out of it. Finally, just before noon on Monday, my son and I were able to venture out to assess the damage, and to check on our neighbors.  The first thing I did was hug my van – it survived, no broken windows, only a few cuts and scrapes!  Then I held my breath and looked at my roof.  It was then that it dawned on me that all those shingles that littered my yard were mine.  Ironically, my roof had just been fixed after Hurricane Katrina this past Tuesday.  The patches that the roofers put on were there, but not much more than that.  I now have a black roof!  Hopefully we won’t get any rain for a while, as I am not sure if it will leak.  As my son and I wandered around the neighborhood, we saw many trees and fences down, shingles missing off of houses, but for the most part the damage was not that bad (as compared to this neighborhood after Andrew, and New Orleans after Katrina).  Luckily we had no flooding this go round, all in all we were very lucky.  My parents made out ok too, losing some shingles, and having their neighbor’s aluminum carport/patio litter their yard and trap their truck between the debris and the house.  Luckily their truck managed to escape with only a few dents and scratches.  My Uncle also escaped major damage.  My cousin had a tree or two fall on his house causing broken windows, and roof damage, but he, his wife, and his son were all ok, and that is the most important thing – everyone came out of this alive.  
     School has been canceled for the entire week, so the neighborhood kids are thrilled – little do they know that they will have to make up some of these days.  With this storm, it is a total of 10 days of school closure due to storms this year (so far).  They only allow for a few “hurricane days”, so some will have to be made up.  Fortunately we don’t have to worry about “snow days”, but with the weather being as wacky as it has this year, you just never know!
     This storm reminds the residents of South Florida that Mother Nature is nothing to mess with.  Prepare as you may, when a storm like Wilma blows through, you may be physically ready, but you are never mentally prepared for what is in store.   I, unfortunately, was here for Andrew, and remember all too well the mental anguish we all went through while trying to recover.  Dealing with power outages, the oppressive heat that came after Andrew (we are fortunate this time that it is cool), trying to reach insurance agents, finding a reliable contractor, and the time it took to rebuild.  We were all short of our sanity by the time it was all said and done.  Hopefully this time will be a bit easier.  All I know is that I don’t want to have to deal with this again, I am getting too old, and very much too tired of it all.  How’s the weather in Arizona??