Most people that live in North Florida haven’t been through a hurricane landfall. Though storms that cross the state from the gulf do affect us and we get “outer bands” of storms that hit further north, most North Floridians don’t really know what living through the aftermath of a major hurricane is like.
I do.
My dad was a single dad of three, stationed on Homestead Air Force Base back in August of 1992 when I was fourteen years old.
We waited at home while he battened down the hatches at work. As the oldest of the kids, it was my responsibility to get the house ready. We didn’t even know if the Air Force was going to let him evacuate.
I remember my dad instructed me to tape up the windows. I used duct tape and covered every square inch of my bedroom window with the thick green tape. When he called to check on us, I told him that taping the window was taking a long time and we might run out of tape.
He said, “it shouldn’t take long to put a big X on each window.”
Oh.
So I put big X’s on the rest of the windows.
Hours later, most of it spent watching the Weather Channel, Dad came home and loaded the three of us, and our dog, into the car. We were out of there.
The trip from south to north Florida typically takes six hours. This trip took over twelve hours.
We could roll down the windows on the parking lot that was I-95 and chit chat with our actual neighbors stuck in traffic beside us. We all evacuated at the same time. Lines for gas stations were almost a mile long. All the highways were adjusted to be Northbound for the evacuation. There was no going “south” on 95 that day.
I can now truly admire my Dad’s calm and patience on that grueling drive. Three bickering kids and an air conditioning hog of a mutt in one car stuck in EPIC traffic. I get frustrated waiting at the light at the end of my street when the kids are bickering.
We woke up the next day to learn that Homestead took a direct hit from Hurricane Andrew, a category 5 storm. Our housing area was devastated.
We lost everything. Well, almost everything.
Remember that duct tape on my bedroom window? My bedroom was the only one with the roof still on it. The tape didn’t protect my stuff from the storm surge but my furniture didn’t end up in the yard, either. The rest of our furniture was blown outside or carried by the surge into our yard.
The car my dad inherited when his mother passed just a month or so earlier was picked up and flung a couple of blocks down the street.
Even this many years later, my old neighborhood is an overgrown field. If you look closely you can still see the roads peeking from the underbrush. We used to play there. We rollerbladed and rode our bikes through that now empty expanse. We laughed and roamed with our friends. We had a life there and in one day it was irrevocably torn into bits of trash strewn about the yard.
[bctt tweet=”I’m not a hurricane party sort of person. The aftermath of a hurricane is no cause for celebration. ” username=”GymCraftLaundry”]
I’m a mother now. It is my job to do what my Dad did–to calmly handle a life-changing crisis with the aplomb that he demonstrated. He made my transition from hurricane refugee to a new high school student as smooth as he could. I can only imagine the stress and worry he went through. My dad grabbed his kids and headed home. However, in this day and age there are a few things that should be easy to grab and bring when your family leaves.
The most important things, with the exception of my family, are the family documents. I keep a family binder that is easy to grab and stuff in a bag. It has important papers in it and might just be the only thing I keep organized.
I don’t have a pretty cover on my binder. It isn’t labeled “IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS” or even “FAMILY BINDER.” It is unlabeled because it is valuable and I wouldn’t want a burglar to ever see and it grab it. Right now it’s a binder tossed amongst a bunch of other office stuff and similar binders.
And if I only had time to grab one thing in addition to my kids, that would be it.
I have a Hurricane kit packed and ready to go. It’s about time that I go through it and make sure it is up to date. Check out The National Hurricane Center’s Preparedness website, they are the experts after all.
What natural disasters do you prepare for in your neck of the woods?
Like prep lists? Check this one out Over ten important tips for preparing for a hurricane on a budget.
Wow I had NO idea! THat must have been devastating. Myhusband’s family lost everything in Andrew. So glad you are prepared!
Kristen recently posted…September is National Preparedness Month
I grew up in New Jersey so preparing was definitely important. While I was there, I don’t remember any hurricane as devastating as Sandy. My husband, son and I had already moved to Arizona by the time they were hit with that one. But what you are saying I’m sure has become even more important for people in even that area after being hit so hard with that hurricane. I definitely had to share this one! 🙂
Brittnei recently posted…Swim Your Way to a Healthier Heart!
Thanks for sharing Brittnei! Most people get so used to storms “missing” that they are unprepared when they do actually strike home.
Love the binder idea. I’ve done the same with a small file box for two reasons: 1. To keep everything important organized and together, and 2. If something like what you talk about in your post were to happen, I have the chance to just grab it and go as well. Great reminder to keep these things in mind and be as prepared as possible.
That’s awful – thank God your father kept his cool so swiftly.. I couldn’t even imagine that kind of devastation.. I mean we’ve experienced a few hurricanes here in Northern Virginia but nothing like that.. It’s mostly a lot of heavy winds that break trees and such. I’ve been fortunate to never have experienced such natural disaster devastation such as that. Thankfully, you were all out of there quickly and even through all the traffic, made it safely to FL. Hmm It’s good for the most part all my important documents and such is kept in one place so I’d know where to go to grab it. Still a scary thought though.. Have a great one Herchel and thanks for sharing! -Iva
AwesomelyOZ recently posted…GTFO: World Cup 2014 Biggest Babies
So scary, we don’t have hurricanes here but we do have tornados. I have never even thought about making a binder with our important info but it is a really good idea! Thanks for the idea!
For me the scariest part of the hurricane are the tornadoes that often accompany them! A tornado is what threw my grandma’s car we think.
I’m from earthquake country and when I moved away to college my mom gave me an emergency kit that contained snacks, I ate through it in the first month of school lol and have since been awful at keeping one! This post reminds me that I need to be better! Thank you!
I was awful about until I had kids! It’s easy to get complacent when it isn’t something that happens often or consistently :/
Great reminder. I don’t have hurricanes where I live, but we do have tornadoes and floods. Isn’t nature scary sometimes?
Definitely. It shows us how little control we have of our surroundings. Every area has their own risk!
I live in the Midwest and I am terrified of tornadoes. I was really disappointed to buy a house without a basement. I should be more prepared than I am. I have a jump-drive with pictures on it that I grab when we go to the neighbors. I also have all my pictures backed up on CD’s in our safe.
That’s a great idea! I need to do that with mine. I have them on am external drive that I would forget.
We’ve never had to prepare for hurricanes, but tornadoes (which you can’t really prepare for!) happen pretty regularly here. I am a dope and STILL don’t have any binders with our important documents, etc. lol They’re all in our file cabinet, but not together…
Anyway, my mom was always calm when tornadoes hit (where I grew up in Michigan) and it helped me so much. Now, *I’m* the calm one during the storm! 🙂
Great post – found you on the Mommy Bloggers Share FB group. If you’re interested, I created another group for mommy bloggers and we’d love for you to join! It’s a lot of fun. 🙂 https://www.facebook.com/groups/1470124389901249/
Valerie recently posted…Guest Post ~ The Importance of Staying Hydrated
Thanks Valerie! I am terrified if tornados lol. It helps to have a calm parent. Kids are so influenced by our emotions.
So sorry to hear about your dad’s house! It must have been scary. It’s always good to be prepared. Which reminds me, I need to check our Emergency bag, the last time I stuffed it with useless papers out of panic. Pfft
Jhanis recently posted…10 Reasons Why I Think Rotaractors are Cool
Mine has been sitting in my closet for a year lol