HURRICANE PREPAREDNESS

A few days ago when it became obvious that we would be affected by Hurricane Helene, I started to prepare. All the forecasts were showing that here, in Northeast Florida, we would be well away from the center of the storm and should expect Tropical Storm force winds.

I’ve been down this road many time before and have a fair idea of what to expect. I already have boats and kayaks tied down and well secured. Outdoor furniture is tied up so it can’t get blown into the brush or into the river. I have adequate dried and canned food in case of a long term power outage or my access road being flooded ( which is a fairly common occurrence on Deer Island, where I live ) I make plenty of ice in my freezer so I can keep both freezer and fridge cold for a long time without power. 

I collect rainwater and have 350 gallons that is pumped up to my kitchen sink with a foot pump, I also have a 4 person hot tub so have plenty of water for flushing toilets. As far as lighting goes for when the power is out, I use solar path lights, stuck into short sections of 2×4’s that provide plenty of light without candles, kerosene or batteries. In a real pinch, since I live on the St. Johns River, I can take a dip to clean up. The river is brackish, so it’s not ideal, but better than no shower at all. 

Helene was expected to hit with the highest winds we would see at about 9:00 PM and be pretty much finished up by dawn. I guess that there is some kind of rule that storms ALWAYS  have to come at night. Anyway, I went to bed, and the wind was getting gusty. About 11:00 PM the power went out. It’s funny, what woke me up was my ceiling fan turning off….the absence of that white noise disturbing my sleep. I just laid in bed for a while trying to decide whether I should open up the door from my bedroom to my screened in porch to get some cooler air in. I eventually did, knowing that the 10’ deep porch would keep any rain from getting into the bedroom, particularly considering the wind direction. 

When I opened up the sliding glass door, I was greeted by a little bit of wind noise and he sound of several generators already cranked up. I was puzzled WHY anyone would feel the need to run a generator as the clock ticked close to midnight. A/C? Well, maybe, but it was about 70 degrees outside and cool enough to not need it. Still, I went back to bed hoping that the sound of the generators would let me sleep. Alas, it was not to be. Along with some anxiety over what kind of damage I could expect, the generator noise just grated on my nerves. I’m sure that I slept some, but not much. Next morning I put my coffee on, as usual, grateful for my gas stove, so I was able to cook. I sat out on my porch and surveyed what damage I could see as the morning light started to illuminate things. Dock was still there, boats were still there, no trees down, just lots of limbs, branches and Spanish moss. One by one, more generators fired up to join the cacophony, like malevolent crickets with public address systems. 

Soon, I finished up my coffee, and the rain that proved to be the last of the storm subsided, giving way to a clearing day with hints of blue sky showing themselves. 

I put on my work clothes and went out to walk Roo, my dog, and survey the damage to the neighborhood. About what I expected, lots of tree debris, some power lines down and not much more. We had escaped any major damage without even any flooding, which is unusual as Deer Island floods easily, even on full moon high tides, if there’s an easterly breeze from the ocean. 

It seemed that every house was running a generator by 9 AM, noise and exhaust fumes filling the air. It was going to be a long day. I had charged up all my battery powered tools, hoping to avoid the need for a chainsaw for cleaning my property up, i went back to my house to feed Roo, and myself before starting cleanup work. I had every door and some windows open, keeping the temperature inside fairly comfortable. After some fruit and yogurt I ventured out into the noise filled air to get started on my cleanup. I started to get pissed off at the needless noise, WHY can’t people go for a few hours or a day without electricity? I knew the answer was for the A/C and computers and TV’s and countless other things that people feel are essential. 

As the day wore on, my nerves frazzled. The din of generators was getting to me. I drove to the Publix ( grocery store ) to buy something ready to eat for dinner and charge my phone in the truck. When I returned home, I went out to my boathouse, about 500 feet from shore, wanting the cool air and sunset to mellow me out before I faced another powerless, generator dominated night, Just as the sun was giving up it’s last rays and i was settling into my chair on the porch, with my solar path light next me…there was a flicker! Then another and another! The ceiling fan on my porch started to reluctantly spin, as if waking up arthritically. THE POWER WAS BACK ON! I WOULDN’T HAVE TO LISTEN TO GENERATORS TONIGHT!!!!! 

I went around the house making sure what was supposed to be turned on, was and what was supposed to be off was, indeed off. A smoke detector squealed in delight, shifting from it’s 9 volt power source to good ol’ Murican 120 volts as God had intended, The A/C started droning, promising to catch up to its 78 degree goal in short order as the water heater struggled with the opposing task of 20 gallons of 125 degree water. 

I went back out onto the porch to listen to generators beginning to fall silent one by one and welcomed the sounds of silence. I understand that some people, for medical reason ABSOLUTELY MUST have power at all times, but the majority of people automatically go to a generator when there are other ways to get by for a day or two when the power goes out. 

I guess that I’m a little different, having lived on a boat for years in the islands, where you collect rainwater and generate power with a solar panel or wind generator and learn to minimize the need for power consumption. you learn the difference between GOOD ICE and Ice that won’t last very long. When I would drain the cold water from the melted ice in my cooler, I used that water to pre-chill everything that went into the cooler. The cooler on my boat had a 3” of refrigeration grade foam on all sides and bottom of it. the ice sat on a plexiglass shelf with holes so the ice wouldn’t sit in its own water and melt more quickly. A cooler full of GOOD ICE on my boat could last 10 days without melting all of the ice. I kept one side of the deck on my boat extremely clean and opened up the water fill tube so that, when it rained, water from half of the decks and cabin ran into the water tanks. I rarely had to bring water to my boat. I would get on and off the boat on the “dirty” side so as to never pollute my water. I washed my dishes and utensils with sea water, pumped into my sink by a foot pump and only used the fresh water to rinse off the salt. 

I wish that Americans would be more cognizant of their energy usage.