My family and I were recently vacationing in the state of Florida when Tropical Storm Fay approached and hit (and stuck around for a week). I watched as precautionary measures for the safety of the public were being made—city workers sucking out debris from storm drains to minimize the expected flooding. But sadly, the deaths of eleven Floridians are to be blamed on Fay’s flooding (as well as 1 death in Georgia, one in Alabama and 23 in Haiti and the Dominican Republic).
And through it all I found myself periodically flipping through the hotel’s TV channels, finding station after station tracking the progress of Fay, and wondered if we would be able to get out and enjoy the remainder of our vacation…or even make it out of Florida safely!
I’ll never forget the nervousness of waiting on the airport tarmac for takeoff, with seatbelt fastened (and a bursting bladder to boot!) for an hour as the winds knocked the plane around and the rain pelted down. The lady next to me asked if I needed to make a connecting flight. I didn’t. Later I heard 150 flights were either delayed or cancelled…we were lucky. And then, when the fasten seatbelt sign came on during the flight and the pilot announced we would be flying through a portion of the storm…let’s just say it was nerve-wracking to be bounced around like that and feel your stomach drop! UGGG!
This past Sunday when President Bush declared some Florida counties as major disaster areas, Fay had weakened to a tropical depression that was still expected to dump at least a foot of rain along its path and possibly drop tornadoes.
Considering my family and I had left the Florida Keys a day or so before the tourist evacuation order was given because of the approaching hurricane, and we also left Miami a few hours before a tornado hit that area, and the worst we experienced was severe winds and pelting rain (which was still warm, by the way)…I’d say someone above was looking after us!
Stay tuned for more Blog posts on my Florida adventure!
Melanie Hack
Author of Who Killed My Sister, My friend
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