Friday, August 13, 2004
Bulletin: Eyewitness Florida hurricane report!
Friend of mine from Oklahoma just moved to Florida. Here is her report:
OKEECHOBEE, Fla. -- Hurricane tip for the day: Don't try to buy flashlights and batteries a few hours before the storm is supposed to hit. Sheesh. The Okeechobee Mall (that's what the locals call the WalMart here), was dang near out of everything.
I didn't think I'd really need them. I didn't think this was going to be that big of a deal. I should have got a clue yesterday afternoon when they canceled school for today. I just thought they were overreacting, I mean, geez, what could happen this far inland?
Well, let me tell you...
It rained off and on all day yesterday and then about 2 a.m., a real, honest-to-God storm started blowing. But I'm from Oklahoma, what's a storm to me? I mean, I do have a healthy respect for tornadoes, but you just turn the TV on, check out the doppler radar, see if there's a hook and then go to bed or crawl in the bathtub with a mattress.
Well, I turned the TV on and there was no doppler radar, no one breaking into regularly scheduled programming. There was a scroll along the bottom saying that Okeechobee was
experiencing a severe thunderstorm and under a tornado watch. I could have told them that just by looking out the window.
Then the next line caught my attention, and I quote, "This thunderstorm is severe and could drop tornadoes without warning." Without warning? Without even a little warning? How about a
radar picture? Where are the storm chasers? Isn't there a guy flying around in a helicopter? Where the hell is (Oklahoma City weatherman) Gary England?
Man, I never realized how sophisticated our stuff in Oklahoma was. I mean, Gary England could tell you what street the freakin' tornado was going to drop on.
Anyway, maybe it was my imagination, but the wind seemed to howl a little more, so I stayed up until about 5 until it died down. Then I got up at 8:30 this morning to walk the dog and look at the creek. It's up. It's definitely up. We've had rain every afternoon for the past three weeks -- it's just that time of year for Florida -- but it's definitely gone up since yesterday.
Then after I got back inside, I heard something else on the Weather Channel that kinda disturbed me. Apparently, even if power lines and electricity aren't knocked out in your area, sometimes they will turn the electricity off anyway to save the power grid. So even if you're miles away from the storm or any damage, your electricity could still be turned off. That's when
I decided to make the trip to the Okeechobee Mall this morning for batteries and more flashlights.
I also got the Big and Rich CD, which is great. It reminds me a little of Hank Williams Jr.'s good stuff when he was writing Southern Outlaw-type music. It even has a religious song on it, "Saved," which is very good.
It's supposed to get bad about 3 p.m. here. Should be an interesting day. If I were a little younger and didn't have a kid to be responsible for, this would be an excellent time to experience a hurricane party.
END
OKEECHOBEE, Fla. -- Hurricane tip for the day: Don't try to buy flashlights and batteries a few hours before the storm is supposed to hit. Sheesh. The Okeechobee Mall (that's what the locals call the WalMart here), was dang near out of everything.
I didn't think I'd really need them. I didn't think this was going to be that big of a deal. I should have got a clue yesterday afternoon when they canceled school for today. I just thought they were overreacting, I mean, geez, what could happen this far inland?
Well, let me tell you...
It rained off and on all day yesterday and then about 2 a.m., a real, honest-to-God storm started blowing. But I'm from Oklahoma, what's a storm to me? I mean, I do have a healthy respect for tornadoes, but you just turn the TV on, check out the doppler radar, see if there's a hook and then go to bed or crawl in the bathtub with a mattress.
Well, I turned the TV on and there was no doppler radar, no one breaking into regularly scheduled programming. There was a scroll along the bottom saying that Okeechobee was
experiencing a severe thunderstorm and under a tornado watch. I could have told them that just by looking out the window.
Then the next line caught my attention, and I quote, "This thunderstorm is severe and could drop tornadoes without warning." Without warning? Without even a little warning? How about a
radar picture? Where are the storm chasers? Isn't there a guy flying around in a helicopter? Where the hell is (Oklahoma City weatherman) Gary England?
Man, I never realized how sophisticated our stuff in Oklahoma was. I mean, Gary England could tell you what street the freakin' tornado was going to drop on.
Anyway, maybe it was my imagination, but the wind seemed to howl a little more, so I stayed up until about 5 until it died down. Then I got up at 8:30 this morning to walk the dog and look at the creek. It's up. It's definitely up. We've had rain every afternoon for the past three weeks -- it's just that time of year for Florida -- but it's definitely gone up since yesterday.
Then after I got back inside, I heard something else on the Weather Channel that kinda disturbed me. Apparently, even if power lines and electricity aren't knocked out in your area, sometimes they will turn the electricity off anyway to save the power grid. So even if you're miles away from the storm or any damage, your electricity could still be turned off. That's when
I decided to make the trip to the Okeechobee Mall this morning for batteries and more flashlights.
I also got the Big and Rich CD, which is great. It reminds me a little of Hank Williams Jr.'s good stuff when he was writing Southern Outlaw-type music. It even has a religious song on it, "Saved," which is very good.
It's supposed to get bad about 3 p.m. here. Should be an interesting day. If I were a little younger and didn't have a kid to be responsible for, this would be an excellent time to experience a hurricane party.
END
