I have to move fast. Heavy storms with a possible tornado. I’ve a jacket by with keys and will grab the dog’s leash if we need to seek shelter elsewhere.
Hallway, stairwell, underground garage, car. Right now I’m being told to not use and unplug any electrical equipment, not wash dishes or my hands or use the loo.
The windows have fogged up (I’m supposed to put down the shades) and I’ve only seen one small tornado, years ago up north. I’m not moving yet but do have my jacket, both sets of keys, purse and cell phone off electricity. The dog leash is right by the door.
I see lightning and thunder and have scanned the radar and hourly weather reports. We are now on the watch list. My husband flew an hour west yesterday. The storm hit him first, just talked to him a minute ago and he’s OK.
Planes are flying in. No birds and the winds have been fighting east to west. Not a good sign, but guess what. I got up while my husband and dog slept nine hours, to blog a Cat 5 Hurricane in Houston. I did so until the power went out for six hours. We were so close to downtown that we got our power (not water, that took over a week) back in hours as I believe we were on City Hall’s circuit.
We built a hurricane kit (a lot of good it’ll do me in storage) and stored 15 gallons of fresh water and got water to flush the toilet in six gallon jugs. They slept. I sat in front of the windows and blogged. The devastation was amazing as all the signature high-rise corporate buildings had their windows blown out. We spent the morning cleaning out the flooded garage and 1st floor. No management or maintenance came for days. My husband and T cleared storm drains. Jim sucked water through a hose to stop the garage from flooding the 1st floor.
T’s wife and I went door-to-door on the 1st floor to make sure everyone was OK. We had power but no water for a week. That week my mother went to hospice so we flew out to spend a week with her. There was no food, no gas, and FEMA was a joke. We drove to the airport on fumes.
Ii just saw a seagull outside our windows. We’re anticipating severe storms this evening but think we missed this one as of a few moments ago our winds were still 5 mph and this storm was coming in at 55-70 mph. The birds are back, for now. Perhaps they’ll have a good fishing day.
We’re alone but my husband is OK and we had the beginnings of an escape plan. I do love thunder and lightning, palm trees being thrashed about in the winds. Hurricanes are OK, tornadoes, no. There were 150 lofts in our building back in the day, only one had no damage. Ours. Go figure. Have a great day! Dee
Cooking with Dee 