Beryl's wrath reminds those who've lived through storms: Be prepared — and grateful | Suzy Leonard
As friends in Texas dealt with Beryl-related damage, debris and power outages, I felt equal parts sympathy, empathy, relief and guilt.
The sympathy and empathy need no explanation. Hurricanes are nothing new for those of us who have lived in Florida, or any coastal area, for any length of time.
The relief is because there, but for the grace of God, go all of us.
The guilt, well, what kind of friend feels relief that Beryl hit them and not me?
Predictions indicate this could be a busy hurricane season, and while predictions don’t always come true, it’s a good idea to have a hurricane plan in place.
There’s plenty of expert advice about making sure you have food, water and medications on hand for all the people and pets in your household. Go to FloridaDisaster.org/PlanPrepare for more information.
Once you’ve gotten your official prep handled, here are a few unofficial suggestions.
Keep at least half a tank of gas in your vehicle. It will help you avoid the gas frenzy should a storm head our way. And that vehicle will be important for more than transportation if we lose power. It’s where you’ll go to charge electronics and to enjoy the luxury of air conditioning.
Know your home’s capabilities and vulnerabilities. If you live beachside, make plans to stay with friends mainland, or …
If you plan to evacuate, leave early. It’s better to take a trip that turns out to be unnecessary than to sit in I-95 gridlock as a major storm bears down on you.
The closer a storm gets, the more you will feel compelled to do laundry and bake cookies. This is normal. Go with it.
Fill the bathtub with water. I always thought this was a superfluous suggestion. Then came Hurricane Irma in 2017. Much of Central Brevard was left without water. That garden tub my husband insisted we fill sure came in handy for flushing toilets and sponge baths.
If you lose power, you will still flip the light switch every time you enter a room. Every. Time. But don’t feel silly. Everyone else is doing it, too.
Make sure you’ve got flashlights and lanterns. Storm shutters make a house dark as a cave. Candles may be romantic, but do you really want to add to the heat?
Have books, board games, cards and puzzle books on hand. Old-fashioned entertainment is better than no entertainment.
Check in with your neighbors. Exchange numbers if you haven’t already. Help one another put up shutters and with post-storm cleanup. If there’s any silver lining to the massive clouds of a hurricane, it’s the way a community unites when facing disaster. One of my fondest memories of living in South Louisiana is of the block party we had after Hurricane Andrew in 1992. With no power for several days, we lit our grills and shared what was melting in our freezers.
Wear long sleeves and long pants while picking up storm debris. Yes, you’ll be hot, but hot is better than severely sunburned and covered in rashes from poison ivy and Brazilian pepper tree sap.
Here’s hoping my pals in Houston get power back soon, and they’re spared weather experiences the rest of this summer. And here’s hoping the weather experts got it wrong this year. I don’t want to deal with anything harder than heat, humidity and daily rainstorms.
Suzy Fleming Leonard is a longtime journalist and retired FLORIDA TODAY editor and writer. Reach her at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Storms can wreak havoc, but bring out our best, too | Suzy Leonard
