Yikes! Hurricanes are no fun. I was in my house when Class 5 Hugo ripped the roof off it right over my head. Luckily those Danes had built those slave quarters with 2 foot thick stone and coral head walls which protected me and modern man had invented fiberglass shower stalls! No evacuating a tiny island in the middle of the Caribbean! Luckily those islands are mountainous with no low-lying areas so flooding wasn't the problem and I was 1/4 mile inland. It was sooooo loud! I blamed my hearing loss for years on the storm. when the eye passed over, it was like someone flipped a switch and turned the whole thing off for about 10 minutes. I figured the wall eye was what did the rest of the roof in. My dog was the one who had the bright idea to get in the shower stall! God Bless Laborador retrievers! Smatr critters, they be!
We had no power for 6 months and I had no roof for about as long. . My stateside landlord collected the insurance but pocketed the money. He wanted me to moved out, fix the place up and quadruple the rent. Evictions were prohibited under Martial Law, so there I sat under a blue tarp. A church group finally showed up and put up a nice temporary roof. The worst part was the mosquitos and no fans. I finally got a mosquito net from FEMA as they didn't want eveyone getting Dengue or malaria.
So, Brenda and Pooter, Make sure you have plenty of batteries for the radio (I had a ton, but the radio tower blew over and we didn't know what the hell was going on for days!!) and a battery powered fan and a generator!!!!! And if they say leave, YOU LEAVE!!!!!!!!! Also, plug your good ear!!!!!! The noise can be pretty loud. Good luck and know that I will be thinking of you and know how stressful this can be.
Watching and Praying, too!
Capt Deb
