Here There and Everywhere

Hurricane Season Begins Today

As if the oil spill isn’t enough, today is the first day of hurricane season.

The hurricane guide tells us to have three days worth of food and water stored to get people through a hurricane and its aftermath – loss of electricity, highways blocked with fallen trees, etc. We have a safe room, a large closet next to an outside wall. We have a 7 gallon water storage container, and matches. I’m still working on the rest; I don’t want to be one of those running to the supermarket the day the hurricane might hit.

The good news – for us – is that we did not buy a house in the evacuation zone.

You cannot imagine how seductive some of these houses are. We had assumed we would buy a house on the water. Our beautiful 10th floor apartment on the Arabian Gulf in Kuwait gave us a taste for an endless water view, and that’s what we were looking for:

House 1

House 2

House 3

Every house on the water faces the possibility of serious damage in a hurricane. Two of the houses had damage from Ivan, one had ongoing damage from the dampness of being adjacent – well, almost inside – the wetlands. The wetlands are encroaching on two of the properties. One house, we totally loved. We could see ourselves living there, even facing the danger of hurricanes. That is, until we visited the basement, felt the humidity, saw a rotting pillar and realized we would face an unending battle with rot. The doorframe to the outside was rubbery with dampness:

It was a real blow to us giving up our dream.

On the other hand, it is a relief, now, knowing we are not in an evacuation zone.

There are no guarantees against a direct hit by a hurricane. All we have done is improved our odds, somewhat, which is about the best you can do when you live in a hurricane zone.

June 1, 2010 - Posted by intlxpatr | Adventure, Environment, ExPat Life, Family Issues, Florida, Living Conditions, Local Lore, Shopping