This last week has been a hard one for me. Living in the heart of hurricane land, I don't love when a storm comes along, but I don't worry too much.
Florida houses are typically built to withstand a category 3 hurricane (meaning winds as high as 130 mph and crazy rain for days), but the rest of the nation doesn't build to that standard.
As I watched the trajectory of Helene & listened to it being upgraded to a category 4, I knew the results wouldn't be pretty. Although grateful this storm missed us initially, my attitude changed when I heard about Tennessee and North Carolina. Georgia and South Carolina are dealing with the fallout too. I wished the hurricane had turned and hit us more fully because we have the response, the infrastructure, the attitude to face big scary storms and carry on.
Our governor put all the preemptive processes in place -- emergency workers, supply routes, road and electricity line repair -- but he couldn't do that for the other states.
Especially the ones inland.
The stories... Oh the stories. I was drowning in heartache. (This is why I can't read WWII books, folks.) Two dams were oversaturated and burst, flooding whole towns. Family members lost. Livelihoods swept away. An inability to communicate with loved ones. I went to bed with tears in my eyes and prayers on my lips.
Answers come too. They didn't come from the federal government but from governors of neighboring states, from people whose hearts broke like mine who own helicopters, from good Samaritans who donated cash and goods. Desantis sent aid to the hardest hit areas FROM Florida and I cheered at every new development. Last I heard, he sent a brigade of road workers with bridge materials to help people trapped in the North Carolina mountains.
My prayers continue with those who have no electricity, no running water, who are scrambling for food and safety. At the same time, my heart is light knowing good people in the world are responding to the desperation. Lets be those good people, eh?
It is just devastating what happened. Living mid-state, our area missed most of the bad weather, but it hit our mountains hard. I've already donated to the Red Cross and our church is organizing donations to go directly to the mountains. As you said, continue to pray for those people.
ReplyDeleteSeconded on all fronts! My cousin has a house out there and she's headed there tomorrow to assess the damage & help where she can with local needs. It's insane!
DeleteI check the news several times a day and it's just heartbreaking. I finally heard from one of my authors who lives in that area. They are okay but were without power for five days and no way in or out of their area.
ReplyDeleteIt blows my mind! Our country is too amazing, the people too awesome to have this be a thing.
DeleteThe joys of climate change... Your feeling about hurricanes is like my feeling about earthquakes. If only we kept the disasters we are used to. It's good when people can help. It's hard to see the stories of people hurting.
ReplyDeleteWe have only been recording the earths temperatures and patterns since 1880. For all we know, the planet has a thousand year cycle that we have yet to chart. In the 80's we were going into another ice age. Then we were going to melt the polar ice caps. Basically, no one knows what's going on in the science world...which is why I don't tend to listen to them -- as you probably do too about scares with huge earthquakes or giant hurricanes. I'm still dying that they aren't sending aid from the government and even stopping aid private citizens are bringing in. I guess that's the part that kills me the most. We all hope that when catastrophe strikes, someone will have our back.
DeleteI'm so sorry to hear about the devastation caused by the hurricane. It's heartbreaking to see the destruction and the impact it's having on people's lives.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear that the governors of neighboring states are stepping up to help. It's inspiring to see people come together in times of crisis.
Your words about finding hope and bringing light to the situation are truly touching. It's important to remember that there is always good in the world, even in the darkest of times.
I'm sending my thoughts and prayers to those affected by the hurricane.