My Halloween decorations had been up for several weeks. Bags of candy were piled high on the kitchen counter. The year was 2005 and Hurricane Wilma was headed this way! The year before was the notorious one that made history. Two hurricanes, Frances & Jeanne hit the Treasure Coast just 3 weeks apart to the day. The last thing anyone needed was another hurricane strike!
My father used to say that when the calendar reached October we could cease worrying about hurricanes. -- That was another thing he was wrong about!!! Our first October in this house we were hit! It was a back door storm called Irene in 1999.
Like many others on the Treasure Coast, I was in denial. Irene had struck early in October. This was the week before Halloween. Plus Wilma was way over in the Gulf headed toward Mexico. Still, weather forecasters predicted we would be next. She was on a Florida path and would strike us from behind.
I have been to the Yucatan peninsula. I took a small plane deep into the jungle to view its ruins. (The 1970's were my years of world exploration.) Surely, I thought the mountains and dense jungle would rip the storm's fetter bands apart! Also a cold front was predicted around the same time. Hurricanes require warm air. So I wasn't worried. -- Big mistake!
The Yucatan failed to disperse Wilma. In fact she picked up strength as she crossed the Gulf toward Florida. The reality finally sunk in.
I phoned the carpenter who boarded my home the previous year. The one I thought was a saint for doing it for $40. almost at the last minute. -- What a difference a year makes!!! I was informed that he could not be bothered with me. He was too busy boarding houses on the beach. -- I reminded him that I had asked to be put on his list because I didn't have anyone else to do the job! Obviously he had forgotten this. He curtly told me he was sorry, he was too busy.
"Just board-up the 2 double picture windows and nothing else!" I pleaded.
"You want me to board-up the whole one side of your house!" he snapped.
"No!" I snapped back. "Just the TWO windows!" He refused. "Just board the top window, then," I urged. "It's the most vulnerable. You can forget the bottom one!"
Reluctantly, he agreed. He would be here between 5:00 & 7:00 PM, he said. -- By 9:00 PM, I gave up all hope of seeing him. I told myself that Wilma may turn out to be nothing more than a category 1.
Irene had been a category 1. It was serious enough to take down several trees, but the house was unboarded and sustained only minimal damage.
Before going to bed, I turned to the weather station. Wilma would be striking as a category 2!!! I screamed so loud I'm surprised my neighbors didn't phone the police! I cursed that carpenter and cried myself to sleep.
The next day Wilma struck with a ferocity! The electricity went first. Back door hurricanes are wet as they are windy. Water came streaming thru the (closed) windows of my house! I used every towel (paper & cloth) to save my carpet! My supply ran out! The floor was flooding under my front door! Frantically, I put newspapers down to keep it from reaching the carpet.
Fortunately, unlike Jeanne & Francis, Wilma struck during daylight. I could see well enough to do damage control. My front door appeared ready to blow in bringing the storm inside my house. Sobbing and screaming, I alternately prayed and cursed. I watched a tree snap in half outside! Any second I expected a tree branch, or an entire tree, or even a tire to come crashing thru one of my windows! The winds roared as they ferociously whipped around my house.
To my disbelief, I heard the phone ringing. I was dismayed there was still service! I had no phone for several days with the previous hurricanes. My brother was on the other end of the line reversing charges as usual.
"I can't talk now!" I hollered into the receiver. "I'm in the middle of a hurricane!"
"Oh, there's a hurricane," he replied with surprise.
"Yes!" I shrieked. "My windows are all unboarded. I'm having a nervous breakdown here!"
"Don't you have neighbors?" he asked. "Didn't they help you?"
"You would certainly think so!" I bristled.
When I was child, our nearest neighbor, a widow and her daughter lived several miles up the highway. Had a hurricane been approaching, my dad and grandfather would have been over there boarding up her place the minute they finished ours. Today, I'm in a subdivision surrounded by neighbors. For all they care, I could blow away!
The day after Wilma, the temperature plummeted down into the 40's which is about as cold as it gets here in South Florida. The electricity would not be restored for several days which meant no warm cup of coffee. I shivered as I washed in a frigid bathroom. Happily, there was no sleeping on any bathroom floors due to heat this time.
Also because my windows were unboarded, I could open them to dry my carpet. Mold was avoided this way. My roof had been replaced the previous year. The new one was up to code. This time around, there were no shingles in my yard among the debris.
In my life and times, I have endured 6 hurricanes, 3 alone. Wilma was utterly the most terrifying!
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