Thursday, August 03, 2006

Trying To Reason With Hurricane Season



I regret to inform you that I am one of those people who get a bit stressed out during hurricane season. The past few seasons have not helped at all. Also, this is not a new affliction... it goes way back to my childhood growing up in St. Petersburg, FL... not that we ever had a close call with a hurricane. It was just the mandatory tracking of each and every storm each season. Oh, and we had a super weather man who always made things interesting.

As an adult I spent many hours attending workshops and lectures at the Florida Hurricane Conference that typically was held in Tampa. In recent years it has actually been a larger conference than the National Hurricane Conference. It was always interesting to hear talks by emergency managers from around the country who have experienced hurricanes first-hand.

I was at the conference the year after Hugo hit the Carolinas. I was at the conference the year after a previous tropical storm Alberto caused havoc in southern Georgia and the Florida panhandle. I was at the conference the year after Andrew hit south Florida. I was at the conference the year of the March No-Name storm that killed over 60 people in Florida, created snow on I-10 in North Florida, and then raced north to cause the NE US blizzards and generally made a mess. I heard Dr. Gray talk about trends, oceanic conveyor belts and seasonal predictions. I listened to Dr. Fujita (yes, the same guy that created the scale used for tornados) talk about microbursts and tornados associated with hurricanes. I listened to speeches by various Florida governors who would occasionally make an appearance. I listened to James Watt from the Clinton administration talk about federal disaster planning (he really has gorgeous blue eyes!). I have been an emergency management and disaster mitigation junkie, and I have learned a lot... enough that I know to have a healthy respect for the storms.

So, each year as the season heats up, I tend to get a bit on edge...



May seasonal disasters pass you by!


7 comments:

Jim said...

Another good reason to move to Montgomery, Texas, just showed up here.
That's why we moved. We had thirty-three inches of water in our home once and have sat through many tropical storms and hurricanes down there in Galveston County.
Now we are on top of a high hill.
..

Ralph said...

Rhodent
The picture and the statement about blue eyes made me laugh. We don't have to deal with hurricanes but we have other issues, and I know they often times put me on edge. Sounds like you are doing all you can to deal with them.
Ralph

Alisa said...

Forewarned is forearmed! If more people mixed 1 part healthy respect with 1 part healthy fear for this season, we'd lose a lot less lives when one strikes our shores.

I liked the hurricane tracking you did in your blog last season!

L said...

that image is freaking me right out

Rachel said...

Whoa, what a scary picture! I wouldn't want to live in Hurricane prone areas. It's bad enough worrying about tornados and such.

Frustrated Writer said...

yup, i think i would consider moving...

Cliff said...

Stay safe girl. I remember your eloquent dissertation on hurricane preparednes of a year ago. One of the best blogs I've read.