The last news that I had circulated was that Hurricane Dennis was headed our way and that I would let everyone know how it went.
Well, Friday was indeed chaotic as everyone prepared for Dennis the Menace (as the press has dubbed it) do to his absolute worst. I almost wish I could call it Dennis "Just kidding " the Menace.
No one could tell for sure what it was going to do and there was no surety as to where it was going to go. Pensacola was audibly praying for it to go East and obliterate some other place. Not that we wish harm on others, but enough is enough!
We have hardly recovered from Hurricane Ivan in September and many buildings in Pensacola still had Federal Emergency management Agency (FEMA) blue roofs on by Friday. We decided that we would be safe at Larry's main office in Pensacola, which is a large metal building with only one glass door to worry about.
The glass door had been boarded up with plywood and they had ingeniously cut a peephole into it and had placed Plexiglas in the void so that we could see what was going on.
All that we did know for sure was that it was due Sunday during the day. Ivan had been during the midnight hours. This time we would be able to see exactly what was blowing where.
Saturday we enjoyed the full extent of electricity and air-conditioning as we were definitely prepared for power-outages. Larry's boss, Chuck, had purchased a powerful generator for Ivan that he had never used. This time, we were prepared.
So was everyone in Pensacola. Windows had been boarded up, gas lines stretched for blocks on Friday and anyone that had somewhere else to go, had left town. Saturday we drove around in a ghost town. The empty roads were a little peculiar, yet quite calming.
By the time Sunday eased around, we were still mostly in the dark as to what Category to expect and where to expect it. The prognosis did not look good. Dennis had tried every Category it could from one through to five.
At first it was supposed to come through at four o'clock in the afternoon, then noon. And the barometric pressure was getting really low for a hurricane, indicating only one thing: a well-developed eye wall and crazy winds. One thing was for sure, wherever the eye was going to come in, it was going to do some severe damage.
The prognosis reached a point in the prediction a couple of hours before land-fall that Dennis would be going in at Mobile Bay, which is exceedingly bad news for us. However, I had heard a rumour that the Governor of Florida, Gov. Jeb Bush, had met with several meteorologists on the Gulf Coast and there sincere prediction was for land-fall to be at Destin. Those that I spread my rumour to proclaimed an intent to have a raucous Hurricane Party if that did indeed happen.
Destin is East of us and, in a short summary, puts Pensacola on the "better" side of the storm with less devastation.
We were informed to expect a similar storm to Ivan. I don't know if they expected us to cheer at this or what.
Miraculously, within the last hour before land-fall, the Storm made a turn for the northeast and eventually went in at Fort Walton (near Destin) at a Category 3.
We did get a hurricane, but it was not nearly as bad as it would have been had we been on the receiving end. However, the storm got a little hairy. The metal rolling door on the one metal warehouse had been severely damaged by Hurricane Ivan due to some 4-6 feet of flexing that we had to brace it with wood and more wood. Otherwise we would have been in the dwang.
Thankfully(!), all of our vehicles were in the last metal warehouse with a brand new door and thus safer almost than us. The front door (glass) started taking on water through any seam possible and bits of the ceiling started to drop around the door as they became more saturated.
Larry and Chuck spent a while with the towels and wet spots, but I soon fell asleep awoke as the storm subsided.
The benefit to the storm is definitely the cool air as you step outside. Almost like nature's air conditioning. Not much damage was done otherwise. A little water, bits and pieces of trees were scattered everywhere and on the roads and a few smaller trees were blown over.
We have been without power at our house and at the warehouse for two days now. Sleeping, eating or just breathing in Florida in mid-July is torture without air conditioning. Any activity will send you running for a cleansing shower.
At least my work had power by 10 AM on Monday morning. And the warehouse finally received power at about 11 AM this morning. Last night we slept at Larry's Dad's house as their power hardly went out and they had a bed and air conditioning for us.
Our nights at the warehouse were very uncomfortable. The air mattress we slept on kept deflating and the couch I later moved to was humidity hell.
I keep telling everyone here that South Africa only has crime as their natural disaster and that we never have to deal with anything like this. Maybe once in a green moon or so, but not like this.
This morning we found out that another three storms are out there brewing, but that we shouldn't worry because they are too far away to worry about. Still not very soothing words.
"Thanks, when it's in a closer range, let us know so that we know when we can turn our stress-o-meters on again!"
Maybe some day Florida will have figured out a way to build so that hurricanes become minor details. Or maybe not.
Well, Friday was indeed chaotic as everyone prepared for Dennis the Menace (as the press has dubbed it) do to his absolute worst. I almost wish I could call it Dennis "Just kidding " the Menace.
No one could tell for sure what it was going to do and there was no surety as to where it was going to go. Pensacola was audibly praying for it to go East and obliterate some other place. Not that we wish harm on others, but enough is enough!
We have hardly recovered from Hurricane Ivan in September and many buildings in Pensacola still had Federal Emergency management Agency (FEMA) blue roofs on by Friday. We decided that we would be safe at Larry's main office in Pensacola, which is a large metal building with only one glass door to worry about.
The glass door had been boarded up with plywood and they had ingeniously cut a peephole into it and had placed Plexiglas in the void so that we could see what was going on.
All that we did know for sure was that it was due Sunday during the day. Ivan had been during the midnight hours. This time we would be able to see exactly what was blowing where.
Saturday we enjoyed the full extent of electricity and air-conditioning as we were definitely prepared for power-outages. Larry's boss, Chuck, had purchased a powerful generator for Ivan that he had never used. This time, we were prepared.So was everyone in Pensacola. Windows had been boarded up, gas lines stretched for blocks on Friday and anyone that had somewhere else to go, had left town. Saturday we drove around in a ghost town. The empty roads were a little peculiar, yet quite calming.
By the time Sunday eased around, we were still mostly in the dark as to what Category to expect and where to expect it. The prognosis did not look good. Dennis had tried every Category it could from one through to five.
At first it was supposed to come through at four o'clock in the afternoon, then noon. And the barometric pressure was getting really low for a hurricane, indicating only one thing: a well-developed eye wall and crazy winds. One thing was for sure, wherever the eye was going to come in, it was going to do some severe damage.
The prognosis reached a point in the prediction a couple of hours before land-fall that Dennis would be going in at Mobile Bay, which is exceedingly bad news for us. However, I had heard a rumour that the Governor of Florida, Gov. Jeb Bush, had met with several meteorologists on the Gulf Coast and there sincere prediction was for land-fall to be at Destin. Those that I spread my rumour to proclaimed an intent to have a raucous Hurricane Party if that did indeed happen.
Destin is East of us and, in a short summary, puts Pensacola on the "better" side of the storm with less devastation.
We were informed to expect a similar storm to Ivan. I don't know if they expected us to cheer at this or what.
Miraculously, within the last hour before land-fall, the Storm made a turn for the northeast and eventually went in at Fort Walton (near Destin) at a Category 3.
We did get a hurricane, but it was not nearly as bad as it would have been had we been on the receiving end. However, the storm got a little hairy. The metal rolling door on the one metal warehouse had been severely damaged by Hurricane Ivan due to some 4-6 feet of flexing that we had to brace it with wood and more wood. Otherwise we would have been in the dwang.
Thankfully(!), all of our vehicles were in the last metal warehouse with a brand new door and thus safer almost than us. The front door (glass) started taking on water through any seam possible and bits of the ceiling started to drop around the door as they became more saturated.
Larry and Chuck spent a while with the towels and wet spots, but I soon fell asleep awoke as the storm subsided.
The benefit to the storm is definitely the cool air as you step outside. Almost like nature's air conditioning. Not much damage was done otherwise. A little water, bits and pieces of trees were scattered everywhere and on the roads and a few smaller trees were blown over.
We have been without power at our house and at the warehouse for two days now. Sleeping, eating or just breathing in Florida in mid-July is torture without air conditioning. Any activity will send you running for a cleansing shower.At least my work had power by 10 AM on Monday morning. And the warehouse finally received power at about 11 AM this morning. Last night we slept at Larry's Dad's house as their power hardly went out and they had a bed and air conditioning for us.
Our nights at the warehouse were very uncomfortable. The air mattress we slept on kept deflating and the couch I later moved to was humidity hell.
I keep telling everyone here that South Africa only has crime as their natural disaster and that we never have to deal with anything like this. Maybe once in a green moon or so, but not like this.
This morning we found out that another three storms are out there brewing, but that we shouldn't worry because they are too far away to worry about. Still not very soothing words.
"Thanks, when it's in a closer range, let us know so that we know when we can turn our stress-o-meters on again!"
Maybe some day Florida will have figured out a way to build so that hurricanes become minor details. Or maybe not.
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