Fat Frances she's a comin'

2 September 04

Three weeks ago, we were graced with Bonnie and Clyde...er...I mean Charley. Charley was a Cat4 hurricane and was destined straight for us, after it made landfall at Tampa. The 24 hours before the storm, he took a dip south and missed us. We did get a lot of rain spun off from him though. So much rain fell the two weeks after Charley, we actually had a freak accident last week. The ground was so wet that a tree uprooted itself and fell on a truck while it was driving 65mph--unfortunately killing 2 men in the truck while the third was treated for injuries.

Bonnie was only a Tropical Storm but she put a hurting on the Jacksonville area. She spawned many tornadoes in our area. One did so much damage that Governor Bush asked for federal disaster relief for it. We were impacted more by this tropical storm than by the Cat4 hurricane that followed 2 days later.

Today, we sit on the edge of our seats waiting to see what Frances has in store for us. Her path brings the eye just southwest of us--which means we will be in the North East quadrant of the storm. What's that mean? You ask. Well, the Northeast quadrant is the worst part of the storm. The fastest winds can be seen there. The warm air, which feeds the storm, comes in contact with the new, cooler air getting sucked into the storm and can spawn tornadoes. THIS is NOT the place you want to be in a hurricane. But, with any hurricane, it's path is not predictable. Let's look at Charley. He was supposed to hit Key West first. They evacuated the Keys. And then Charley shook his head and decided to go westward. With the new westward track, Charley was due to hit Tampa. They evacuated Tampa. Now in the Gulf and the warmer water, we expected him to get stronger. But, within 12 hours of Charley's arrival time in Tampa, he decided he had enough and hit smack dab into Punta Gorda and tracked all the way across the Florida Peninsula and back out to the Atlantic Ocean.

This time, the National Hurricane Center is not taking any chances. As it stands now, A Hurricane Warning is in effect from Florida City (near Miami) all the way up to Flagler Beach (60 miles southeast of where we live). According to the prediction models, Frances will hit in central Florida. Mind you, that is the EYE of the storm. Frances' hurricane force winds extend 80 miles from the center, while the Tropical Storm force winds extend outward up to 185 miles. She is twice the size of Charley.

So, we went shopping last night...5 days before Frances is expected to be here. I had a list of what we need to buy, but left it on my desk at work. So, we were working with what we could remember. It was exceptionally crowded in Wal-mart. Worse than payday...oh, wait, it WAS payday AND a hurricane was coming. So, off we went, with Joshua protesting in the cart (he wanted to walk).

Up the flashlight aisle...barren. Luckily, we have about 12 of them in the house. We have plenty of rechargeable batteries for all of them as well. But, we needed D Cell batteries for our radio. Absolutely none in the entire store. All the canned food and non-perishables were picked clean--unless you wanted pigs feet, lentil soup, and spinach. Oh, NOT! We got what we could for food items and headed to the infant section. We needed an extra box of diapers and some food for him, but they were wiped clean. He's not on baby food much anymore, but hey, it's easily stored and doesn't require refrigeration. He'll eat it when he gets hungry, right?!

Well, we have to go back out today for some things we missed. It's interesting to see how things transgress here within the few days before the storm. Grocery and hardware stores bring in extra workers to keep what stock they do have on the shelves. The stores have emergency shipments overnight. People make big purchases. Generators are a luxury commodity now. Home Depot and Lowes cannot keep them in stock. They get their shipments in and within the hour of opening, they are all gone. Batteries, flashlights, portable radios, canned food and water...all these items are completely gone. But, we do our best and persevere.

If it's destined to come to us, all I can do is pray my family is safe. I could care less for my belongings. Take my cars, take my stuff...it's all replaceable--just, please, don't take any lives.

More updates as they occur...