I once was employed as Town Manager at a North Carolina beach community, and during the almost five years we lived and owned property there, we experienced the wrath of numerous tropical storms—with three major storms impacting us in one year (1999: Dennis, Floyd and Irene). One question I used to ask residents who had faced the prospect of losing everything each year for their entire lives, was, "Why do you guys do this?" Their response was always, "We love it here, and the threat of storms is just the price we pay to have our days in paradise." I never got it, however, because their definition of "paradise" and mine was entirely different. Flip-flop sandals and all.
It is always at this time of the summer (beginning of August) when stress levels begin to rise in hurricane country, given the fact that peak hurricane months are August-September-October. When we were living along the coast, the Weather Channel was checked many times during the day. And when storms were brewing at sea, it stayed on constantly, while we watched the "cone of impact" fluctuate around, always seeming to have Wilmington, NC at its projected center.
We used to joke about the storm Gods all getting together, deciding how best to track every low pressure system, such that "Wilmington, NC" would always be in the target zone. In fact that happened in October, 1999, when Irene tracked across the western tip of Cuba, supposedly headed into the southern Gulf of Mexico. We went to bed thinking we were safe. But, the next morning we awoke and learned that the Gods were getting their way by moving Irene back across southern Florida, into the Atlantic, and from then on it was "Wilmington here we come!" And it sure did, missing us by a hair, but still causing considerable damage.
So, for any of you reading this now living in hurricane country, I say you can have your paradise. I wish you a safe year, but keep your cordless drill, screws and plywood handy to board up those windows!
