As I sit here early Saturday morning, in SW Virginia, reading news about the passage and effects of Hurricane Irene, moving up the east coast, I say a prayer of thanks that so far there has been far less impact over what was initially projected…but there's a way to go yet.
I also am thankful that we made the decision to move off the North Carolina coast back in 2002, after experiencing several major hurricane evacuations…three in 1999. I said then and I repeat now…it's hard for me to agree with those who say living on the beach full time is living in paradise. If paradise includes always looking over your shoulder from June through November, every year, mindful of the fact that all you own could be lost in a surge of wind or waves, then I want nothing to do with it. Been there done that four years in a row and that was enough for us.
I'm still glued every year, however, to the National Hurricane Center's website during hurricane season, and watch the tracks of hurricanes like Irene with a hawks eye…just as if we were still in the potential cone of impact. If you live in hurricane country, you dream about "cones of impact."
Many veterans of hurricanes will often pray they be spared from major impact, but at the same time they are aware that when the storm misses them, it hits another person…so they also pray for them, since everyone is bound together by their experiences of living where they do.
After the storms pass, recovery begins. Sometimes, like with Hurricane Katrina, recovery seems to move excruciatingly slow. At the center of recovery efforts is often the Army Corps of Engineers, the National Guard and active military forces. When the end of November arrives, most give a sigh or relief that it's all over…until next June when it begins again…watching and waiting.
