Life in Florida: Two Hurricanes in Two Weeks

By Marilyn L. Pinsky

 

I debated writing this article about my personal hurricane experience because I was very lucky when so many were left homeless or struggling with horrendous damage.

Even if the homes were left standing, often water got through and created mold in walls and floors. People lost prized possessions they worked a lifetime to acquire and for some, they lost loved ones.

So please take that into consideration with this light-hearted view of two lucky old ladies.

In one of the last planes to land right before airports closed for hurricane Helene, I was returning from 3 1/2 weeks of traveling. Though having seen news reports that there was going to be a hurricane, I just wanted to be back in Florida so that I could pack and turn around and leave for an important family wedding; therefore I decided to chance it. Luckily Helene wasn’t a direct hit on my part of Sarasota, though it was extremely destructive elsewhere, and the airports reopened in time for the flight to Massachusetts.

I flew back from the wedding Sunday night with my daughter and son-in-law who live nearby, just in time to have a day to decide on turning right around and leaving Sarasota again, given that a “once in a 100-years” hurricane was heading our way.

Many of the residents in my building felt we should be safe as the windows were built for 145 mph winds, we were 18 feet above sea level and were located in Zone C, so I decided to stay put. Not one of my better decisions.

I raced to the grocery and grabbed what I could, though supplies were low as the weather reports were getting more dire. As I was walking into the building with my groceries, I ran into people with suitcases who were driving and flying to various locations, which did give me pause about staying.

All day Monday the news reported that the storm kept changing strength and direction, going back and forth between categories 3, 4 and 5 and projections that it would directly hit either Tampa or Sarasota, but it was still fairly far away. My friend Bev and her dog Figgie moved in with me as her building was in Zone A, meaning they were closer to the water, and were ordered to evacuate.

In hurricane Helene two weeks before, the lower level of her building flooded from the surge, shutting down the elevators and meaning Figgie couldn’t get down 15 floors to do what dogs need to do.

We worked on filling containers with water and baggies with ice cubes, charging our phones, cooking food and walking around pulling out plugs that would be affected when power surged back on.

Tuesday we were glued to the weather station on TV and drove ourselves a little batty trying to decide when we should have dinner in case it hit tonight and when we should be prepared to head for the hallway, which I thought would be a safer place to be. Nothing happened.

At 2 p.m. on Wednesday the wind started and we were notified that our building was being locked down — meaning metal mesh was being put around the lower part of the building and the elevators would be turned off. Bev ran out to give Figgie one last shot at grass.

When Milton finally arrived the noise of the wind and rain pounding on the windows got to be too much. Around 5 p.m. I notified our neighbors that we would be sleeping outside their door on a blow up mattress as it is an area without windows and though I didn’t think we snored, told them to feel free to kick us if we did.

At 6:30 lights started flickering and the wind picked up. We ended up not sleeping in the hall as the noise of the storm there was worse. We came back into the condo and hid in the den. Then we tried to sleep and not worry about windows breaking. The horrific wind and rain finally died down around two a.m. and we went back to our bedrooms and slept for a couple of hours before everyone started texting and calling to check on us. At that point we were without power and water. So we didn’t have air conditioning, couldn’t flush the toilet, and I didn’t want to open the fridge until we were really starving.

After two days we couldn’t live with spoiled food and toilets that we were using our water up on to flush and realized how isolated we would be when our cell phones died shortly. We decided to leave and go to my daughter and son-in-law’s house about 20 minutes away. They didn’t have power but their neighbor ran a line from his generator to their refrigerator and we could all charge phones.

I called my son in Syracuse to ask what papers I should bring with me and, and as a person involved in emergency services who had been telling me to leave for days, he first gave me a lecture on “when emergency personnel say evacuate, you evacuate!!!! They’re telling you we’re not going to be able to rescue you!!!”

At that point it was late in the afternoon with the light starting to fade. So there we were: two women, that in media terms would be called elderly, and one dog, struggling down a totally blacked out stairway with five heavy bags of necessities (including dog food, bowl and bed.) If not for Bev’s flashlight, as mine was useless, we wouldn’t have made it. We would go down one flight and then run back up for more bags, taking turns shining the light on each other. When we finally got to the car and drove out through a pitch black garage, the outside was a mess of tree limbs but drivable if we went slowly.

 

Lessons Learned:

1. Always fill the car with gas whenever you first hear the word “hurricane.” Three days later I still couldn’t get gas.

2. Give thought in advance what to take when you know you may have to carry it. For me it was my engagement ring, medicines, money and clothes. (Maybe makeup next time.) I took pictures with my phone of framed pictures that were important to me and then hid the pictures away in drawers and hoped for the best.

3. Test your flashlights in pitch black areas. I was surprised how weak a light my large flashlight threw off.

4. And, as my son said, “when they say evacuate, they mean it.” When they finally said, “evacuate Zone C,” as there could be an 18-25 mile surge, we should have been prepared and left. Probably should have before they even got to Zone C.