After Irma passed and like many, we lost electrical power.
We also lost electricity after Wilma back in October of 2005. However, that storm was pushed into and away from us by one of the season’s first strong cold fronts so losing electricity proved, at least for four days or so, not such a big deal given the air outside was crisp and cool and we could open windows and not sweat to death.
Unfortunately for us, we would go on to have two full weeks without electricity and, once the cold air from that front was gone and we returned to temperatures in the high 80’s, trying to get by in our house was horrible.
With Irma, folks around these parts didn’t have the benefit of that cold front. The temperatures around these parts were in the 90’s and with the humidity it feels like its in the 100’s before Irma’s arrival and after she left us we’re… still there.
Needless to say, these very hot temperatures are a potentially very dangerous thing and the recent, shocking news regarding the nursing home deaths points out just how dangerous the lack of electricity -and AC- can be.
Fortunately for us, we got our electricity back on Tuesday, only a couple of days after Irma’s departure and all the more incredible considering the damage around us both near and far. We found this sight, for example, a little ways from our home…
Yup, that’s a power line wrapped around a palm tree. Both were obviously knocked down and onto the road. This damage, btw, is fairly minor compared to some of the truly large trees I’ve seen knocked into homes.
Last night proved to be the first night since early last week that we were finally, finally able to have a truly restful night’s sleep given that our daughters were back where they belonged (they are both in college within Florida and, out of an abundance of caution, made what turned out to be very long trips through very crowded roads to friends’ houses to be away from the storm).
Anyway, they were back and all seemed well and we were back to having electricity and some semblance of our old life and its moments like this, when your life is potentially disrupted beyond repair, that you realize just how good life is.
I don’t mean to minimize the hardships of others. Indeed, I sympathize greatly with those who suffered much more thanks to Irma (and Harvey, for that matter), than I ultimately did.
I was lucky. I know that.
And like I wrote before, let’s hope this proves to be the “storm of the century” and we see nothing more of this type in our lifetimes.