hurricane imp!
Sep. 14th, 2003 02:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
impyForecasters were not certain it would strike the United States. However, computer models predicted it would turn toward the Carolinas over the next five days.
Well, crap on a stick. But this brings up my "Impy's very boring tales of Hurricane Hell" so I won't complain too terribly much. [yes, I will.]
So, I think I'll stick with the highlights and not mentions of every hurricane we've managed to avoid. :p
Biggest and first [kink?] was Hugo. Easiest way to tell how local someone is. If you mention "Hugo" and they look blankly, or start rambling about the dude from LoTR/Matrix, chances are they ain't local. :p If they start whinging about hurricane parties and death, destruction, and one hell of a storm surge, then you've got yourself someone who's either local, or at least wants to be [that last one though is freaky.]
Anyway. '89. We lived at the other house and for some reason my parents decided to stay. Not sure why, but they did. Maybe in the hopes that since our house was fairly old and sturdy that it would be able to weather the storm and if we were here, the looting would be kept to a minimum? Dunno. Sent my grandfather off to Virginia [he spent half the year here and half with his wife. Yeah, weird.] and I remember going to the beach the day before and everyone just sort of staring at the waves because they were huge and of course no one was allowed anywhere near the water's edge, let alone the actual ocean. The day of the storm was sunny, actually. Gorgeous if you ignored the fact that by noon, the winds were so high that trashcans were blowing down the street. Big trashcans.
Lalalaaaa. So the storm hits during the night, and at first we were on the first floor, only the wind was so slanted that the rain was coming in under the door. So upstairs we went. all the doors shut, the attic whistling, and you could feel each tree fall. Dad was outside during the eye of the storm, and then all hell broke loose later. I remember that we went weeks without power and bathing was freakishly cold and unpleasant. I remember my aunt coming to visit and it was creepy because she couldn't drive through the neighborhood, so she had to walk with her flashlight and I thought she was a deranged psycho breaking the curfew. We have videos taken for the insurance people, and pictures too.
Next! Very short one. Summer School. Day before my birthday. We were missing school the next day because of the hurricane that was going to supposedly hit us. I've never heard so many kids scream with joy at the same time before. It didn't hit and I think we had to make the day up on a Friday. But my birthday was once more a day of no school. :D
When my grandfather died, I got out of school. [high school 10th grade, I think] I remember being semi excited about missing school, but sad he was gone. Thing is, about that time a hurricane was heading straight for us. :p So the entire city got out of it. :p Unfair much? Yeah. Thing is, the damn hurricane followed us up to Virginia. I'm not kidding. The morning of the service, we were all at breakfast and you couldn't see outside because the rain and wind were so bad. So I attended a funeral at Arlington during a hurricane.
*thinks* There were others, but the next and final one is Floyd. September 15th ish, 99 I think. [not sure, kay?] My parents decided this time to flee the city. Mainly because the city was being evacuated. :p So Mom had to buy cat carriers, only they didn't sell her the grate/fronts, so my dad used panty hose for 4 of them. That didn't work out all that well because the cats freaked out [some of them]. This wasn't helped by the fact that since the whole damn city was fleeing, there was basically a traffic standstill. It took 13 hours to get to someplace fairly close in NC. I remember when we finally left the area by the mall [we spent hours there. not kidding] and were passing a rest stop that night, people were pulled over to the side of the road partying and getting very drunk. They were also very much half naked. You know where Floyd hit? Not Charleston, SC. No, it slammed into NC somewhere. :p The damn thing followed us!
So... those are my stories of woe. I'm hoping to avoid a hurricane by staying put. Only Hugo hit us when we didn't run, and that was because it had targeted SC anyway.
You can wake up now.
Well, crap on a stick. But this brings up my "Impy's very boring tales of Hurricane Hell" so I won't complain too terribly much. [yes, I will.]
So, I think I'll stick with the highlights and not mentions of every hurricane we've managed to avoid. :p
Biggest and first [kink?] was Hugo. Easiest way to tell how local someone is. If you mention "Hugo" and they look blankly, or start rambling about the dude from LoTR/Matrix, chances are they ain't local. :p If they start whinging about hurricane parties and death, destruction, and one hell of a storm surge, then you've got yourself someone who's either local, or at least wants to be [that last one though is freaky.]
Anyway. '89. We lived at the other house and for some reason my parents decided to stay. Not sure why, but they did. Maybe in the hopes that since our house was fairly old and sturdy that it would be able to weather the storm and if we were here, the looting would be kept to a minimum? Dunno. Sent my grandfather off to Virginia [he spent half the year here and half with his wife. Yeah, weird.] and I remember going to the beach the day before and everyone just sort of staring at the waves because they were huge and of course no one was allowed anywhere near the water's edge, let alone the actual ocean. The day of the storm was sunny, actually. Gorgeous if you ignored the fact that by noon, the winds were so high that trashcans were blowing down the street. Big trashcans.
Lalalaaaa. So the storm hits during the night, and at first we were on the first floor, only the wind was so slanted that the rain was coming in under the door. So upstairs we went. all the doors shut, the attic whistling, and you could feel each tree fall. Dad was outside during the eye of the storm, and then all hell broke loose later. I remember that we went weeks without power and bathing was freakishly cold and unpleasant. I remember my aunt coming to visit and it was creepy because she couldn't drive through the neighborhood, so she had to walk with her flashlight and I thought she was a deranged psycho breaking the curfew. We have videos taken for the insurance people, and pictures too.
Next! Very short one. Summer School. Day before my birthday. We were missing school the next day because of the hurricane that was going to supposedly hit us. I've never heard so many kids scream with joy at the same time before. It didn't hit and I think we had to make the day up on a Friday. But my birthday was once more a day of no school. :D
When my grandfather died, I got out of school. [high school 10th grade, I think] I remember being semi excited about missing school, but sad he was gone. Thing is, about that time a hurricane was heading straight for us. :p So the entire city got out of it. :p Unfair much? Yeah. Thing is, the damn hurricane followed us up to Virginia. I'm not kidding. The morning of the service, we were all at breakfast and you couldn't see outside because the rain and wind were so bad. So I attended a funeral at Arlington during a hurricane.
*thinks* There were others, but the next and final one is Floyd. September 15th ish, 99 I think. [not sure, kay?] My parents decided this time to flee the city. Mainly because the city was being evacuated. :p So Mom had to buy cat carriers, only they didn't sell her the grate/fronts, so my dad used panty hose for 4 of them. That didn't work out all that well because the cats freaked out [some of them]. This wasn't helped by the fact that since the whole damn city was fleeing, there was basically a traffic standstill. It took 13 hours to get to someplace fairly close in NC. I remember when we finally left the area by the mall [we spent hours there. not kidding] and were passing a rest stop that night, people were pulled over to the side of the road partying and getting very drunk. They were also very much half naked. You know where Floyd hit? Not Charleston, SC. No, it slammed into NC somewhere. :p The damn thing followed us!
So... those are my stories of woe. I'm hoping to avoid a hurricane by staying put. Only Hugo hit us when we didn't run, and that was because it had targeted SC anyway.
You can wake up now.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2003-09-14 04:51 pm (UTC)..Okay, I don't really remember Hugo except the fact that it apparently traumatized me because I'm freakishly afraid of thunderstorms now, but well, you know, I was only like, a year and a half old. Don't you feel old! ;]
I think I remember Floyd, but not sure. Something happened some year on the Fourth of July when I was in Pizza Hut in those glamourous glass-encircled dining areas when the hail was putting cracks in the roof. HMM. I dunno.
Be safe, Imp, be safe!
(no subject)
Date: 2003-09-14 11:03 pm (UTC)and bad hugo. bad! bad for making manda2 not thunderstorm happy. bad!
yay for being local miles away! ;)