Rain, Rain and More Rain!

I took this picture from my desk chair looking out at the mango tree this morning. The streaks are rain! I took it probably about 2-3 feet from the window so that gives you an idea of just how hard it was raining!
Yes, we've been in a severe drought for almost a year now. Lake Okeechobee in Central Florida has been seriously low since they drained 5 feet out of it two years ago in preparation for Hurricane Ernesto which never arrived here. So when I heard on the news that this huge lake had gained 3 inches in 4 days I was shocked! Do you know how BIG that lake is?! Here's what Wikipedia has to say about Lake Okeechobee "It is the second-largest freshwater lake wholly within the continental United States (after Lake Michigan) and the largest in the southern United States.[1] Okeechobee covers 730 square miles (1,890 km²), approximately half the size of the state of Rhode Island, and is relatively shallow, with an average depth of only 9 feet (3 m)." That's a LOT of water to make something that big gain 3 inches that quickly!
The Daytona 500 racetrack is underwater. There's flooding all over that area there and some poor people living in an apartment complex are having to evacuate because of the flooding in their apartments! Someone said their cat almost drowned INSIDE the apartment!
I fear the hurricane season is going to be a rough one again this year. We've already had one low pressure system that the hurricane hunters from NOAA have thought about going into twice. Thankfully it didn't develop and it's now over land. But to have two "threats" this early is very rare. Guess I'd better get started with my hurricane preps now... That means stocking up on Benadryl for Baxter too. Yep. We've had to resort to drugging the poor dog whenever the storms come. (Rolling eyes here...)
And just as I'm typing this at 11:15 at night, here it comes again pouring down rain! I hope we don't float away!
Happy Memorial Day everybody!