Five Years Ago Today .....

..... we had no electricity and no hot water and wouldn't for five more days. Hurricane Wilma had struck our area and it hit us hard. My daughter, her then husband, my then 2 YO grandson Noah and their two dogs had moved down from Virginia two weeks prior. So we had 3 dogs, a 2 year old and four adults living with a generator and a VERY damaged surrounding area! But Hurricane Katrina had hit Louisiana and Mississippi that year as well and we all know what happened there. So no one knew that we were in trouble. There was little news coverage outside of our immediate area and even our families in Virginia and Alaska had no idea what we'd just experienced. It wasn't one that any of us will ever forget. And honestly not one I'd like to repeat either. However, it's one of the prices of living in South Florida. I've always said "At least we know they're coming and we can prepare!"
The storm hit around 7:30 in the morning. We had moved all our valuables into plastic tubs and things, then put them out into the Florida room along with Noah who was sleeping in his crib. I guess that was the only space we had available with Michele and her family living with us. I won't make THAT mistake again though!
Being shuttered up and knowing that there's things going on outside is very unnerving. We had a little knot in the wood on one of the bedroom windows and we had not boarded the windows at the top of our door. I'm really glad because it gave us an opportunity to keep track of what was happening. Suddenly there was a sound like a machine gun going off. POP POP POP POP..... Over and over again. But it wasn't a gun. It was the wind pulling the roof off of our Florida room! The popping noise were the nails coming out of the wood!!! Suddenly there was water pouring onto Noah and our valuables we'd stored out there. So we were scrambling to grab everything and move it into the main part of the house. Thankfully everything was okay! Meanwhile, Steve and Michele had been looking out the door windows and saw the roof coming over the top of the house and landing in the street and wrapping around the tree in the front yard! Thankfully we'd moved our cars to the side of the house because they would all have been damaged by the roof if we hadn't!
Hours later the storm finally subsided and we were able to safely go outside. It was a very strange feeling! At the other end of our street there was a pile of rubble. Seems a tornado had come up in between our home and the condos across the street, then turned down our street and gone in between some houses a few doors up. Our retired police officer neighbor had watched it through his newly installed hurricane proof plate glass window. SCARY!
Later that day or the next day we ventured out of our neighborhood to go to the local Lowe's for wood to fix the roof. They were also running on a generator and could only allow a few people in the store at a time. So we stood in line and chatted with the others about our experiences. All of us knew just how lucky we had been! The one thing that I noticed that was particularly bizarre was that all the trees and anything else like phone poles, etc. were all one level! It was like someone had come through with a big set of hedge clippers!
You'd never know anything had happened now. Everything's back to normal. People have forgotten for the most part. Until we are threatened again. First it's the "Cone of Uncertainty." Next it's the "Cone of Possibility." Then it's the "Cone of Probability." Next it's the "Cone of Concern" and finally it just becomes "THE CONE!" Needless to say, we don't like the cone at all. :)
So today we are counting our blessings and remembering just how close we really came... Thank You Jesus for taking such good care of us!
And now you'll have to scroll down for the slideshow of pics cuz I cannot figure out how to put them inside the post! Grrrrr! :) Thanks for looking!