Hurricane season lurking around the corner….

The official start of Hurricane season is about a month away and the south is gearing up for another hard season or still recovering from the last. Today we went to a hurricane preparedness session. Our church put on this one, although there are several going on around the community. It was an interesting look at lessons learned from last year’s evacuation and this year’s preparation for the upcoming season. Last year the emphasis was just on the evacuation part, making sure everyone had a place to go and ample supplies to get there. Typical newbie information that was great for us but old news for anyone who has lived in these parts for years.

However, this year’s focus was not only on evacuation, but also after storm clean up and restoration. We filled out surveys of who has what equipment (hint hint Dad, Emmy wants a STHL chain saw and a pair of hot pink chaps for her birthday :) and supplies so work teams can be formed and working within a few days in the case of a major storm hit.

Will it hit us this year? It’s hard to say… Houston has been lucky lately. The latest 2006 hurricane prediction is 17 named storms, 9 hurricanes – 5 of those being major (level III or above) and the gulf has a 30% landfall probability. That makes me wonder when the luck will run out and the statistics kick in.

Either way, its nothing to go crazy over, I just find it interesting; I guess its human curiosity. Its like growing up in the Midwest, you stand outside the cellar watching the sky turn from yellow to green, then green to purple as the clouds churn and funnels form. It when noon turn to midnight and 9pm looks like dawn. And then you feel that breath-taking stillness, the air laced so heavy you can hardly breath. That’s when the curiosity ends and you seal the hatch (aka crawl into that nasty musty century-old basement and roast marshmallows over a lavender scented candle while it sounds like the gate of hell open above. Somewhere in the innocence of childhood those storms are all exciting and safe.

However, here there are no basements and at 7 ft above sea level, underground is the last place you want to be with a storm surge. So will curiosity keep up here? Above a category III we are heading north and if it hits, maybe never looking back…we’re curious but not stupid. This year if needed we’ll evacuate 72 hours prior to landfall.

So now that the world knows our plans - Moms & Dads can stop worrying and know we have a plan :)

As for our little hurricane….This is her new “fort”
Till next week….