10 Years Ago
10 years ago today, Hurricane Charley hit Florida.
It was my first hurricane. I had only been living in this house for six months. My dog was just a puppy then.
I remember watching the weather all morning long, and knowing as early as 9:00 that the storm was turning ahead of schedule and that it would hit my area and not Tampa.
I remember sitting in the hallway right outside this room that afternoon, the only safe place I could find in the house. I remember hugging my puppy tightly while the winds shrieked outside.
I remember crying in fear as things I couldn’t see hit my house. I remember thinking my roof was going to be blown off.
I remember calling my family afterward to let them know I was alive and unhurt, hurrying to make the calls before the lines went down and you couldn’t use the phones anymore.
I remember the terrible heat and humidity, lying in the dark with no power and no water, frogs croaking in the deep lake that had become my backyard from all the rain, all my windows open as I tried to get some air in the house and sleep in the sweltering heat.
I remember sitting beside the window, trying to read by natural light, when suddenly the refrigerator kicked on behind me and I knew the power was back on, and I burst into tears. I was three days without electricity and water. And I was one of the lucky ones.
To this day I can’t watch those videos of the radar images as Charley comes onshore. I get this panicky feeling in my chest and it gets hard to breathe.
I will never forget.
It was my first hurricane. I had only been living in this house for six months. My dog was just a puppy then.
I remember watching the weather all morning long, and knowing as early as 9:00 that the storm was turning ahead of schedule and that it would hit my area and not Tampa.
I remember sitting in the hallway right outside this room that afternoon, the only safe place I could find in the house. I remember hugging my puppy tightly while the winds shrieked outside.
I remember crying in fear as things I couldn’t see hit my house. I remember thinking my roof was going to be blown off.
I remember calling my family afterward to let them know I was alive and unhurt, hurrying to make the calls before the lines went down and you couldn’t use the phones anymore.
I remember the terrible heat and humidity, lying in the dark with no power and no water, frogs croaking in the deep lake that had become my backyard from all the rain, all my windows open as I tried to get some air in the house and sleep in the sweltering heat.
I remember sitting beside the window, trying to read by natural light, when suddenly the refrigerator kicked on behind me and I knew the power was back on, and I burst into tears. I was three days without electricity and water. And I was one of the lucky ones.
To this day I can’t watch those videos of the radar images as Charley comes onshore. I get this panicky feeling in my chest and it gets hard to breathe.
I will never forget.