I'm back!
I'm back! We are all fine.
Hurricane Wilma was a category three when it first started passing over us, but was a category two by the time it left. The eye (which was huge) kept skirting where I live, so we would be in the eye for a few minutes and then back in the eye wall, which is where we were most of the time and which packs the worst winds, especially since we were on the "dirty side" of the storm.
The electric went off around 6:00 in the morning, with the hurricane slamming into us at 7:30 a.m., waking us all up to extreme darkness since the hurricane shutters were all up. It looked like the middle of the night. The wind howled outside for hours. However, just as unnerving as the wind was the sound of metal twisting, falling, and who knew what else outside. This lasted through most of the storm. It was a very long, dull, unsettling, and tiring morning.
When the storm was over, everyone started pouring out of their houses to inspect the damage to all of the houses and see how everyone else faired. The damage to our house is worse than some but not as bad as others - most of our fences are down, downed gutters, one tree badly damaged, and three lamp posts smashed. Of these, the one that we really are working on is repairing the fence so we can let our German Shepherds run around in the back yard again without having to walk them.
The house directly across the street from us had some roof damage and three huge trees down, pulling up the sod. One tree fell on the roof of a neighbour and another fell on the two cars of homeowner, totalling one car and smashing the windshield and top of the other car. When they had the trees cut up and removed, a branch fell through the roof of their garage.
The county where I live was one of the worst hit. 97% of the people in Broward County lost their electricity. Yep, only 3% had electric. I now have electricity both at home and at the office. The telephones and the internet are also now both working at the office. However, the telephones, internet, and DirectTV are not working at home. However, we our cell phones now work again at home, so we are keeping them on more. We also now have post office delivery and trash removal services again. Oh, and they finally lifted the countywide curfew, too.
South Florida is still a mess and there are many people who still do not have electric, phones, or water, but the situation is improving. Driving is dangerous since there are hardly any traffic signals working and some interesections have dangling wires where traffic signals were knocked down. There's also a lot of downed traffic signs.
Also contributing to traffic problems, especially of the pedestrian type, are all of the downed trees and branches. They are literally everywhere you look. It actually looks like autumn down here because the trees are so bare and the wind is blowing. Unfortunately, it meant that there were hardly any trick-or-treaters for Halloween, since it was not too safe to walk around at night with all the debris in the way, plus the places without any lights.
There are tremendous lines to get gas and most of the grocery stores are running on generators still and therefore are not carrying perishables. Those that have electricity are running out of everything really quickly - milk, eggs, cheese, dairy, frozen foods, and some produce. I still have been unable to find a store that has eggs. There's also still long lines to get ice, water, and meals.
It was really interesting cooking everything on the barbeque grill, including grilled cheese sandwiches. I burned those a bit, but they were still edible.
School has not reopened yet and will remain closed through at least Wednesday, which means the kids will have at least 1 1/2 weeks of school to make up. We lost a week of work at the office.
I'm really thankful that we had such cool weather after the hurricane; it really made it much more bearable. More than that, I am so grateful that the storm was not worse. I cannot imagine going through what those poor people on the Gulf Coast went through and are still going through with Hurricane Katrina.
Hurricane Wilma was a category three when it first started passing over us, but was a category two by the time it left. The eye (which was huge) kept skirting where I live, so we would be in the eye for a few minutes and then back in the eye wall, which is where we were most of the time and which packs the worst winds, especially since we were on the "dirty side" of the storm.
The electric went off around 6:00 in the morning, with the hurricane slamming into us at 7:30 a.m., waking us all up to extreme darkness since the hurricane shutters were all up. It looked like the middle of the night. The wind howled outside for hours. However, just as unnerving as the wind was the sound of metal twisting, falling, and who knew what else outside. This lasted through most of the storm. It was a very long, dull, unsettling, and tiring morning.
When the storm was over, everyone started pouring out of their houses to inspect the damage to all of the houses and see how everyone else faired. The damage to our house is worse than some but not as bad as others - most of our fences are down, downed gutters, one tree badly damaged, and three lamp posts smashed. Of these, the one that we really are working on is repairing the fence so we can let our German Shepherds run around in the back yard again without having to walk them.
The house directly across the street from us had some roof damage and three huge trees down, pulling up the sod. One tree fell on the roof of a neighbour and another fell on the two cars of homeowner, totalling one car and smashing the windshield and top of the other car. When they had the trees cut up and removed, a branch fell through the roof of their garage.
The county where I live was one of the worst hit. 97% of the people in Broward County lost their electricity. Yep, only 3% had electric. I now have electricity both at home and at the office. The telephones and the internet are also now both working at the office. However, the telephones, internet, and DirectTV are not working at home. However, we our cell phones now work again at home, so we are keeping them on more. We also now have post office delivery and trash removal services again. Oh, and they finally lifted the countywide curfew, too.
South Florida is still a mess and there are many people who still do not have electric, phones, or water, but the situation is improving. Driving is dangerous since there are hardly any traffic signals working and some interesections have dangling wires where traffic signals were knocked down. There's also a lot of downed traffic signs.
Also contributing to traffic problems, especially of the pedestrian type, are all of the downed trees and branches. They are literally everywhere you look. It actually looks like autumn down here because the trees are so bare and the wind is blowing. Unfortunately, it meant that there were hardly any trick-or-treaters for Halloween, since it was not too safe to walk around at night with all the debris in the way, plus the places without any lights.
There are tremendous lines to get gas and most of the grocery stores are running on generators still and therefore are not carrying perishables. Those that have electricity are running out of everything really quickly - milk, eggs, cheese, dairy, frozen foods, and some produce. I still have been unable to find a store that has eggs. There's also still long lines to get ice, water, and meals.
It was really interesting cooking everything on the barbeque grill, including grilled cheese sandwiches. I burned those a bit, but they were still edible.
School has not reopened yet and will remain closed through at least Wednesday, which means the kids will have at least 1 1/2 weeks of school to make up. We lost a week of work at the office.
I'm really thankful that we had such cool weather after the hurricane; it really made it much more bearable. More than that, I am so grateful that the storm was not worse. I cannot imagine going through what those poor people on the Gulf Coast went through and are still going through with Hurricane Katrina.