Tag: hurricane

Hurricane Milton Before the Hit

Hurricane Milton is coming. We are as ready as we can be, and now we are waiting.

We went camping over the weekend. When we came home Monday, we unpacked and began hurricane preparations for Milton.

Hurricane Helene mostly missed us, but this big one named Milton will not. We are in the path, with the eye going just a bit south. I live on the east coast and then projection is for a Category 1 by the time it gets here.

The Gulf will be devastated, and I can’t even imagine facing a Category 4. Many people have evacuated. Gas stations are without gas.

We spent the day putting up metal shutters on all our windows. We left some gaps in order to see outside and get fresh air with open windows once the storm has passed. There will be no power – for how long?

Metal hurricane shutters are on the windows

My son is a firefighter and is heading into work a day early. I hope the city will not be sending them out when the wind gets bad. People need to be self-reliant during times like this.

I expect power to go out and trees limbs to come down. Hopefully the flooding will not be bad, but lots of people were getting sand bags.

By tomorrow night we’ll be getting wind and then it’s a matter of riding out the storm into Friday. This is a big one, and damage will be extensive across the state.

Ending the Year With a Disaster

I’ve had a bad year. I’m not going further back than that, but these past months have been especially hard. After dealing with a drop in income and buying absolutely nothing extra for nearly three years, I was able to quickly sell my New Hampshire home and move back to Florida. I never wanted to come back here to live, but it’s more affordable. Also my older son is a firefighter here and my younger son is attending college here. It was my only option. Without money, there are few options in life.

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There will be no basement storage in Florida

I had a big yard sale, gave items away, and called a local shop to pick up lots of my furniture before we packed up the Penske truck and took the three day drive from New England to Florida. All of that was a tremendous effort, not to mention the packing, showing the house, and my sadness at having to leave – move again.

Since June my younger son and I have been living with my older son in his rental house in east central Florida. I dislike the area and hate the heat. But I am sucking it up, and trying to make the best of it. I know it’s foolish of me to hope for a better future, but when that is all there is, it can’t be helped. We began looking for a house to buy together right away. We found one and began the buying process.

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Yesterday we were scheduled to close on the house. Everyone has been watching the path of Hurricane Matthew and it seemed to be headed straight for the coast where my new home is located. I wondered at the wisdom of closing on a home the day before a major hurricane hits.

My worries were lessened when one hour before the closing I got a call from the Mortgage company saying there was a moratorium on closings! It had been delayed because of the storm’s approach.

Depending on the damage left behind by this storm, it may be a while before we can close and get ourselves moved in. The house is only a few miles from the beach, so it may get some damage – and then what? The nightmare goes on.

I say ending the year with a disaster, but really there are a few months to go. Time for even more fun to happen in my life.

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Standing in line at Publix with everyone buying food before the Hurricane.