Wednesday, September 01, 2004
It's the end of the world as we know it
When Mom and I moved down here in 1979, we were immediately greeted with the
spectacle of Hurricane David bearing
down on us. Fortunately for us, it turned north at the last minute. As the
years passed, thirteen in all, so did the hurricanes, slipping past South
Florida without so much as a “How-ya-doing?”
Two weeks after moving into an apartment with friends when Hurricane Andrew comes knocking. And knocking. And knocking.
It knocked Homestead right off the map.
In the early morning hours of August 24th, Mom, her mom and I were huddleded in Mom's walk-on closet. They were sleeping as I watched Hurricane Andrew on TV. Nothing more sureal than watching a Class-5 hurricane dance across the TV screen as it dances across your lawn at the same time.
We were fortunate—fortunate enough to be far north of Hurricane Andrew where the only damage we received at Mom's condo were a few small trees knocked down.
And so the years pass, twelve in all.
And now we're facing Hurricane Frances in all her Class-4 fury, bearing down on us, on what looks to be a much similar course as David in 1979. At best (well, for us here in South Florida) it looks like it'll make landfall a ways north—perhaps an hour or so north, unless there's a high pressure system that keeps Hurricane Frances heading more west than north (which is what happened with Hurricane Andrew).
Further updates as they happen.
