Everyone evacuated or boarded up. We boarded up with help from some friends on Thursday, September 2. It was going to be bad here in Melbourne. Jim Cantore of the Weather Channel was right down the street. When Jim Cantore is in your neighborhood, you’re in trouble! Then my wife, Eleanor, heard that Dan Rather of CBS News was driving in. That was even worse. Anderson Cooper, the CNN reporter, was just over the causeway in Melbourne Beach.
Three of our six children live in different areas of central Florida, so we received many phone calls. Everyone was checking in to ask “ole Dad” how bad the hurricane would be and to verify that we were prepared.
My wife pushed my wheelchair out on the porch, and we looked on as the winds blew through the trees. I thought of Joyce Kilmer’s poem “Trees” as I watched bamboo, pine, maple, oak, and wax myrtles swaying back and forth. After witnessing several branches breaking off these trees, we decided it was time to hunker down. Frances had arrived!
Hurricanes aren’t like tornadoes. They hang around. The winds howled for two nights and one day in excess of 100 mph. It rained and blew and rained and blew; we didn’t know how long it would last. On Sunday I asked my wife if she knew what day it was. She replied that it was the day on which I was born 67 years ago. This was one birthday we’d never forget.
Monday arrived at last; it was Labor Day, and we found ourselves without power and our telephone line not allowing any incoming calls. We had several downed trees, but remarkably the roof was intact. Our power was out because a tree had fallen on the transformer. Everyone else on our street was on a different system, so they were lit up while we remained dark.
My gracious neighbor from across the street shared his brand-new portable generator with us. This allowed my wife to help me into/out of the swimming pool I depend on for exercise and therapy, and it ran our refrigerator and some lights.
Eleanor became very proficient with that generator, filling it with gas, changing the oil, and hooking it to the water pump, because we don’t have city water. She also used numerous candles and battery-operated lanterns. Central air was out of the question. We managed to purchase a room-size air conditioner to keep our bedroom cool. For me, having a cool room is not just a convenience. My MS plus heat causes me to become weaker and weaker. As the days without power continued, I went to several good neighbors for A/C breaks.
Many neighbors helped out by bringing us gas, ice, and other items of need, but each day became more stressful as we made call after call trying to get power restored and to hire someone to clean up the damage to our property.
Then suddenly Hurricane Ivan was coming and Frances hadn’t left the building! Fortunately for us, Ivan swerved for the Panhandle. I went on trying to explain my medical necessity to the power company, but nothing happened. Finally I called a friend who writes for a Florida newspaper. He knew someone in the “system”, and we got power back exactly one week later. That’s a long time!
Just as we were recuperating we heard that Hurricane Jeanne was headed our way. We still had the generator from our neighbor, and we began again to stock up on water, gas, batteries, and candles, realizing that in Florida, the hurricane season doesn’t end until November.
For many people, a hurricane is an inconvenience; but for some, it can mean loss of homes, belongings, income, time, even life. For those of us who have a disability—and for our caregivers—it is extremely difficult, stressful, and even life threatening. We are already nervous about next year. It could happen all over again.
