The Calm after the Storm

As news of the impending Hurricane Irene hitting the East Coast, including NYC, I have been thinking and going back down memory lane through the not so good memories of Hurricanes Past. For many New Yorkers Hurricanes are storms that only happen in Florida or somewhere else, but not here. Yet many people on different countries see Hurricanes like the big threat they are because they live through them every year.

I was born and raised in PR where Hurricane season coincided with the beginning of School. For about 3 months out of every year we would pray that the hurricane would pass far away from us. Many times we would only see the rain and some wind, but everything was good as the hurricane would pass far enough not to hurt us; but some other times we were not so lucky.

In 1989 Hurricane Hugo passed by PR causing a lot of damage, this was a Category 5 Hurricane. At that time I lived in a Basement apartment in San Juan. We knew that there was a chance of flooding so we took all our belongings and placed them on top of the bed. I may not have the best memory and maybe my mom could say more, but I remember how the park right in front of our house lost all the trees, and how I played on the trees that had fallen. I remember eating barbequed food with my mom outside as that's the only way we could cook as out stove was electric and we had no electricity for what it seemed weeks. We also spent quite a while without water and I remember taking baths from water that we had accumulated in water bottles, shampoo bottles and such. I would get inside the bath tub at night with a candle and read. I liked inside the bathtub because I felt it was safe as I would have been able to put out the fire easily there. I read and read and read, and played in the fallen trees outside. We ate beans straight out of the can until we couldn't eat beans anymore. Yet even though this was not a good experience I have fond memories of the time I spent with my mom getting back to basics. Back then people didn't have computers or cell phones in every house like now so the only thing we missed about technology was TV. It wasn't even that bad having a black out as it was fun to make shadow puppets and read by the candle light.

Then in 1998 less than a month after I got married and moved in with my hubby Hurricane Georges 
hit the Island being the first Hurricane to cross the entire island since 1932. I remember my house was a wooden house on top of a mountain. I had the most awesome view of the town, and I could even see as far as the ocean even though it was miles away. We boarded up the windows and expected to stay home, yet a couple of our friends came by and told us to come with them to the next town into a cement house. We were hesitant but we agreed. I must say those friends saved our lives. Three days later after the flooding had subsided and we were able to drive back to our town we decided to go see our home. We drove into the night up the mountain but found that too many of the trees had fallen down and the road was blocked. We got off the car and continued by foot, going over fallen trees and branches. Once we reached the house we noticed our windows were gone, and more than half of our roof. The inside of our house was flooded. All our stuff was damaged and the supplies we had bought to sustain us had been stolen by hoodlums.

Hurricane Georges is a memory I try not to remember as it brings back all the emotions of despair and hopelessness, of being homeless. We stayed with friends, then with my mother in law for a while and next with my grandparents, whose house had suffered less severe damages, only about 1/6 of the roof had been blown away and one wall had tilted inward into a diagonal position, we slept in a mattress in the floor looking at the stars praying it wouldn't rain as we didn't have a roof. I even sometimes would see rats walk over the beams above us. Not something I want to live again.  A year after the hurricane came, me and my husband still were homeless and jobless. So we decided to move to NYC and see where things would lead. We had only 2 small suitcases of stuff.

13 years later I find myself re-living those moments in my head as I hear the news of Irene. This time around I feel much more calm, I feel safe in my house even though I am expecting some leaking in the windows and part of my ceiling as it leaked a few weeks ago when it rained. For the most part everything should be fine. I have enough water for a few days and canned food for a few days as well. Here in NY is different than living in a mountain in PR as the country gets a lot less help and the resources are not as advanced, so I don't expect to be weeks without light or water as we did in PR. We have flashlights, board games, and books to keep us entertained, and there's always the shadow puppets and story telling. It even makes me wish for no electricity for one day as it would help us re-connect as a family without the distractions of today's technology
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Are you in an area where Irene is supposed to pass by? What have you done to prepare for it? Are you concerned? Have you lived through a hurricane before? Please share your stories, I'd love to hear them.

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