Hurricane Florence And The Machine: Time To Shake It Off

I never saw much hurricane activity in the first 29 years of my life because I lived in NE Ohio. If there was a hurricane along the coast, I might have seen an extra rainstorm but nothing really to worry about. I moved to North Carolina nearly 6 years ago and now that’s all changed. I don’t live directly on the coast so it’s not as scary for me than, say, someone who lives in Wilmington, but I’m only a couple hours inland so we still have to worry about strong winds causing injuries and property damage, our homes flooding, and not having power for several days. And for the poor souls who are still stuck in corporate America, they also have to worry about facing repercussions at work if they dare to choose their family’s safety over going to work. I sure don’t miss that.

Obviously I’m writing this because Florence is heading our way and she’s just been reclassified as a category 3 hurricane that may hit as a category 4 with severe flooding projected, even for those of us who live inland. I don’t know if she’s bringing the machine or just coming to terrorize us by herself, but it’s emergency preparation time here in NC.

The last major hurricane I remember was Hurricane Matthew in October of 2016. My husband and I were just dating, not yet engaged, and parts of my area were dangerously flooded. We didn’t have power for several days and eventually ended up going to Dave and Busters because they were the first place to regain power (besides the call center I worked at, naturally 😐).

This will be my first major hurricane with a family to worry about, and that’s exactly what I’m doing. First of all, we live in a ground-level apartment that has leaked rain before, and that was from a regular rainstorm. I’m not sure how hurricane-resistant this old apartment building is. I also have my dogs to protect. As I’ve mentioned before, Crackers hates getting wet. I don’t even know if the poor guy can swim. Miles is ok with water but not a fan of rain either, and if it came down to carrying them to safety, my husband would definitely be stuck with 60-lb Miles while 17-lb Crackers claws the shit out of me in fear. That sounds…not so fun.

It’s always darkest before the…hurricane? No, I’m pretty sure that’s not how the song goes, so here’s the actual link: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RCWnVznnWcs

What are we going to do about this hurricane? Shake it off I guess! And be prepared. What else can we do?