Since I put notices on my last two posts about Hurricane Irma, I thought I’d let you know how we handle a hurricane.

(This won’t be a DIY post!)

First, we don’t panic.

I moved to Florida in 1982.  If you’ve lived in Florida any length of time you know that you have to be ready for tropical storms and hurricanes right around Labor Day.  Sometimes earlier, sometimes later.  But it’s gonna happen. We keep our cars fueled up and our pantry stocked (including lots of comfort food and adult beverages). I put large containers of filtered tap water in the freezer and drinking bottles in the fridge.  Fill up the bathtub just in case the water goes out–that has never happened!

We had two hurricanes hit us here in Old Homosassa in 2004 and another in 2005.  None were direct hits but we were without power for anywhere from a few days to a week.  In 2006 we put in an automatic generator.  It runs the AC in our bedroom, the refrigerators and freezer, some overhead lights, and some outlets in the house.  BEST INVESTMENT EVER!

We watch a lot of TV as the tropical system approaches.  (we have directv so even when the cable goes down we are good!)

We knew way in advance that Irma was going to hit Florida but for us it’s all about whether we are on the “dirty” side of the storm.  Last year Hurricane Hermine went up west of us and the storm surge caused massive destruction. So many homes were destroyed just from that flooding. This year Irma went up the east side and all we got was wind.  A lot of it.  Which caused the trees to go down. Onto the power poles.  But our homes were not flooded.

By Sunday morning, (Irma hit later that night) we were pretty sure that we would be on the west side of the storm.  Our house is high but the Homosassa Civic Club is low and a normal rainstorm can cause flooding there.  So early that morning our volunteers were putting sandbags down. (We had picked up the sand bags a few days before and stored them inside. We wait until the last minute to put down the sand bags because they do tend to disappear!)

Irma sucked all the water out.  Which is what we hoped for but this time it was weird.  People were walking on Tampa Bay. Boats were sitting on the bottom of Crystal River. This was our view.

Where did all the water go?

This was a VERY good thing.

Like I said, we got lots of wind.  By 3 am Monday the storm was over.  I crept into the garage to check for water. Dry. I took my flashlight and shined on our trees. They were still there.

That morning we drove around the neighborhood and sent snaps to our neighbors that had evacuated.

Here’s a picture I tookof our house from the neighbor’s.  No damage.  Just a lot of tree limbs down. My beautiful trees were all standing!

The following scene was repeated many times over in the area.  So many of our large beautiful trees down.

We were still a bit concerned about a possible storm surge.  Everyone was waiting for high tide.  But all was okay.

HIGH TIDE! NO STORM SURGE!

Power went out at 8:30 pm on Sunday.  We started seeing these tags on poles on Thursday. And we really got excited when a neighbor reported on Friday morning that a convoy of power trucks was on the way.

Saturday evening the power guys showed up on our street.

First thing I did was turn the lights on in the dining room just to see if things were REALLY on! Yippee!

Look at Maggie just sleeping through my squeals of joy!

And that’s how my week was!

How about yours?