Monday, July 8th, 2024 we were in the eye of Hurricane Beryl. We are about an hour from the ocean. We have experienced more hurricanes than I can count; this one was different. The winds had the most unusual patterns. My husband and I stood on the front porch. The rain was falling and we noticed that the sheets of rain blew east to west and then straight down and the north to south. It was the most unusual rain that we have ever observed. The wind was blowing about 78 mph. Oddly, between all of this, there was a stillness. There was a great force; you could feel it.
We woke up to pouring rain. We were assessing whether we needed to prepare to go to work. I received a text due to the extreme weather we were closed. I felt relief that I would not have to battle the weather.
We heard a boom; we lost power. My husband came in from the garage, he said he saw the cable fall to the ground. We continued to watch the storm. We would go from the front of the house to the back of the house; looking all around not knowing what to expect.
We were on the front porch and my husband pointed to the neighbor’s tree in the front yard and he said watch; it is about to fall. Suddenly, the large pine tree lifted its roots from the ground. We heard a crack, a pop, and then boom as it timbered across their yard, across the street, and into the outskirts of the neighbor’s yard. We went into the house. A few minutes later we were in the kitchen when suddenly we heard another boom. This one sounded close. It was a twisted oak and pine tree that landed on my husband’s truck. We went outside in the rain to see up close. The massive tree knocked down the fence and landed on top of the truck.
Once the rain stopped on Monday, me and my husband spent several hours picking up what we could to make a path. He texted some people who had done work for us in the past and asked if they could give us an estimate to remove the trees. We were blocked in. We couldn’t go anywhere if we wanted to. The fierce wind knocked out power lines all around. We no longer had electricity. It was time to prepare for indoor camping. My husband pulled out the lanterns. The evening ended with cold showers. It was a restless night.
Tuesday, we woke up without power. My work did not have power either, so the office/plant was closed. We used this time to start clearing debris. A couple hours later one of the kids came to help; he was equipped with his chainsaw. We managed to uncover my husbands’ truck and assess the damage. We cleared a path and pulled debris to the street so we could leave in my vehicle if we had to. We worked until dark. The evening ended with cold showers. It was another restless night.
Wednesday when I woke up, my husband had an extension cord plugged to the coffee pot to the generator. Things were starting to look better. 😊 I received a text message that I needed to go to work to get my laptop and find a hotspot. Sidenote, 2.7 million homes and businesses were without power. So, the adventure began. Every light there was a long line of traffic. Once I picked up the laptop, the scavenger hunt to find a hotspot to connect began. I ended up coming home feeling defeated and a little frustrated because of the traffic and not finding a hotspot. Realize that nothing is normal at this point. Our routines are off and the luxuries we take for granted are not available. My husband came to the rescue. He tried the hotspot on my work phone and surprisingly, I was able to connect. I worked at the kitchen table by a window for light until my laptop battery died. I moved my makeshift office outside and plugged in to the roaring generator until the laptop charged. It was ~98 degrees outside and felt as hot inside. Around 9 p.m. I was physically and mentally exhausted. The evening ended with cold showers. It was another restless night. My husband was starting to get a head cold.
Thursday the power came on at work and I reported to work. My hair was in a messy bun, and I applied my makeup by using the light from a flashlight. It was a long day at work. My husband was home supervising the crew that cut up the twisted oak and pine trees. Power was starting to be restored in various areas, but traffic lights were still out, and traffic was a nightmare. The evening ended with cold showers. It was another restless night.
Friday was basically the same as Thursday except the hired crew finished chopping the trees and hauled the debris to the road. The cost excluded the base and stump of the tree; this would need to be dealt with later. Thank goodness for Friday!
Saturday, still no power. The house was hot. Outside was hot. I was tired of the walls of my house. I found an open Chuck E Cheese and took my grandson to celebrate his recent birthday. My husband was sick, and he stayed home so he could tend to the generator. It was good to get out and life outside the house seemed “normal”. When I arrived home a little after 7. My husband met me at my vehicle to help. I brought home dinner and picked up nonperishables from the grocery store. As we were walking towards the door of the house, I realized that it was quiet. The loud sound of the generator was not roaring. I yelled out, “did we get power?” My husband said “yes, a few minutes ago.”
I learned several lessons from the storm
1. My routine was off, and it was hard to pivot and prioritize. It is good to have a plan and to get back on track as soon as possible. Today, 6 days later; I am thrilled to be back to a solid routine.
2. My perspective on what is important changed. This is key. Sometimes, a storm can cause disruptions and make you wonder if what you are doing has any impact.
3. I am grateful that my husband was prepared and took care of the generators and charging lanterns, etc. This was a full-time job! We had a fan, and our refrigerator was powered by the generator, so we had ice and water.
4. I realized how blessed I am. I have a home and we had running water. We had a fan. We had each other. We experienced minimal damage. We were only without power for 6 days. Some people had trees fall into their house. Some people went longer without power. Some people did not make it through the hurricane.
5. I realized how important electricity is because communication was temporarily affected. Some phones had SOS signals, there was no internet, some had no service, and text messages were delayed.
6. In the future, I need a better plan. I need a plan A and B. Plan A is when we know of inclement weather approaching and B is be prepared with minimal necessities. We didn’t think this category 1 storm was going to be bad. We didn’t realize we were going to be in the eye of the storm. We were wrong.
7. It is good to sit still and reflect. We all go through storms in life. When you get on the other side of the storm; take the time to reflect to see how you can plan for the future and what lessons you learned from the storm.
8. Keep an emergency fund for unexpected expenses.
9. Often things seem really bad in the moment but it is in these times and experiences that we build resilience.
My hope is that you don’t wait for a storm to prioritize what’s important, and you find gratitude in who and what you have daily. I hope you have a plan A and a plan B. Find time to be still. It is in these moments that you realize the impact of a storm is just a season.
Living well,
Kelle Cathey
#powertochoose
#greengap
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