Have you ever experienced a Hurricane? Read my story.
@lloydanthony111 (4698)
United States
July 22, 2008 10:47am CST
Tropical Storm Dolly has churned toward southern Texas on Monday, and forecasters said they expected it to grow into a hurricane before hitting land near the Mexican border later this week.
Have you ever experienced a hurricane? Well I have. In 1996 I was on a business trip to St. Croix in the United States Virgin Islands. I was staying at the Chenay Bay Beach Resort Hotel.
http://www.chenaybay.com/
The island was bracing for hurricane Bertha. We had the option to go to the emergency shelter at a local school. But we decided to stay at the hotel and experience a real hurricane.
At about 11:00 p.m. the winds started to swirl. At 12 midnight, the telephones and electricity went out.
We closed the shutters on our windows and listened to the wind as it blew wildly outside.
Then the rain came. It started creeping through the shutters and under the doors.
We then decided to open the door and take a look outside. That was a mistake. It took the strength of 2 adults to get that door closed again. It's a wonder it didn't blow off.
All through the night we heard the sound of things being thrown around. We started having second thoughts about our foolish decision to experience a hurricane.
We were prepared. We bought lots of bottled water, canned sardines and other staples including flashlights, but the forces of Mother Nature made me question our decision to stay.
Anyway, Hurricane Bertha, calmed down at around sunrise. I couldn't believe my eyes when we finally were able to go outside.
The hotel furniture was all over the place. Seaweed was all over the beautiful beach. There were stray dogs and cats everywhere. You could tell that they experienced something unusual.
Because the power was still off, we were treated to all the food that was ok to eat and all the drinks we wanted. Believe me, I needed more that one drink.
Anyway, I will never take that kind of chance again. Have you ever experienced a hurrican. Tell me your story.
For more information about hurrican Bertha in 1996, check out the following link.
Lloyd
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/HURRICANE+HITS+HARD;+DEATHS+FEW+:+ISLANDERS+HUNKER+UNDER+BIG+BERTHA-a083952733
7 people like this
18 responses
@irisheyes (4370)
• United States
22 Jul 08
Yes, I did once live through a hurricane but I was only eight years old and I'd be hard pressed today to even remember her name. (They all had female names back then)What I do remember is being in the basement of our neighbor's house and playing with my brother and their kids. My dad moved us because he was so concerned about a gigantic old tree in the side yard of our house. Well, it turned out he didn't have to worry, that tree didn't come down but a lot of others did. Power lines were down for a week and we got excused from homework because there was no electricity. We also had to have grownups walking with us everytime we went outside because there were a lot of live wires down. For the kids it was fun but for the grownups it was a nightmare.
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@irisheyes (4370)
• United States
26 Jul 08
It was fun in that basement! Just not so much for the adults who had to watch us and the tree and probably a gazillion other things that the kids never even knew about. LOL
@lloydanthony111 (4698)
• United States
23 Jul 08
How did you feel when you were basically locked up in the basement of your neighbor's house?
Were you scared or were you, like most kids, feeling a sense of excitement?
We have a lot of tree around our house and I always think about the possiblity of one falling during a bad storm.
Even though there are plenty warnings about live electric wires, many people still get hurt from them.
I don't play with electricity. Sometimes electricity is not your friend. lol
Lloyd
2 people like this
@revdauphinee (5703)
• United States
22 Jul 08
i used to live on the mississippi gulf coast and have experienced many hurricanes over the years but none so bad as the last one named katrina she forced me to finaly leave i was in europe during ww2 but in my experience nothing in my life was worse than katrina I love mississippi but now live in west Virgina because i
never want to see anything like that again!
@lloydanthony111 (4698)
• United States
23 Jul 08
Hurrican Katrina was the worse. I understand why you never want to experience anything like that again.
Hopefully, you won't have to worry about any hurricanes in West Virginia.
Lloyd
1 person likes this
@revdauphinee (5703)
• United States
23 Jul 08
thank you ialsohopd i never go through anything like that again
@sedel1027 (17846)
• Cupertino, California
22 Jul 08
I have lived through a few hurricanes. Growing up in New Orleans there were always Tropical Storms and Hurricanes blowing up. When I lived in North Carolina about 9 years ago we were hit by a decent one (I think it was Andrew, I can't really remember) and my ex was driving around in it! Growing up we never evacuated for a hurricane. In fact the only two we ever evacuated for were Ivan and Katrina (Which hit about the same time of year, one year apart). My parents grew up int he city and they didn't evacuated for storms when they were younger either, they both have stories about Hurricane Betsy wiping out where they lived.
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@lloydanthony111 (4698)
• United States
23 Jul 08
I hope New Orleans never experience a hurrican like Katrina again. I still can't get the pictures of Katrina out of my head.
Hurricane Andrew was a small and ferocious Cape Verde hurricane that wrought unprecedented economic devastation along a path through the northwestern Bahamas, the southern Florida peninsula, and south-central Louisiana. Damage in the United States was estimated to be near 25 billion, making Andrew one of the most expensive natural disasters in U.S. history.
There are a lot of people like your parents who don't evacuate during the storms. I don't know if that's a good idea after Katrina.
Hurricane Betsy was a powerful hurricane of the 1965 Atlantic hurricane season which caused enormous damage in the Bahamas, Florida, and Louisiana. Betsy made its most intense landfall near the mouth of the Mississippi River, causing significant flooding of the waters of Lake Pontchartrain into New Orleans; at the time it was the costliest hurricane in the history of the United States, and, as the first hurricane to cause over a billion dollars in damages (1965 dollars), earned the nickname "Billion-Dollar Betsy".
I'm glad your parents survived Hurricane Betsy.
Lloyd
1 person likes this
@jillmalitz (5131)
• United States
23 Jul 08
We have been pretty lucky here in Houston. We are overdue for a really big one. Rita came through near here right after Katrina. We lost power for 12 hours but where we lived got no rain. In 2001 I had gone to Abilene to be with my daughter while she had her first child. While I was gone, tropical storm Allison came in and flooded Houston and ruined a lot of things including millions of dollars of medical research and a lot of stuff in the theater district as well as many roads and highways. Everything was at a standstill for days. The state has now made changes to hurricane preparedness because of Allison and Rita. During Rita many people tried to evacuate and ran out of gas as they sat in long traffic jams. Hopefully the new plans will be better.
@lloydanthony111 (4698)
• United States
23 Jul 08
I remember when they thought a big storm was coming to Houston. The evacuation was chaotic. Do you remember that bus with seniors on it catching on fire?
I hope that other communities have made changes in their hurricane preparedness. What happened in New Orleans was criminal.
I can't believe that the mayor got re-elected. His performance was just terrible.
Lloyd
1 person likes this
@lloydanthony111 (4698)
• United States
23 Jul 08
The people of Houston deserve a lot of credit for their response during hurricane Katrina.
It's ashame that some people took advantage of your kindness and caused all kind of trouble.
I hope things have settled down some and have gone back to normal.
Lloyd
1 person likes this
@jillmalitz (5131)
• United States
23 Jul 08
I hope we have learned how to be better prepared here. Only time will tell. I was very proud of how Houston people swung into action with almost no government help when we took in thousands from Katrina. Hopefully we will not have the transportation problems in the future.
@thedaddym (1731)
• United States
23 Jul 08
Your story is quite scarry. We were in Florida during a huricane once, but it was hot a huge one. We were staying with my sister and she was far enough from the Ocean that it did not affect her house. I did not seem like that many people were scared, so it must have been a really minor one.
@lloydanthony111 (4698)
• United States
23 Jul 08
I didn't mean to scare you. lol
But hurricanes can be very frightening. I'm glad your sister didn't feel the effects othe the hurricane.
Lloyd
1 person likes this
@jdoss23430 (379)
• United States
22 Jul 08
I live on the coast of Virginia, so we get alot of close calls. I think that Isabel in 2003 was about the worst that I remember. We were without power for 10 days.
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@lloydanthony111 (4698)
• United States
23 Jul 08
A lot of people don't know that hurricanes can reach as far north as Virginia.
Hurricane Isabel was the costliest and deadliest hurricane in the 2003 Atlantic hurricane season. The ninth tropical storm, fifth hurricane, and second major hurricane of the season, Isabel formed from a tropical wave on September 6 in the tropical Atlantic Ocean.
It moved northwestward, and within an environment of light wind shear and warm waters it steadily strengthened to reach peak winds of 165 mph on September 11.
Can you imagine getting hit by anything moving at 165 mph? That would surely hurt.
Lloyd
1 person likes this
@venshida (4836)
• United States
23 Jul 08
I have when I was a kid living in the Caribbean. I don't think I experience any that was really bad or if I did I can't remember. My parents experience Hugo, I think that was 1987 and they still talk about it today. They lost everything. The thing about hurricanes on the island is there are really no where to go where as if you live in the U.S. you can leave. I am glad you survive Bertha.
@lloydanthony111 (4698)
• United States
23 Jul 08
My mother and father are from Jamaica. What country did you live in? Most hurricanes travel through the Carribean. You are very lucky that you have never experience a hurricane.
Hurrican Hugo was a bad one. Here are some facts about Hugo.
Hurricane Hugo was a destructive Category 5 hurricane that struck Guadeloupe, Montserrat, Puerto Rico, St. Croix, South Carolina and North Carolina in September of the 1989 Atlantic hurricane season, killing 82 people and leaving 56,000 homeless.
Hugo developed from a tropical wave that moved off the coast of Africa on September 9th. The storm tracked westward, and became a tropical storm on the 11th, and a hurricane on the 13th. It reached its peak intensity as a Category 5 hurricane, and moved toward the United States. Hugo made landfall in South Carolina as a Category 4.
The storm caused $10 billion (1989 USD, $16.3 billion (2006 USD) in damages, making it the most damaging hurricane ever recorded up to that time, surpassing Hurricane Frederic. Hugo was itself surpassed by Hurricane Andrew three years later, which was eventually surpassed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
I'm glad that you never experience a hurricane. Not all end like the one I experienced.
Lloyd
1 person likes this
@underdogtoo (9579)
• Philippines
23 Jul 08
It is not an easy thing to face mother nature's fury. I have seen the devastation after a storm and I can just imagine a hurricane and all its power. I would not want to be in the middle of it much though I might want to experience something like it.
@lloydanthony111 (4698)
• United States
23 Jul 08
Mother Nature can be a beast when she wants to. The trail of devastation is unbelievable.
I'm like you. I never want to experience one again.
Lloyd
1 person likes this
@snowy22315 (180703)
• United States
23 Jul 08
My sister was in Hurrican Hugo in South Carolina. I think it was sometime in the late 80's or early 90's. She was in a hotel near Florence. She heard things bumping and scraping all night long in her hotel room. She wrote kind of diary of what was happening hour per hour. It was published in our hometown paper. Anyway the next morning, she saw birds flying upside down and backwards instead of in their normal v shape. There was lots of damage to the neighboring motel. they had to drive like 50 miles to find a working telephone. (This was prior to days when everybody had a cell.) It was quite an experience.
@lloydanthony111 (4698)
• United States
23 Jul 08
Many people have mentioned Hurricane Hugo. It was really bad. Was your sister feeling scared at the time she was writing her diary?
Seeing birds flying upside down and backwards must have really freeked her out.
It probably didn't matter that it happened prior to the days of cell phones. The also go out in a bad storm.
I'm sure it was quite an experience.
Lloyd
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@lloydanthony111 (4698)
• United States
23 Jul 08
I can't imagine having 20 major storms in one year. You must be really strong to deal with all of that.
What country are you from and tell us how you prepare and deal with so many storms every year.
Maybe you can help us to deal with the hurricanes that hit the United States every year.
Lloyd
1 person likes this
@soooobored (1184)
• United States
23 Jul 08
I grew up at the Jersey shore, only ever experienced one worth mentioning. 1992, I believe it was called Andrew? I was very young, ten or eleven.
My father was away, so it was my fifteen year old sister, my twelve year old brother, and me. Our house was on a lake! We slept through the storm, and woke up to waist high water on the bottom floor. We stupidly opened the back door, and once we had it closed we had fish swimming around our couches!
We just wait, eventually a rowboat comes to our front door to see if we are ok, and then sends another boat to remove us. Weirdest experience ever, rowing away from your front door!! :-)
We were INCREDIBLY fortunate, every car on the block was floating away, but my father had driven his car down to Florida. They were also hit with the storm, but the flooding wasn't as extensive. We would never have replaced that loss, we didn't have a lot of money. So really, all we needed was to repaint and replace a lot of non-essential things.
Bizarre, I haven't thought of that in years. Great post topic!
@lloydanthony111 (4698)
• United States
23 Jul 08
I also live in New Jersey. I love going to the shore. It must be really fun live in a house on the lake.
How did you possibly slept through the storm? What was your first thoughts when you saw waist high water? I think I might have panniced.
I can't imagine fish swimming aroung in my house. Now that's what I call an aquarium. lol
I'm glad you survived and can't believe you haven't thought about that experience in years. I probably would be having nightmares about "Jaws".
I glad you liked the post.
Lloyd
1 person likes this
@lloydanthony111 (4698)
• United States
23 Jul 08
Hello heart4u.
Be careful of what you wish for. It may sound exciting, but a hurricane can be deadly.
Did you see the results of Hurricane Katrina? It was a disaster.
Lloyd
1 person likes this
@reckon21 (3479)
• Philippines
23 Jul 08
[b]I'm afraid of it.
We don't have hurricane in our country,
we only have typhoons,earthquake and flood.
There was one time it comes in one of the region but not
big as compare to the other country.
It really horrifying.
[/b]
We don't have hurricane in our country,
we only have typhoons,earthquake and flood.
There was one time it comes in one of the region but not
big as compare to the other country.
It really horrifying.[/b]@lloydanthony111 (4698)
• United States
23 Jul 08
If you have typhoons, earthquakes and floods, then a hurricane might not be that frightening to you.
Where are you from? Decribe one of your experiences with us. How did you prepare for it? What did you do once it happened.
I'd like to know.
Lloyd
1 person likes this
@Krissyc39 (21)
• Jamaica
23 Jul 08
I live in Florida so we experience hurricanes every year. I've only been through one scary hurricane though and even then it was'nt so bad because our house is hurricane proof and even though it was a category 5, no windows broke or anything. And we were really lucky. Almost everyone had to wait at least a week before their power was fixed and our started working in a day.
@lloydanthony111 (4698)
• United States
23 Jul 08
You were very lucky. I wish all homes in "Hurricane Alley" were hurricane proof.
I've heard of people not having power for weeks. I've never experience that and don't know how I would react to it.
I think ever house should be built like yours.
Lloyd
1 person likes this
@mynameismine (771)
• United States
22 Jul 08
I was here for Hugo back in 89 and I lost my grandmother to Katrina/Rita a few years back. I'm not a big fan of them but I don't really worry too much about them cause you have plenty of time to leave if you choose to.
I did leave here (coastal SC) for Hurricane Floyd but that was such a mistake. I will not do it again. Even with everything that happened to my family in Katrina I'm still not leaving home.
@lloydanthony111 (4698)
• United States
23 Jul 08
I'm so sorry that you lost your grandmother to hurrican Katrina. That is so sad.
I remember hurricane Hugo. It was a big one. Hurricane Hugo was a destructive Category 5 hurricane that struck Guadeloupe, Montserrat, Puerto Rico, St. Croix, South Carolina and North Carolina in September of the 1989 Atlantic hurricane season, killing 82 people and leaving 56,000 homeless.
Hugo developed from a tropical wave that moved off the coast of Africa on September 9th. The storm tracked westward, and became a tropical storm on the 11th, and a hurricane on the 13th. It reached its peak intensity as a Category 5 hurricane, and moved toward the United States. Hugo made landfall in South Carolina as a Category 4.
The storm caused $10 billion (1989 USD, $16.3 billion (2006 USD) in damages, making it the most damaging hurricane ever recorded up to that time, surpassing Hurricane Frederic. Hugo was itself surpassed by Hurricane Andrew three years later, which was eventually surpassed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Hopefully, you won't have to ever leave your home for another hurricane, but I would always, at least, listen to the warnings.
Lloyd
1 person likes this
@lloydanthony111 (4698)
• United States
23 Jul 08
Hello alexsis. You are very fortunate that you haven't been seriously impacted by a hurricane since you live in Louisiana.
I was under the impression that Hurricane Katrina did some damage to most of your state.
Hopefully, you will never experience the eye of any storm.
Lloyd
1 person likes this
@sunkissed (4330)
• United States
22 Jul 08
Hi Lloyd, Well, I myself was in Biloxi Mississippi in 1989 when a hurricane came through there.I do not think it was a very bad one like the ones we have had lately, but to me it was bad enough.I do not want to experiece one again.The winds were so strong you could not stand up. I live in Arkansas in what they call tornado alley.I really do not know which is worse the tornados or the hurricanes. We have had so many tornados this year.
@lloydanthony111 (4698)
• United States
23 Jul 08
Hello sunkissed. I believe the hurricane you are thinking of was called hurricane Elena.
Hurricane Elena was an Atlantic hurricane that produced heavy damage along the Gulf Coast of the United States in August and September of the 1985 Atlantic hurricane season.
The fifth tropical storm, fourth hurricane, and first major hurricane of the season, Elena developed near Cuba from a tropical wave. It quickly strengthened, reaching peak winds of 125 mph (205 km/h) after stalling in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico.
Elena turned to the west-northwest, and ultimately made landfall near Biloxi, Mississippi as a Category 3 hurricane.
Elena's unusual path through the Gulf of Mexico, which included a loop, prompted many to evacuate from the coastline. Due to its powerful winds, Elena caused $2.7 billion in damage (2005 USD), primarily in property damage.
With winds reaching 125 mph, it's no wonder you could not stand up.
I believe tornadoes are worse. They just seem to come out of nowhere.
Lloyd
1 person likes this
@cjgrooms (4456)
• United States
22 Jul 08
I live on the East coast and we almost get a lot of the wind and rain from the hurricanes that pass by, we have had our electricity knocked out a few times but the actual eye misses us- our part of the coast line goes inward so it just passes by on its way to wherever the land line is further out.We were evacuated some years ago and no it never entered my mind to keep my children here after they said GET OUT! It took six hours to go five miles and it was miserable but leave we did. The hurricane turned at the last min. and missed here completely.
@lloydanthony111 (4698)
• United States
23 Jul 08
I also live on the East coast and we usually get a lot of rainfall after the hurricanes pass by.
I can't ever remember our electricity going out from the leftovers of the storm.
I agree with you. If you have children in the home and the authorities say to evacuate, then you should always think safety first.
Lloyd
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