Please forgive my whining on the previous post, "Are You Kidding, Katrina?". I just find myself overwhelmed at the prospect of being slammed by yet another storm. In less than a year, we have been visited by Hurricane Ivan, Tropical Storm Arlene, Hurricane Dennis, and now Katrina.



Once again, I am in Montana while a monster storm looms in the Gulf. Last year, it was Hurricane Ivan that threatened and thrashed the Pensacola area. Now, Katrina sets her sights on the Gulf coast. I feel so deeply for those in the path of Katrina. Having faced evacuations so often in the last year, I can fully empathize with them. My concern is especially for the people of New Orleans. As well as being below sea level, they do not have the experience taught to us by Hurricane Ivan. It has been 40 years since a large storm has struck them. That's wonderful on the one hand, but on the other – if it has been a generation since a hurricane affected your family, the severe conditions can be underestimated.

Evacuation and hurricane preparation are far different now for the residents in my area than when I moved here 11 years ago. Gone is the complacency or illusion that it can't really be all that bad. For days before the storm makes landfall, gasoline is difficult to find and water is a premium commodity. Before Ivan, people prepared, but it was a more relaxed atmosphere. Now, it feels like everyone assumes that any hurricane will be another Ivan. I know I do. Much more trepidation is attached to the tropical storm season for me now than before last year's Hurricane Ivan.

The post traumatic stress was evident on the faces of Ivan's survivors as we prepared for Hurricane Dennis last month. Overwhelming despair and resignation resonated from the people I passed. Blank stares or streaming tears met my somber gaze.

If Katrina strikes as the monster she presents herself to be, the emotional trauma and scars will be evident long after the waters have receded. When people finally understand they may not have a home any longer and all of their memories have been washed away, the initial gratefulness for just surviving plummets into a deep grief. Grief for the friends you will know longer see on a daily basis; grief for the inability to have your support system near you in your greatest time of need; grief for the loss of your job; grief for the loss of mementos and pictures that have personal intrinsic value; grief for the life that will never be again because you are irrevocably changed.

And the thought that there are people without transportation to leave the city has me mortified. I am in a deep state of sorrow for the upcoming victims of this storm. It should be a human right to have a way to escape an oncoming storm that gives us several days notice.
Even this afternoon on Pensacola Beach, water was rising significantly. After Ivan, there was a set of construction posts that hadn't been seen in decades uncovered. Hurricane Dennis covered them up last month. Early this afternoon, they were uncovered half way again. So, we are definitely expected some storm waters to flow over the island --- yet again.

I am tired, stressed, and worried for my neighbors and friends. I know the Dome will fare as well as any structure out there, but I am sad to see my neighborhood become a debris pile yet again.


We are all now aware of the nightmare that was endured by those on the coast because of Katrina's unbridled fury. It's been a year and I can't help but wonder if anything would be any different if another storm of Katrina's mass were threatening the Gulf coast again. Would less people be trapped, would evacuations be more organized, would there be a plan to evacuate hospitals and nursing homes? We can only hope that lessons were learned and alterations were made at the government levels. Will there be facilities that will accept all members of the families evacuating (pets)?

I have read several stories about people who had to leave their pets, been fortunate enough to find them again, but cannot convince the adopting family to return the pet. I understand that the adopting family loves this animal they have adopted and obviously have big hearts to take in abandoned animals. BUT, to keep an animal from a family who has lost everything seems …. Well, let's just suffice to say: "Have some compassion, people!!!" The victims of the storm lost their lifestyle, their jobs, their homes. their sense of security, etc. To have a member of their family back would help restore some of what was lost.

CNN MEDIA COVERAGE: ANDERSON COOPER
08/26/2005 6:22 pm Central Time

Now for the Good News!!!

CNN called yesterday to inquire about using the Dome of a Home in this evening's broadcast of Anderson Cooper's program. The producer wanted a different slant to the usual hurricane rhetoric. Fortunately, the Dome of a Home offers an interesting perspective of building structures intended to alleviate as much storm damage as possible. We are encouraged that CNN is offering educational solutions to an obvious dilemma

Below is an excerpt of the "Hurricane Man's" web site. We thank him for including us in his information.

http://hurricane-man.com/

On August 28th, 2005, late in the afternoon in Waveland, Mississippi, I became the Hurricane Man, a title confered on me by a six-year-old boy who I overheard say to his mother, "What did the Hurricane Man say?"

He was nervous because his mother was, and she had good reason. Twelve hours out was the mother of all storms. Hurricane Katrina was bearing down on the western edge of Mississippi. Before it was all over, all was destroyed in Waveland and hundreds were dead, but a dozen Wavelanders thought of me as THE Hurricane Man. When I did, I launched this website and began to write with authority and conviction.

At first, I was very angry at the system and at the way coastal Americans deal with hurricanes. Much of that has been vented and deleted. What remains should be of great value to those who have good reason to be nervous about hurricanes.

Hurricane-Man.Com is a web based resource for anyone wishing to live in flood plains or areas of severe weather and does not wish to pick a fight with Mother Nature. You'll not find conventional wisdom being espoused here. In some cases, conventional wisdom and the wise by degree will be mocked here. The Native American and the fire ant will be lauded and applauded. Mother Nature, "Mom," has our respect and admiration. She certainly got our attention.

Are you Kidding, Katrina?

Really? Are you kidding me? For real, no joke? Nooooo, not again!!!



These were the first words out of my mouth this morning when Mark woke me with the news that Hurricane Katrina's cone of potential victims now included Pensacola Beach in its center. The bull's eye once again painted on our area of the Panhandle. I don't know why the meteorologists even bother pretending that it's too early to project a storm's path. Hell, if it is in the Gulf, they might as well just save some time and say, "Yep, looks like Pensacola is taking it again, folks."
I don't want to be fatalistic, but, yes, we are feeling a little burned out here.

Do you realize that it hasn't even been a year since Hurricane Ivan's September 16, 2004 historic landfall??? Not even a year! and we have had 3 major storms threaten and damage the Panhandle. Hurricane Ivan 9/16/2004, Hurricane Dennis 7/11/2005, and now Hurricane Katrina is revving up to be a contender. Also, to make life more interesting the first named storm of the season, Tropical Storm Arlene 6/11/2005 came to see us; my sister was hit by Hurricane Emily 7/20/2005; and Hurricane Katrina has already made landfall where our new grandbaby, Sarah Sophia lives.

My neighbors and I were just having a little normalcy return – or so we had erroneously thought. My friends had moved in two days before Hurricane Dennis, only to be run out of their home by storm damage. Finally, last week they moved back in yet again only to be packing their vulnerable items and evacuating this week. Other friends had for the second time this year completed their hurricane damage repairs.

We are still waiting on insurance settlements. Only recently, since more products and labor have become available, have our repairs accelerated towards completion. The debris piles from Hurricane Ivan are finally diminishing. Gasoline is still difficult to acquire, certainly to be more shortages now. Wal-Mart has probably been inundated with people trying to prepare for another storm.

Mark and I are currently in Montana. What an odd place to face a storm. Too far away to do much but watch and wait. Stressed because we are not there, but knowing full well if we were there the stress would be even more intense. At the cabin, we do not have TV service --- so I can't watch the minute by minute coverage this year. Maybe a good thing, I don't know yet. I will be posting on the message board and reading posts from others. Please feel free to pass any pertinent information along about any areas. We have many visitors to the web site who appreciate those of you that help us locate pictures and information. I know I definitely do!

My heart goes out to all of the communities who have been repeatedly slammed by the stress hurricanes inherently cause. Regardless of where Katrina aims her sites, we are with the community in spirit.

ENOUGH WHINING, ALREADY!!! Thanks for letting me get that off my chest.

Although we did have some damage to our geo-thermal wells outside, it was minimal compared to the beating some of the coast received from this monstrous storm. Dire predictions were made for the 2006 storm season, which fortunately did not live up to the horrific scenarios given.

Many call the hurricane that struck the Florida Panhandle July 10, 2005 Dennis the Menace; I call him Déjà vu Dennis. Our area was still recovering from last September's Hurricane Ivan when the nightmare of Hurricane Dennis arrived in the Gulf of Mexico. We all watched with horror as Pensacola became the center of the strike zone.

Disbelief was our initial reaction, but quickly the Panhandle residents surged into action. Overwhelmed by last year's Ivan, residents were determined to be as prepared as possible for Dennis. Three days before he swept onto our shores, fuel became difficult to find; ATM machines spun their wheels only to reveal they were empty of the cash so desperately needed; food fled off of the shelves of grocery stores; and hardware stores hardly had any supplies at all.

We had decided to stay in Pensacola for this storm. Without a camera crew at the Dome of a Home, there was no educational purpose to staying on the beach. Pointless danger was an unnecessary risk that we decided to forego. I was relieved. I stocked our hurricane refuge in town and prepared to hunker down for Dennis. At 4:30 am, Mark woke us up and said the storm was predicted to have 180 mile an hour gusts --- wind that would literally knock down our refuge home as it huffed and puffed. We all had full tanks of gas, took 30 minutes to gather our belongings and fled to Georgia. Thank you so much to the angels, Tommy and Dana, that took our family in; fed us; and let us use their hot showers and comfortable beds.

Fortunately, Déjà vu Dennis lost some of its punch before landing on the Panhandle. Many said we got off lucky. Definitely an odd perspective when you are hoping the storm is only a Category 3. I learned that perspective is just about attitude. There was a time when we would cower at a Category 3 raging toward our shores. But, when the storm has been almost a Category 5, a Category 3 seems a welcome relief. Bizarre this process of anxiety and relief literally washing over us in undulating waves.

Some of us were not as affected by Dennis, yes, that is true. But, when I read or hear how we "dodged a bullet", I don't think they have seen my neighbors' homes. Many of my neighbors received even more damage from Dennis. Some that had completed their repairs from Ivan were now looking at starting over, yet again. Hurricane Ivan hit us from the east and south; Dennis blasted through from the north and west. Unexpectedly, many houses that survived Ivan were severely damaged by Dennis.

From the looks of things, Dennis must have had several very intense wind bursts or tornadoes. Although the surge was minimal compared to Ivan, the wind with Dennis was significant enough to literally rip off new roofs, collapse homes into themselves; topple construction cranes; and fling debris projectiles into the side of buildings.

I hurt when I look around our island. We seem to be caught in a horrible vortex that streamlines storms from the tropics to the Panhandle. The fear as yet another storm becomes named is palpable. Despair dims the light in my neighbors' eyes. It's difficult to maintain one's optimism when it feels like we have become a target. My neighbors and I wished each other luck as I rode my bicycle by their homes before evacuating the island. Many of them returned home to a dreaded sense of Déjà vu: another mess to clean up; more insurance to fight for; FEMA and SBA lines to wait in; and the elusive search for the blue tarps begins again.

Because Dennis was more of a wind storm on Pensacola Beach, the Dome of a Home was minimally affected. We lost our temporary back stairs and some of the screens in the back porch in the wind, but the storm surge was not significant enough to remove the garbage cans out of the garage. Nor, strong enough to transform the dumpsters into floating battering rams.
So….the stairs made it fine!!!

Our new island manager, Buck Lee, had the residents back on the island to view their homes in less than 24 hours. GREAT JOB, Buck! The unknown is the absolute worst. And thanks to the Pensacola News Journal, for placing a comprehensive picture gallery on their website. It certainly was a relief to be able to scan the pictures to see how the area fared.

I had numerous phone calls from those who through various means had seen that the Dome's stairs were still in place. Their excitement for the Dome and their sympathy for less fortunate residents was relayed with heartfelt sincerity. I was overwhelmed at the kind words I received from so many. Thanks to all that contacted me with your concern and words of encouragement.

I hope that the Panhandle is noticeably absent from any more strike cones this season. Post traumatic stress has become a constant neighbor over the last 10 months, I am ready to have my old neighbors back.