HURRICANE MILTON 10.9.24
Hurricane Milton was one of the two most intense hurricanes ever recorded in the Gulf and was the strongest on record worldwide for 2024.
It made landfall near Siesta Key at 8:30 PM EDT on Wednesday, October 9, 2024.
It spawned a cyclone outbreak that extended far beyond the center of the storm and was one of the most intense ever recorded. Wind gust reached 175 mph.
Because we live inland, we shelter in place to make way for those along the coast to evacuate. In the anticipation of a hurricane approaching your home and family the fear surfaces as in many ways. Sometimes as anxious humor, as we name frogs after hurricanes. We prep essential things like water, batteries and tarps; and inessential things like chocolate chip cookies and cold brew coffee for a morning after a sleepless night with likely power outages. We creatively wear out pets and as we prep kayaks, paddles and life vests for the pets, in case we need to paddle out if the lake rises. We make sure we can find one another over satellite phones. These storms are unpredictable, dangerous and enormous.
Some of the family texts shared before the storm, recall memories my father and my aunt have of hurricane Donna in the 1950’s. They were children and held sheets in the wind and sailed on roller-skates through the streets while their parents had dinner at the neighbors.
Hurricanes are serious and deadly. This one killed 45 people, many lives were lost from tornadoes that spun far beyond the center of the storm. We sheltered from 47 tornado sirens overnight and watched the live oak trees sway over our home like seaweed in the ocean.
But Florida is my home and I’d might rather sail out on the waves of a hurricane than leave it. This irrational feeling fascinates me, that a place can have such a hold.
On the night of Oct 7, millions of birds migrated ahead of the hurricane: 3,801,200. 4,600 flew across Orange County the night after. Maybe I should take note.
Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching Goddescribes the sudden water rise of lake Okechobee in a fictionalized account of the September 1928 hurricane. In this scene Janie and Tea Cake flee to high ground:
“De lake is comin’!” Tea Cake gasped.
“De lake!” In amazed horror from Motor Boat, “De lake!”
“It’s comin’ behind us!” Janie shuddered. “Us can’t fly.”
“But we still kin run,” Tea Cake shouted and they ran. The gushing water ran faster. The great body was held back, but rivers spouted through fissures in the rolling wall and broke like day. The three fugitives ran past another line of shanties that topped a slight rise and gained a little. They cried out as best they could, “De lake is comin’!” and barred doors flew open and others joined them in flight crying the same as they went. “De lake is comin’!” and the pursuing waters growled and shouted ahead, “Yes, Ah’m comin’!”, and those who could fled on.
