Reply to Topic
Hi everyone, it is good to be back in the world of power, cable, Internet and cooked food. We have a long way to go before everything is back to normal, but overall we were very lucky in comparison to many others. I still have my house, but there was some damage and we are waiting for the insurance company to come out and take a look at it. I have been using a chainsaw a lot and still have a long way to go before I am done with the yard. My business finally got its power back on so I am torn between work and home with my time. I wanted to describe a little bit of what we went through since Ivan barreled through here. I have been through three other major storms in the past so I thought I had an idea of what to expect; I was wrong. I spent the day before the storm boarding up and making preparations. The panic that was in the air around here made things really tough and the crowds at the stores were insane. It seemed as if everyone knew that we were going to get hit, when at that time we were still unsure of where the thing would end up. The past storms I had been in never created this much tension and I was scared, not only of the storm exactly, but how people were reacting. The traffic and the impatience caused a lot of tempers to flare up. I decided to cut one of my shopping trips short and head on home. We had the basics already (canned food, water, candles, etc…) and were ready to spend a few days without power. The storm itself came through and caused a sleepless night and a few scary moments. It was pitch black outside during the storm so when you heard a crash you had no idea what it was. Occasionally you would see a bright green or blue flash in the sky from power transformers going out, but other than that all we had were our candles and flashlights. The next morning was one I will probably never forget. The devastation to our yard and the neighborhood was horrible, but as I looked around our street I saw that we had been very lucky with the direction the wind had came in at its strongest point. All in the entire storm itself and the damage done to our neighborhood was the least of our problems. I ventured to my computer shop and found that other than a little bit of flooding and a window broken out of my van I fared very well. The next ten days or so were pretty much all the same: Wake up at dawn, work on the yard till sunset, scrounge up a cold meal for ten of us and try to sleep in 90 degree weather. It has been a really trying experience for many people and it is far from over. The basics are taken care of now so the rest is just clean up. People here are emotionally, physically, and financially drained, but we still count ourselves lucky. I could go on and on about all the boring things that happened, and let me tell you boredom was a killer, but I think I will just list a few highlights for anyone interested:
Chain Saw (Cheap one): $200.00
Gas: $40.00 for a 5-gallon can
Taxi Rides: $50.00 to anywhere in town. (Not a very big town, in Pensacola it is usually at most $15.00)
Standard Generator: $1500.00…(They have the exact same brand at Lowes now for $500.00)
The list goes on and on but those are the most outrageous instances. Most were just private idiots out for a buck. Although the gas prices were at a Shell station. go figure.
There are so many more stories to tell and I may tell them as I get time. I just wanted everyone to know I was back and what we had gone through down here. I am so much more grateful for the simpler things; I hope I do not lose sight of that. Thanks for all the kind words and concern from everyone here. It is good to be able to communicate again.
- Two days after the storm Wal-Mart in the area opened up with generator support and our ice had melted by that point and we needed a few other items. Well needless to say it was very crowded so the police were there to try and control things. We were lucky enough to get there before they had started restricting access into the store because of capacity problems. However, in my state of mind I had forgot my wallet in our car. I left my girlfriend in the store with the precious products we managed to get and went to get some money. I had no idea at that point that they were stopping people from going in. As I walked backed up I saw the line forming and I tired to get back in. The officer at the door said I had to wait in line. I tried explaining that I had already been inside and that my girlfriend was waiting for me. He said he did not care and that I had to wait in line like everyone else. Well I was a bit angry, and I was even angrier to see that by the time I finished talking to him the line had grown to an amazing length. I had no way to contact my girlfriend, as cell phones were not working. I stood outside the doors thinking she would get tired of waiting on me and come on out. Well after about 30 minutes of that I figured she knew what had happened and knew we needed the things we had so she was going to wait. I started to head to the end of the line when I saw a man in panic trying to get into the store. He told the same police officer that he lost his five-year-old daughter in the store and had been looking all over for her. Well the police officer either did not care or did not believe the man. He threatened to spray him with pepper spray if he did not leave. The man walked off screaming for his daughter, and I am not sure what happened to the man or his daughter after that. It was like splashing cold water in my face. Here I was piping mad that I couldn’t get back in because I forgot my wallet and this man was missing his little girl and could get no help. If it had been me they would have had to spray me and arrest me. It was a very awful place to be for anyone, a five-year-old child would have been terrified. Well I finally made it in about two hours later and we got our stuff and made it out of there.
- We were fortunate enough to live only about two miles from the Relief station that had been set up three days after the storm so I decided to walk there with my handy dandy hand truck. Well I, along with many others found out that if you were not driving a car you could not get any supplies. So many people were arguing that their car was damaged or that they had no gas. The police just turned them away. After the Wal-Mart experience earlier I figured it was not worth the time, I was not going to get anything.
- People with generators were all over the place, and I had wished I had purchased one. However there have been many injuries from people who have actually cranked them up in their house. Not in the garage or Den, but actually right in their house….crazy.
- Everything has not been all bad, there has been an amazing amount of help and without the dedication of these people we would still be without power. I have been offered so much help by so many people that I never met before that it is overwhelming. It took me until yesterday to get in touch with FEMA, so I hope they will assist us we really need it. Between lost wages and extra costs we are a bit drained.
- Price gouging I have seen:
Chain Saw (Cheap one): $200.00
Gas: $40.00 for a 5-gallon can
Taxi Rides: $50.00 to anywhere in town. (Not a very big town, in Pensacola it is usually at most $15.00)
Standard Generator: $1500.00…(They have the exact same brand at Lowes now for $500.00)
The list goes on and on but those are the most outrageous instances. Most were just private idiots out for a buck. Although the gas prices were at a Shell station. go figure.
There are so many more stories to tell and I may tell them as I get time. I just wanted everyone to know I was back and what we had gone through down here. I am so much more grateful for the simpler things; I hope I do not lose sight of that. Thanks for all the kind words and concern from everyone here. It is good to be able to communicate again.
__________________
“The gladdest moment in human life, methinks, is a departure into unknown lands.” – Sir Richard Burton
Last edited by 7thson; 09-29-04 at 05:10 PM.
