It's
funny in a way but even after experiencing Hurricane Irene's initial landfall in the New Haven, Connecticut area, in the form of misty fogbanks and light drizzle in the late afternoon hours of Saturday, August 27th, 2011, as well as surviving all her raging behavior in the days that followed, I still didnt know quite what to title this piece. Perhaps I just shoulda gone with "Hey, I Survived That Nasty Hurricane Irene!" and left it at that because quite franky, I am BEYOND THRILLED that we FINALLY got the power back on only about 30 minutes ago in the tiny New Haven suburb where I am temporarily residing. With the exception of the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989, as well as a few floods and tornadoes I survived in my teenage years growing up in the midwest, I've never actually known how to write about surviving natural disasters because in most cases, these experiences really are the kind one literally has to experience upfront, with ones very own eyes, to actually comprehend and fully appreciate the full scope of the wrath of Mother Nature herself.
In essence, I really dont know what to say except that I am extremely grateful to have survived Hurricane Irene and I pray to God that I never have to experience another hurricane ever again in my entire life. But, since this is just the beginning of Hurricane season and since alotta folks are now keeping a close eye on TS (Tropical Storm) Katia, which originated off the West African coast only a few days, it reminds one to "never say never."
By the same token, I sorta have a bit of apprehension writing this piece because whatta lotta folks out there dont realize is that more than 3/4's of the state of Connecticut's residents are still without electricity and running water. Sure, the local communities as well as the state and federal relief organizations are doing their best to help and although I personally would love to thank each and every one of those unselfish, hardworking individuals for busting their asses to help those in need here in Connecticut, it's overall a very upsetting situation because there still are entire towns and cities here which do not have even one single iota of power - not one. Places like Guilford, Branford and Clinton come to mind and damn, I wish I could do something to help those folks out but all I can do is tell them don't give up and keep your faith because all the help you need will get to you as soon as it possibly can.
With that being said, I guess the next thing to do is tell y'all what it was like. In two single words - fucken horrible. I'm not kidding. I gotta tell you, I've seen all kinds of storms and weatherfronts take place in my lifetime, but nothing as fast, as furious and as massive as Hurricane Irene. The best way to describe it is this - imagine whipping, lashing rains coming at you from every single direction possible at the speed of 70 mph hour or more. Imagine those very same winds ripping 100 foot Oak trees, roots-n-all right outta the ground. Imagine those very same winds smashing docks, marinas, boats and even homes into a million smithereens; and, most of all, imagine all of these horrific things taking place in a matter of minutes right before your very eyes.
I've seen what major and minor earthquakes can do to cities and I've seen the wreckage tornadoes leave behind in their paths, but I've never seen damage before like I saw with Hurricane Irene. You know how lotta newscasters on the major tv stations are always making the comment "It was like walking into a war zone?" Well, forget about walking in that war zone, imagine what it'd be like being inside that war zone when it's all taking place. The velocity of a hurricane truly is something that you cannot even begin to fathom unless you yourself are right in the middle of one.
As for what exactly happened to me and the residents of the home where I am currently staying - well, let's just say they never made it to Hartford to visit family-n-friends, why they never made it out their front door. The rains and winds of Hurricane Irene began arriving here in the New Haven area late Saturday afternoon, August 27th, around 2 p.m. and lasted until around the 4 to 5 p.m. timeframe the next day, Sunday, August 28th. By 3 p.m. on Saturday, the family who lives on the upper level of the home where I'm currently staying decided to stay here and bunker down for the hurricane. So we all had dinner together and afterwards we did our preparations for the eventual arrival of Irene's more intense moments. We packed emergency kits for ourselves, collected many containers of drinking water (which also would be used to flush the toilets should the water go out, which it indeed did) and also figured out the sleeping arrangements due to the fact that the home (as is the case with EVERY home in Connecticut) is surrounded by grove after grove of 50 to 200 year old Oaks and Maples, so large and vast in size that just two falling within seconds of each other woulda done us all in - literally.
That night we all stayed up taking turns keeping an eye on the weather outside as well as the local tv news-stations. When 6:15 a.m. arrived, we all thought "Oh good, Irene is here in full force and we still have power and everything else so Yippee for us!!" But, then at 6:30 a.m., almost instantaneously, there was what literally sounded like a giant explosion down the street and ALL the power we had in the house was gone. Hurricane Irene had just said "Hello" for less than 60 seconds later - I kid you not - the trees in the front yard were bending sideways! And we're not talking about newbee trees just bought from Home Depot and planted the afternoon before - we're talking about 30 and 40 year old Oaks, Maples, Douglas Firs, and the like, doing air acrobatics like I've never seen before! Via both the windows of the house (not too close though, naturally) and the local tv news-stations we were awake and alert all day until around 5 p.m. when Hurricane Irene had finally left the state of Connecticut and moved north towards Massachusetts, Vermont and the other New England states.
Surviving Irene was one thing, but surviving the aftermath of her visit was (and still is for 100's of thousands of folks here in Connecticut) just as intense. Dont get me wrong, none of us starved, nor did we have any accidents on the way to use the lew, but let me just say this - I hate not having electricity and running water, I just hate it!! In fact, if anyone out there wants to know why I despise going camping and hiking so much, there you go, there's the answers. I hate being unclean, it makes me feel gross-n-dirty and I just cannot stand it! If anyone out there likes to "rough it" by going camping, go right ahead, knock yourself off, but count me out cause my idea of roughing it with Mother Nature is staying at the local Holiday Inn or Best Western and watching the weather outside my window whilst holding a quart of coffee in one hand and the latest copy of the Boston Globe or New York Times in my other hand! Living without electricity or running water for 4 days totally sucks and I pray that I, nor anyone else in the state of Connecticut and beyond, ever ever has to experience that again. People are always saying "Well, we the human race need to be less dependent on electricity and running water!" Hey, if that's how you feel, then you go live out in the woods and totally immerse yourselves with as much body odor smells as you damn well please but as for me? No way, no thank-you, I'd rather feel totally clean and civilized any and every day of the week, as well as smell good doing so!
So I do indeed have a lot to be thankful for. I'm still alive, I didnt lose my home or any of my belongings like alotta folks have and I had ample supplies of my badly needed medications to get through it all. Granted, I'm not happy about being asked to stay here in Connecitcut an extra week or so due to all the damage that Hurricane Irene left in her wake; but, you wanna know something? I'd rather be around to be asked that than not around, catch my drift? I should be returning back home to Boston sometime during the weekend of September 9th thru 11th. And, when I do get back there, not only am I gonna be one very happy s.o.b. but outta sheer joy I just may bend down and kiss the very sidewalk outside my front stoop because there truly is no place better than home. I've survived alotta stuff in my lifetime but no matter what I've experienced, I've always been so thankful to wake up to yet another tomorrow. A special thank you to all my friends and all my readers for their well-wishes and as always, thank you for reading this blog.
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