Our week that began with an earthquake ended with a hurricane. But, as it happened, the latest graphic of Hurricane Irene’s path showed the outer edge of the system passing by just 15 or so miles away. So it really missed us. We had some rain and wind, but it wasn’t bad at all, and the power stayed on. (Which, for this part of Virginia, is remarkable, since gentle breezes are often enough to put us in the dark for hours.)
The hurricane as a whole wasn’t as bad as feared, though it killed 18 people, knocked out power for millions, flooded some areas and did other damage. Now comes the second guessing, criticizing the governors for evacuating areas and making a bigger deal of the thing than it turned out to be. But I think the officials did what they needed to do. No one could tell what the hurricane would do. An excess of caution and of preparation is better than the blind optimism and lack of preparation that we saw with Hurricane Katrina. A storm whirling like a buzzsaw (a splendid description I read in one report) running along the entire East Coast is surely something to worry about. That it lost power and turned into a mere tropical storm by the time it hit New York City is something we should just be thankful for.
But I do need to report something: Many of the plants in our garden were blown down. The result was something I can only describe as a crop circle. Which means that aliens landed in our garden! In a hurricane!
Do any of the rest of you have hurricane stories?
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