It is daybreak No. 3 after the storm.
We are still without power.
Our utility company has all hands on deck trying to restore power. I am certain that they are doing their best.
We prepared for the eventuality of not having power for up to a week.
The maximum ETA is that power will be completely restored by midnight Sunday. Hopefully we aren’t the last ones on that list.
But we have prepared well and can ride this out. Maybe not in luxury but neither are we living only out of cans and PB&J.
Our generator is handling our fridge, industrial fan, TV and some electronics. Plenty of lanterns and batteries, gasoline and propane for our generator, grill and camping stove.
The motto I learned as a Boy Scout wasn’t just a passing thing. I adhered to that motto, Be Prepared, to everything I do in life, especially in the face of these storms.
Too many of my community neighbors have been complaining about the length of the power outage.
The main reason is that they prepared for the storms that passed and not the one still to come. I have heard so many say that they never expected this much damage in Central Florida because previous storms turned, grazed or substantially weakened before arriving and passing through the very middle of the state.
But then came this storm, with the largest extension of wind coverage completely covered the entire state.
And then Irma’s drunken path moved her left to right back left and then again right, bringing incredible damage to the entire state.
Today I heard an official say that for the first time in Florida’s history, 99 percent of the whole state’s counties emergency control centers are at full activity.
With so many of the population and areas affected at once, it is only sensible that power and internet to residences would take a low priority.
Today people are being rescued from flooded areas, people returning to areas almost completely devastated and people still being forced to evacuate due to rising waters.
My in-laws fell into that last category. Their senior living community survived the wind and debris damage, and they had power restored until yesterday when they received word that the entire community needed to evacuate.
Even without electricity but with an intact structure, they are here with us. Together we shoulder the load and await the power to return.
Related:
Hurricane Irma: Of Battened Hatches and a Little Elbow Grease