(somber look)
Hurricane Wilma is expected to hit Southwest Florida.
Among the 5 million people who live in Southwest Florida is Yours Truly, so it's not a happy occurance.
I've seen for myself - firsthand - now what a hurricane can do. I was in Punta Gorda and Charlotte Harbor before, and after, Hurricane Charley.
Imagine entire forests flattened, with only a few ruined trees sticking up to denote a forest had once been there. Think of trees after the worst of what the power companies can do to them, then imagine that for hundreds of square miles.
Imagine power poles made out of solid steel and rooted in concrete, torn out of the ground or broken in half. Imagine the electrical grid completely destroyed, tens of thousands of power poles snapped or torn out of the ground.
Imagine three story steel reinforced concrete buildings in ruins. Imagine homes looking like they had been bombed. Imagine trailer parks reduced to unrecognizable debris.
Imagine a heat index of 110 with no water to drink ... no water period, much less cold water. No food. No power. No communications of any sort (especially not cellular phones ...) No information but what you can obtain on your battery powered radio.
No light. No protection from heat, cold, insects, rain, or disease. No escape, because all the roads are washed out, or flooded, or completely covered for miles with the remains of trees, power poles, homes, and businesses.
And no help. No help at all. And in many cases, no hope for rebuilding, because the insurance companies took you to the cleaners, or you simply could not afford insurance.
That was Hurricane Charlie. That was a hurricane without a storm surge.
Katrina, with a 30 foot storm surge, was infinitely worse than what I've described.
If all I get is 10 to 20 inches of rain, sustained winds of 50 to 60 miles per hour with gusts from 70 to 80 miles per hour (wave after wave after wave of extremely severe storms, in other words, with howling gale winds between), I will consider that I was spared: I was the lucky one.
If the forecasts hold, a lot of people in Southwest Florida face weather conditions a lot worse than that. And they face the storm surge, a force of nature that - as we have seen - can tear solid steel freeway bridges down.
It is not a pretty picture.
But it is, reality. The reality of life in Florida. A harsh reality, but ... no appeal, no crying, no anger, no railing, will make any difference.
Hurricanes do not care. They do not feel pity. They do not feel remorse. For those of us unlucky enough to be in their way, there is no saving throw.
) We have a few new people who have not visited Nothingland and may need some direction. So, if the boards are down proceed to Nothingland, where I imagine there may even be a dedicated forum as there has been during the past. (For those who don't have an account at Nothingland, you will need to register. )
