The South Florida Ghost Town

We are right now at T minus 9 hours until the major hit. We probably have about 5 hours until it starts, but the town is already a ghost town. Where there were two hour lines for gas yesterday there are vacant gas stations everywhere today. The traffic is non-existent. I had to go by my office to take care of a few things before the storm came and it took me five minutes to get there. It is normally a fifteen minute drive, nothing in terms of traffic, but still getting there two-thirds faster is something major in Miami.

Overall we still do not know what to expect and that is the worst part of this whole thing. Earthquakes are pretty much over by the time you know they hit, but hurricanes take their time. Knowing a hurricane is coming is an exercise in Zen. You know it is coming, you know it is going to hit, but you do not know where or when and there is nothing you could do about it if you did. Your only option is to focus on taking care of what you can and hope the rest works out.

You can prepare, but one hurricane is actually many different types of storms working together, so how can you really prepare when you are not really sure of what you are about to endure? The east side of the hurricane is usually the windy side causing mass and rapid damage. The main risk from this side is flying objects and you must board your windows up and bring in every missile from your back yard. The west side of the hurricane is usually less windy, but is much heavier rain with lightning, tornadoes, and flood. The main thing for this side is to make sure your house is prepared for flood damage and leaking roofs from the unfixed damage still leftover from last hurricane season.

The cone covers all of south Florida so I know I am going to be hit. I know I will lose power, but do not know for how long. The office closed today which is never a good sign. We even canceled the patients tonight. I will update as I can, but I may disappear for a few days. Do not panic and start running towards cliffs!