Irma

Yesterday I wrote about hurricanes, and I mentioned Irma. At that time it was a category 3 hurricane in the Atlantic. This morning it was a category 4 storm. By midday it was a category 5 storm with 180 mph winds. Are you kidding me? 180 mph! According to the National Hurricane Center, Irma is the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic basin outside of the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico. There is little doubt that the hurricane will inflict catastrophic damage when it comes ashore. According to the hurricane center:

"A high percentage of framed homes will be destroyed, with total roof failure and wall collapse. Fallen trees and power poles will isolate residential areas. Power outages will last for weeks to possibly months. Most of the area will be uninhabitable for weeks or months."

If Irma hits the Gulf coast and turns north and comes through Virginia, it probably won’t be a category 5 storm by the time it gets here. Still, it’s a good bet that it will be strong enough to uproot trees and break limbs. If that happens, electric power will likely be off for days, perhaps weeks.

Sometimes I blog about hurricanes that come close to my small city. The last storm I blogged about was Joaquin in 2015. Before that was Sandy in 2012, which grazed central Virginia. Before that was Irene in 2011. Here’s the first paragraph from Irene’s blog post:

“This is Sunday, the day after Irene came though town. I am incommunicado, having neither electricity nor cell phone service. Many tree limbs are down, as are more than a few trees. A neighbor’s privacy fence lies on the ground. A two story house a few doors away has half its metal roof peeled back, and everything in the upper floor is wet, drenched by torrential rain. An electrical transformer on a utility pole a hundred feet from my house is damaged and its oil leaks out in a steady drizzle. Traffic lights are dark and police direct traffic at major intersections. Trucks carting tree limbs are a frequent sight, as are front-end loaders picking up loads of debris.”

I hope my city will dodge this latest bullet. But just in case we have to hunker down, I’ll buy batteries for my flashlights and food that comes in cans and boxes. I’ll fill jugs with water. I’ll make sure my Jeep is gassed up in case I have to leave the area. I’ll make sure my mobile phone is fully charged. I’ll do all those just-in-case things, and more. Then I’ll keep my fingers crossed.