As everyone knows by now, we have a tropical storm traveling up the east coast. Tropical Storm Hanna is the first of several major storms that may reach Virginia this season. The first graphic, kindly provided by the NOAA, shows the track of the storm. The second, is a map of Virginia counties. We are in Nottoway County. If you count over from the orange section across the southern border, we are 4 counties due west (Mecklenburg), then the second county north from there. The eye of the storm is presently near the NC border, but we expect a fair amount of rain from this storm, and possibly high wind. Shandy has been nauseous since last night. She is an expert at detecting potentially scary low-pressure systems. I personally suspect that many of the NOAA and NWS staff secretly rely on their dogs when they go home.
For the last week, we've been preparing for the possibility of flooding, power outage, wind and everything else we could think of that might result from the storm. We've been through this scenario before. The worst event for us was Isabelle, which caused substantial damage in Virginia. We were among the storm's more fortunate victims, as we were without power for only three days. For others here, it took weeks to get the power back on.
We've been taking the normal precautions that everyone else has- stocking up on canned food, water and basic necessities. But as we also run a rescue, we've stocked up on feed, topped up water tanks, and last night, made sure that everyone was under roof, warm and dry, to ride out the storm. I found myself being immensely grateful for all the barns and stalls on this farm. We don't need them all the time, but when we do, it's important.
With Isabelle, we learned a few things about preparing for hurricanes, aside from the obvious stuff that everyone already knows. We are providing these suggestions for our northern neighbors, who may find themselves in the storm track. They are:
1. If your dogs live in your house, vacuum before the storm. It is a physical law that dog hair sticks to everything worse when the air conditioning is off. I don't know why. This single item drove me nuts during Isabelle. It's right up there on the list with:
2. Do your laundry before the storm. On a farm, you are out there tending to animals in the rain and mud whether you like it or not. If you live in the city, you may have what is called a "social life" (we run across occasional references to this). Picture either without an operable washing machine.
3. When we were stocking up on food prior to Isabelle, I bought lots of canned goods, bottled juice and dry food that would keep without refrigeration. I planned well and was darned proud of myself. The night the storm hit, I did a last-minute stop at the store, to pick up any forgotten items. When I got home, I proudly displayed these to Tom. I hadn't forgotten a thing. Tom, of course, had been to the store, too. After I unloaded my collection of survival food, Tom showed me his, of which he was equally proud. He had found a very nice French wine and a good cheese. I howled at the difference in our mindsets. But that night, when the lights went out, we lit a candle and had a very nice wine and a good cheese to go with it. So for those in the storm track, take a moment to think about how you will fill those long hours without television, your computer or the other diversions in your life. This is an excellent time to take a good look at your loved ones and make the best of this rare quality time.
For the folks in the Valley: Be safe. We know you're going to get a lot of rain.
No comments:
Post a Comment