Storm in the Gulf

The news of a storm forming in or near the Gulf of Mexico is never good for folks who live on its coast. Every season, it seems, a hurricane hits somewhere on the Gulf Coast, now we have two more weather systems developing to contend with.

And contend we have. Since Hurricane Andrew hit Florida just south of Miami in 1992, sweeping across the peninsula & raging into the Gulf to make landfall again near Morgan City, Louisiana, we have had four category 3 or higher storms approach, make landfall & punish the Emerald Coast of Florida. Katrina, the monster hurricane that devastated New Orleans in the summer of 2005, threatened the entire region, giving Pensacola, Florida just a bit of clouds, wind & rain.

Unnamed as yet, the current systems, as of 7AM CDT 7/22/10, have a 70% & 50% chance respectively of developing into tropical cyclones(http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/).

Direct hits on any particular location along the Gulf Coast is, at best, a crap shoot, though tracking technology has improved tremendously even in the last five years. The last hurricanes to make land fall in Pensacola were Ivan in the fall of 2004 & Dennis the following summer. A double whammy, as both storms were a strong category 3.

Living 30 miles north of the Gulf, our home did not bear the brunt of either storm, however hurricane force winds in excess of 80 mph were recorded in our area for both. On our property five large trees were felled, roof shingles ripped off, the patio screened enclosure torn apart, but thankfully, because we are not prone to flooding, we had no water damage.

It's the howl of the wind that is most frightening. Windows & doors rattle, storm driven rain drums constantly on the panes of glass & the threat of accompanying tornados is ongoing.

Ongoing, as well, in the storms aftermath is the clean up. Months go by then years before the last vestiges of storm damage are removed or repaired & even then evidence of the storms lingers. Boats lie abandoned in the marshes to this day. Derelict commercial & residential properties remain fallow. Broken or leaning trees are visible. Two of our 50 foot high long leaf pines lean to the northwest at a 60 degree angle!

The sight of downed utility poles & power lines, fallen trees littering yards & streets alike, the distinctive whiz of chain saws filling the still air, electric company trucks & crews from around the region clogging the streets & huge piles of debris and mulch accumulating are etched into our memories.

In the mix this season is the recent Gulf oil disaster. What will a storm do with the oil? Right now clean up is halted. Boat crews have to scurry ashore, resuming their important work only when the sea is calm.

A hurricane is an environmental disaster in its own right as is the oil crisis. Put the two together & the combined impact would be unprecedented.

When & where will the next storm go? How serious will its impact be? How will the region survive, & at what expense?

As a society we must learn & live on, doing what we can to protect our precious wildlife resources & most important, muster the courage to build anew, better, stronger, safer & sustainable.