IRMAGEDDON?

There are still lots of homes and businesses without electricity. Yet…

I can’t really complain all that much about Irma. Damage was minimal where I live. A few trees came down in the neighborhood and there’s lots of broken tree and shrub branches and debris on my property, although I have been cleaning it. The roof on the house seems OK. I’ve yet to climb up there to see it. The roof on the shed is missing shingles, but I think I can repair it myself. We’ll see. I’m hoping I don’t have to file an insurance claim.

We lost power sometime around 8:00 PM on Sunday evening. We got it back late Wednesday afternoon. In my case, it meant no water because we have a well. (We did stock up.) Even with a generator, I could only run things that could be plugged in, like the refrigerator, not things that go to the circuit breaker, like the well and central air.

In areas where there’s municipal (city) water, it was back up and running in rapid time, even without power. That’s because no one should suffer a sewage problem in the aftermath. A mile or two away from my house, there’s a hospital. Everyone on that grid had power restored the day after Irma left. Actually, it was later the same day, Monday, since it hit us Sunday night into the next morning. Generally, hospitals and emergency services like police and fire departments are restored as quickly as possible for obvious reasons. We were lucky to get it back on Wednesday, with cable following on Thursday.

Generally, I shop at Publix down the road (I take a couple of back streets to get there) and Winn Dixie, which is located right around the corner. Next to Publix is Home Depot and I spent a lot of time there. It’s running on a bare minimum generator that means no air conditioning inside. Yesterday, I went to buy work gloves and by the time I got to the register, I had broken into a sweat. The pretty, young girl behind the counter looked nice and dry.

“Look at me,” I said, “my shirt is getting wet. You’re nice and dry.”

“I just got here but I sweat a lot,” she replied.

“Girls don’t sweat, they glow. They glisten,” I joked.

“Nope. I sweat like a pig.”

I didn’t know whether to believe her or not. I smiled, got my receipt, left, and headed to Publix.

The shopping center where Publix is located is also without electricity. Instead, they’ve been running a large Caterpillar diesel generator that has kept cold food cold and frozen food frozen, but not without sacrifices. The hours have been cut and the deli and bakery aren’t up to speed due to the high amount of power it takes to run the ovens and fryers. If the generator runs out of fuel, they would lose tens of thousands of dollars worth of perishable food, front and back of store, not to mention refrigerated prescription medications, like insulin. That’s my pharmacy. Some of the Publix stores did run out, like the one in Maitland, and all of that inventory was lost. It’s imperative that diesel is delivered at almost all cost.

Yesterday, I spoke to the Winn Dixie store manager. Most of those stores do not have generators and I’d venture a guess that, statewide, millions of dollars worth of food was lost. He said that some of the coastal stores have generators, but not many. As I walked through the store, fresh produce was on display, the deli was up and running, and some refrigerated foods had been delivered, but all of the frozen food shelves were barren. I asked him who had to throw out the food and he replied, “We did,” meaning store employees. That’s a lot of work!

All around the state, small mom and pop convenience stores and restaurants had to toss out massive amounts of food and they lose every day until power is up and running. Many people are temporarily out of work.

I filled the gas tanks on both cars before the hurricane came. I’m glad I did because, while some stations are up and running, their gas pumps are shut off. I found one station in Longwood selling the precious commodity. I needed it to fill the generator. In any event, I must say… a storm that takes away your electricity, running water, air conditioning, refrigeration, television, and God knows what else, sure does put the world in a different perspective. Was Wilson in Cast Away a Democrat or Republican? That’s a little like what it felt like here for a few days and everyone still seems to be getting along fine… for the better good. We are helping each other and no one cares about politics or party affiliation. As a matter of fact, I had no idea what was going on outside of our own little world until cable came back. So, you see, despite the horrors of hurricanes, sometimes there are slivers of sunshine that seep through. Being naive isn’t always a bad thing. Staying on top of what’s going on in the immediate area is much more important and, for that, I want to acknowledge WDBO radio for keeping me well informed during this time of crisis. Thank you.