I’m writing this a few days before hurricane Florence makes landfall along the east coast. It’s a monster category 4 storm, which means it’ll bring wind speeds approaching 150 miles per hour and a storm surge between 13 and 18 feet.
One hundred and fifty miles per hour. Water between 13 and 18 feet. That’s feet, not inches. Think of how tall you are, then double or triple that, depending on your height. That’s how deep the water will be that’s pushed ashore by the hurricane. As for wind speed, think of how fast most of you drive on the interstate, then add 10 miles per hour to it.
Okay, fine. I’m totally kidding about how fast most of you drive. Some of you won’t have to add anything to your normal speed.
News reports are mentioning how most people are evacuating until this thing passes, which is smart, because if you’ve never experienced the enormous power of nature’s forces, let me suggest that you don’t want to. No matter what the situation, whether a hurricane, tornado, earthquake, volcano, or a sinkhole opening up beneath you, it’s all terrifying.
Despite all the evacuations, I can bet there will be those too stubborn to leave. “I survived one hurricane, so I can survive this one,” they might say.
Here in north Alabama, which is ground zero of a tornado zone called Dixie Alley, we have people who will sit in their recliners when a tornado warning is issued instead of seeking shelter. I literally heard someone say once, “I ain’t worryin’ about it. If it’s gonna git me, then it’ll git me.”
Take my word for it. You can’t argue with stupidity on that level, because they’re implying that even if they are below ground level during a tornado, it will still dig down, grab them, and kill them. I would wager their bravado would disappear once a roaring tornado or a wall of water is mere feet from them, but someone like that doesn’t see things that way.
The picture above is taken from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) website. The guy in the jeans and beige shirt is me, taken the day after a powerful tornado tore through my Huntsville, Alabama apartment complex in 1989. It completely demolished hundreds of apartments, businesses, and houses, and it killed 21 people. I saw it moments before it hit, and I can honestly say I’ve never been more terrified in my life. I managed to escape injury, but many others didn’t.
Since that day, I don’t take chances with forces of nature. I get out of the way or hide, because I’d rather not be a brave, dead idiot.