hurricane waiting
rain raining and wind blowing
not much else happens
It became evident to me after a few fast rounds with the radio that the broadcasters had opened up on Edna awfully far in advance, before she had come out of her corner, and were spending themselves at a reckless rate. During the morning hours, they were having a tough time keeping Edna going at the velocity demanded of emergency broadcasting. I heard one fellow from, I think, Riverhead, Long Island, interviewing his out-of-doors man, who had been sent abroad in a car to look over conditions on the eastern end of the island.
That is a short excerpt from EB White’s famous essay, The Eye of Edna (The New Yorker, September 25, 1954) where Mr. White told the story following Hurricane Edna using live reports … on the radio.
It was on my mind today as Hurricane Idalia came by.
Lots of dire warnings.
Lots of views of other places.
But here.
Rain raining.
Wind blowing.
The tide might be high but there is that blue moon anyway to help that along.
But you don’t want to be caught out in this if it gets worse.
So the wait continues.
Back in Mr. White wrote that. “The radio either lets Nature alone or gives her the full treatment, as it did at the approach of the storm. The idea, of course, is that the radio shall perform a public service by warning people of a storm that might prove fatal; and this the radio certainly does. But another effect of the radio is to work people up to an incredible state of alarm many hours in advance of the blow, while they are still fanned by the mildest zephyrs.”
The people I used to work with in TV News always shouted, “We are here to INFORM you, not scare you!”
And pass along advice.
As they did in 1954 when Mr. White noted, “… a man was repeating the advice I had heard many times. Fill the car with gas before the pumps lose their power. Get an old-fashioned clock that is independent of electricity. Set the refrigerator adjustment to a lower temperature”
I never thought about the clock today but I made sure my phone was charged though that will depend on cell towers being up and working.
Mr. White said, “There are always two stages of any disturbance in the country — the stage when the lights and the phone are still going, the stage when these are lost.”
All these moderns connections and conveniences.
Haven’t really come that far in the face of a Hurricane I guess.
I will tell one thing that caught me off guard.
I have been watching the storm all day through my window.
Its gray and windswept.
I know these days from growing up in Michigan.
Then I went outside for a quick trip to grab some supplies and I ran out the door and ducked my head … into the 40mph 85 degree storm.
It WAS HOT.
From my window, it was a COLD gray Michigan day.
Walking into 100% humidity and seeing folks in T shirts and shorts caught me off guard.
I am not in Michigan anymore.
No Haiku For You 