So Eye See

Made it through the weekend, virtually unscathed. No property damage, no loss of power/phone/cable. Briefest loss of water, which apparently created the need for a boil-water alert in our area. (This means we should boil any water to be used for consumption, just in case.) These alerts are good for three days; unfortunately, I learned about it this morning on the radio for the first time, so I'll only really have to worry about this for tonight. Hopefully it's just precautionary.

Friends did not fare so well, but all are at least alive and have more-or-less habitable dwellings. Stories range from no power/no damage, to no power/mild damage, to power/roof damage.

Biggest concern for us right now is the gas shortage. A major local distribution center has no power yet, so fuel is being trucked in from other locales. It's being made worse by a mild mass hysteria. When was the last time you saw a gas station get a fuel delivery and yet still run out in less than three hours?

From second-hand information, we understand that winds were clocked in our neighborhood at 95mph. Uncertain if that is the top gust, or sustained.

I ended up working both days this weekend. Saturday, I was out in the operation helping out because so many people couldn't return to work. Yesterday, I worked in our emergency command center, doing my regular writing-and-editing job. Fortunately, they closed it down just after noon, because things were more-or-less back to normal around these parts.

On reflection with friends yesterday evening, it's amazing that less than 7 days ago we were celebrating Dewayne's birthday at Pulse. It feels like weeks, not days. As one person put it last night: "We were young and innocent then."

Side note to the gang: Would we say Charley was a strong Leo storm?