Friday, June 01, 2007

And So It Begins Again

Today is June 1st, the official start of the 2007 hurricane season.

Of course, the year’s first named tropical storm already formed off the coast of Florida weeks ago (not a good sign). But even when hurricanes do blow up in June or early July, they usually aren’t intense. The really nasty storms tend to come later—during the three weeks on either side of September 10th, I once heard someone say. So the scary time is yet to come. And yet…

And yet there’s a palpable tension in the air here in New Orleans today as the city draws a collective deep breath and thoughts turn to the long, hot, tense days ahead. My mother says, “I’m not going to worry about it. What good’s it do to worry about it? If it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen.”

Wise words. But I find myself looking around my house, with the repairs of Katrina’s damage still not finished. And I think, Hurry October.

6 comments:

Steve Malley said...

I lucked out. David was my childhood hurricane, and for all the devastation it wreaked on Haiti, I spent the morning it hit watching Bob Hope's 'They Call Me Bwana' on the only TV station broadcasting that day.

My mom was a girl when Donna hit, and I grew up with her stories. Every year as summer stretched into fall, the tension grew. It was weird.

By the time Andrew hit, Miami was a memory, and every year brought months and months and reliable months of ice and snow...

cs harris said...

Yeah, they say every place has its downside--tornados, snow, cold, earthquakes, volcanos. Although there are a few idyllic places that are warm AND safe.

Charles Gramlich said...

I remember hearing on the news about the first name storm this year and a chill swept me. I doubt that'll ever go away.

Stewart Sternberg (half of L.P. Styles) said...

I heard that Allstate is pulling out of Florida. I know many other insurance companies have pulled out of Louisiana. At a time when insurance companies are making record profits, I find this behavior irresponsible and avaricious.

I don't mean to complain..I live in Michigan..but dammit, it infuriates me how your state and other states have been treated around natural disasters. I won't even talk about the corruption and incompetence...just the greed of the insurance companies is enough to set me off.

cs harris said...

Think about this, Stewert: we have our insurance with USAA, which is essentially owned by the insured. In years they have a surplus, we get a refund. At the end of 1975 we got a refund of over a thousand dollars, despite Katrina. So I find it hard to believe the other insurance companies were "hurting."

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