Surviving the Hurricanes

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Images courtesy of AccuWeather.com

In the months of August and September, I survived three hurricanes. the first was Charley, then Frances, and Jeanne.

I was watching the opening ceremonies of the Olympics when Hurricane Charley unexpectedly came. the power went out as the parade of nations began and I was mad! I went to my front window to see the action outside. If I could not watch TV, I could at least let Charley's tantrums be my form of entertainment. I saw three flashes of green lightning and I still do not know where they came from. the next day, August 14, the yard was a mess! I went to work, but there was no power, so I went home. I helped my dad clean the yard and then work called me in about 3 o'clock in the afternoon. My brother, Chuck, stayed with us during the storm. He considered himself lucky because he would have lost his car if he had stayed at his apartmennt. The strange thing is a huge tree limb fell on his car a week later!

My sister, Beth-Anne, neice Skylar, and brother Chuck stayed with my parents and I during Frances. Frances came two weeks afer Charley. This storm was more fun than Charley because I played board games and cards with my family. Best of all, I finished putting together an afghan. What was not fun with this hurricane was my cat, Fox, was sick and he was at the vet during the storm. I went to work the next day and it was nice being in air conditioning!

The torture was not over for Central Floridians when Hurricane Jeanne came three weeks later on September 26. We lost power while I was sleeping, but I sensed something was wrong when I woke up around 4AM. I had a hard time going to sleep after that because of the thunder and white lightning. I did not have to go to work after Jeanne because the power came back on Monday night and I do not work on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. I helped my dad with the yardwork and it was very hard work! We lost a tree in our back yard and it landed on the sidewalk that is between the houses. I also started knitting a new afghan during the power outage.

My parents and I lost power during all of the storms. Each time, we were without power for two days. My neighbors and I were lucky after Jeanne because my next door neighbor, Karen, had two oak tress that fell on the power line. I was able to report this to Progress Engery and three hours later, we heard chainsaws in Karen's yard. We thought we would be without power for a week.

It was no fun being without power because I had to use flashlights to see in the dark and go to bed at 8PM, since there is not much to do in the dark besides playing Simon.

For food, we went to McDonald's and Publix. I remember eating gummi bears, Raisinets, and granola bars.

The nice thing about suriving the hurricanes was getting to know my nieghbors better. I also liked seeing the the happy, smiling faces of my favorite TV journalists on Good Morning America after getting the power back. It was nice to know that Diane, Charlie, Tony, and Robing were concerned about us and gave us comforting words to let us know we will be ok.

Best of all of surviving the hurricanes is knowing that everyone I care about made it ok.