I grew up in Florida with my little brother, Steve.
And we grew up with hurricanes.
We received radio threats “back in the day.” There was no such thing as text messages or computer alerts. We didn’t even have a television set (please don’t bother trying to figure out how old I am.)
The radio alerts would let people know there was something threatening.
Board up! Hurricane coming!
And my Dad would begin securing the house with plywood boards. And my brother and I would watch and wonder as Dad wielded the hammer. And inside the house grew darker with each pounding blow.
This was in the days before the invention of jalousie (louvered) windows – the kind with individual glass slats.
The idea was that if something hit the window, only one or two of the slats (jalousies) would be damaged and could then be easily replaced.
Jalousies are still used in Florida, but they were not widely available when I was a child.
So we boarded up!
And after that, there was the yard cleanup.
“Remove anything that can fly,” said Dad. “Flying objects become dangerous missiles,” and we helped to pick up fallen coconuts and sticks and put away toys.
Note: Years and years later, when my husband and I moved to inland Virginia, we got the edge of a hurricane. I warned him to move the pool furniture inside but he said we were too far inland to worry about it. The winds came at about 60 miles per hour and the next day, all the pool furniture was in the bottom of the pool!
Anyway, back to childhood storms, Mom would fill the bathtub with water. She always filled the bathtub with water. “Just in case,” she said.
We also had a Sterno thing – a little portable cooking device that used cans of fuel for heating SpaghettiO’s. Mom got that all set up too.
You can still buy Sterno stoves I think – and SpaghettiO’s too.
And out came the collection of candles and matches.
And then we sat.
- Our inside world was transformed as the fury of the storm built to a howling crescendo.
- We sat in semi-darkness listening and enjoying a mysterious new world of shadows.
- The boards began to clack and clatter.
- Candles flickered in the little breezes that came through the cracks.
- Bits of light seeped in.
- We were acutely aware of sounds.
- We were safe, we thought, in our little cocoon, because Mom and Dad had thought of everything.
But, once the attic door in our ceiling began to jump up and down and make splatting noises.
“Open a window!” my Dad screamed. “We have to equalize the pressure!”
I suppose cracking a window helped because the attic door stopped jumping.
Could we have lost our roof? Was Dad right?
I don’t hear warnings to open windows nowadays in any kind of storm. Do you?
And once my little brother, Steve (about 3 years old) wandered outside into the wind.
It started to pick him up! Dad caught him in time and pulled him back into the house.
Have I imagined this? Was it something I worried about or did it really happen?
I loved hurricanes (not because they might take my pesky little brother away of course!)
I loved them because they were thrilling.
And of course, I felt perfectly safe in the care of parents who did everything and said everything to make their little children feel secure.
We even went out into “the eye.”
Dad said we could go outside but only for about 10 minutes and only with him. The weird lull, the stillness and the quiet were awesome.
Within a few minutes the wind and driving rain came again and we sat by candlelight inside again, listening to Mom tell stories.
And then it was over.
I remember there was a ride after one storm.
We saw telephone poles and palm trees down or leaning.
There were coconuts all over the place.
The sand was driven from the beaches right onto the streets.
Hurricanes remind me of the Derecho storm we had here in Virginia last summer.
I am older now (by a few years), so I don’t find wild storms very thrilling, but I am still thankful to my parents who made the experience into an adventure instead of a fearsome event.
Related articles
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Such frightening things and there’s just no beating mother nature. Very pleased to say we don’t suffer the big storms or other natural disaster phenomenon here (touching lots of wood just in case 🙂 )
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It’s amazing how safe children can feel when they completely trust the adults they are with. Nice memories.
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Scary stuff. So what would you say was the biggest storm you road through on the hurricane scale they now use?
We had snow blizzards, and that was never scary because we were safe inside. But the tremendous thunderstorms were frightening. I remember riding out many storms in the car with the family because we had no lightning rods on the house. The rubber tires were supposedly insulation.
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I have no recollection of the severity of the storms we experienced in the 1940’s. I remember that my father was terrified of lightning though, and he put lightning rods on our house to divert the hits. I wonder if they really help. Might be safer in the car.
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They ground it is all. We had no lightning rods on our barns either and the gaping holes to prove it. It’s a wonder they didn’t all burn to the ground.
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Good! You and your beloved critters – stay safe! 🙂
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I remember several hurricanes striking our area of southeast Virginia when I was a child. (And a couple since I’ve been grown.) We didn’t have the ability to board up windows though – it was very scary. My mom and I lived near my grandmother, and we’d go to her house; the 3 of us would ride out the storm together. Very scary.
It’s wonderful that your parents made it an adventure.
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We don’t really get bad hurricanes here but I do remember Diane in the late 50s. I had to help clean up the yard. I also remember Agnes in the 70s because I worked for an electric utility and one of the towns served was badly flooded. We worked round the clock.
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It is good that you don’t get too many of the violent storms where you are. The hurricanes can be pretty mercurial, so you never know quite what to expect. Better than dealing with tornadoes though. At least you have time to prepare for a hurricane – or get out of town.
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I am guessing that your grandmother’s house was more secure in some way. It was good you had each other, but I can only imagine how frightening it must have been.
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Wow… the lightning rods actually work! I have always had my doubts since some time ago we put a rod in the ground to divert lightning strikes from our satellite t.v. dish. It kept getting hit anyway until we removed the rod! I guess something wasn’t done right! 🙂
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Hmm, sounds like something was misfiring there. 🙂 The lightning gravitates to the rod which has wiring to take it intot he ground where it wants to go anyway, hence dispersed, not killing anyone or burning anything in the process. Not sure, given the danger, that we did not have the put in. Probably just money.
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I love wicked storms but only if I am watching from safe inside my house :). Sounds like your childhood was filled with far more serious weather than mine though.
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WOW! What an incredible story! I think the outside furniture was very thoughtful to blow into the pool! If they blew down the street, someone else would have been dining on them!
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What fascinating memories. I also grew up in Florida, but in north central. We only had a few hurricane scares, however I certainly remember duct-taping windows and filling the bathtub.
When I became a news reporter in NC, I learned there are many people who are thrilled by hurricanes. The staffers practically fought over who’d get to head to the coast to cover an approaching storm. And as you say, these hurricanes are so unpredictable. Often they’d skirt us, dropping some rain but no big damage… other times they’d drive inland and cause mass destruction. I’ll never forget Hurricane Fran!
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OMG so much of this could have been taken from life within our family home now it is really tough as the storms come and everyone is on their phones somewhere not hunkered down with a loving family. 😦 Even my own Mother has lost her mind or memory orf how dangerous storms are or is it because she is all alone now not having to hold her family together her home was under a tornado watch yesterday and I could not reach her I bet at 77 she was taking a walk or sitting in that damn NEW screen house she needed 🙂 I finally reach her and she says sorry you were so worried I did not know it was CLOSE TO ME man I am going to get her a clunker car and send her out as a storm chaser 🙂 I hate these life destroying storms as well. Stay safe there and I bet your hubby listens to YOU NOW! lol
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Never experienced a hurricane and am thankful for that, but I have experienced a tornado and minor earthquake. It occurs to me that today when we get these storm warnings, the thing that is accentuated is fear, not preparedness. Maybe we need to go back to the ‘good ol’ days’ for that too.
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Going back to the good old days would be fun – but just for a short visit I think. I’m too used to all this technology.
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What a worry that must be when the family is split up and not communicating during a bad storm.
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Wow! I am impressed to know a news reporter (even if it’s not in person)! And yes, I remember just before I left Fla, the college kids were having “Hurricane Parties” out on Key Biscayne (a narrow peninsula of beaches connected by long bridges). My family (and I) thought they had lost their minds.
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Fortunately, there is no street for the furniture to blow into… only woods or grass. The problem was getting pool furniture fished back out!:)
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It was serious but thankfully, we didn’t know it at the time. 🙂
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no sorry just venting I was so worried. I try not to but I do 😦
I am glad the fear is real for you so I know you will head to the interior or basement 🙂
These day we have warning they are coming and how bad and still only less than half take warning seriously. I have seen some wild storm while trucking and never want to be involved in one if I can help it.
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I was unfamiliar with hurricanes until we moved to Virginia. I remember our first one well, sitting up all night, listening to the radio and the wind. Back then they told us to tape our windows, which was a mess to remove.
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I never thought of hurricanes in VA, but it’s surely true and just as scary as anyplace else.
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