Speaking Volumes

According to the National Weather Service, Hurricane Earl should miss us.  This is not to say we will not get bad weather and residual effect, but at least we should not get walloped with a full fledged hurricane.  Personally,  I am very happy about this.     

As you read this, there are portions of my house for which all the siding is gone and one can stand in the room and peek out at the world.  The plan is that this will NOT be the case by Friday when the weather should hit, but any degree of less wind, rain etc. I am definitely believing is a good thing.

As storms go, I generally don’t mind hurricanes.  I figure they are better than other things: tornados, tidal waves, etc.  But hurricanes have not been particularly kind to me.  Remember Doria?  Probably not, but I had a friend with a pet rabbit, the rabbit decided that very day was a good day to escape.  Ever chase a rabbit in a hurricane? It was interesting.  I remember singing G-L-O-R-I-A as Gloria knocked out our power for a week.  That was no fun. 

I was working in a small private school library during Floyd.  It was my first week on the job and my first week working in a school.  We had all arrived that morning though the school was on the coast and in direct line of being hit.  As the morning wore on, the weather was getting increasingly worse.  Everyone was in a twitter – will they send us home? Will we be stuck?  Will it really hit US?  It was taking a lot of effort to keep students calm while the administration figured out what to do. 

Around 10, I heard a collective gasp from the teenagers in the next room.  Although this was my first experience working with this age, I knew gasp then quiet could not be good.  I walked into the room to see a glass door blown in.  Rain, wind, and debris were blowing into the library.  Welcome to the job.  Of course, all maintenance and admin were in a meeting assessing the weather, so left on my own I begged the Science department to help be block the window and helped myself to a vacuum to clean up the glass.  I roped off the area, then got everyone calm. 

It was shortly after that we got word we’d close at noon.  Chaos broke out again – how would students get home?  What if parents could not be reached?  What if the storm was already too bad?  We calmed everyone, yet again and I wondered, why me my first week on this job?   I looked at the clock. 11:15.  I could do this!  Just 45 minutes. Less, really.

The storm grew worse, the rain coming down in torrents.  I, too, wondered how I’d get home.  Then, at 11:47….

The fire alarm began. 

We all looked at each other in stunned silence.  No way.  But this had to be real…it was the edge of a hurricane outside.  No one would do a drill in that weather.  Maybe an electrical problem?  We paused.  The alarm kept going and all 500 plus students and staff trudged out into Floyd to see the fire trucks come up the drive.

We found out later, that in fact there had been no fire.  But a kindergartner learned some very valuable lessons from the fireman.
 
We hope you stay dry during Earl and you can always come check out something to keep you distracted at the Library!