Hurricane Go Away

Yay for summer in Florida! Love the mugginess. The fanatical thunderstorms. The mosquitoes. The heat. The termites. And let's not forget the ever-present hurricane threat. I've lived in the Tampa Bay area since 1970 and until the last few years, I don't remember being threatened by the threat of hurricanes every summer and fall. Have hurricanes become more prevalent, more violent since the turn of the century? There was Hurricane Andrew in 1992 that skimmed by the Tampa Bay area on its way to Louisiana after destroying Homestead. There was the hurricane (forget the name) that wandered up and down and lingered by the west central coastline for days. There was the No-Name Storm that swept over the Tampa Bay area sometime in the 1980s, causing major damage. There may have been others but I don't remember. Summer was not something to dread (other than for the heat and mugginess); it was not a time to prepare for disaster. This year I've decided to be calm, cool and collected. Sure, I'll collect hurricane supplies in readiness for The Big One that experts have been predicting for decades will hit the Tampa Bay area. The one thing no one ever talks about is what if you did everything you're supposed to do - bought batteries, non-perishable food, lots of water, flashlights, crank/battery-operated radio, maybe a generator - you did all that and a huge live oak falls on your house or the winds rip your roof off and your windows cave in and the some of the walls come crashing down, and you no longer have a home. Just because you're prepared doesn't mean everything's going to be all right. I guess that's why some people refuse to acknowledge that a hurricane is anything more than a puff of wind to be ignored. I remember when we were all running to the stores because we thought Hurricane Charley was coming to Tampa. Standing in line at Publix with my cart full of non-perishable items, I noticed the man in front of me was buying things like steak, milk, ice cream, chicken, corn. Guess he was going to have a barbeque party while Charley blew his house to kingdom come. Hurricane Charley didn't come to Tampa that year, but one area's saving grace is another area's catastrophe. You just never know what hurricanes are going to do. They're as predictable as cats.