Personal Experiences
Personal Experiences
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| Hurricane David Savannah GA, Sept 4, 1979 |
Sometimes we are able to live through a disastrous storm and be able to find pleasant memories about it years later.
September 4, 1979, Hurricane David made landfall at Savannah, Georgia, after a devastating path through the Caribbean. My husband, son and I were living in there in a row house near the historic downtown area. My husband was a native of Savannah so he knew how to prepare for the storm. I had grown up in eastern Montana and Wyoming so I had no experience with hurricane storm patterns.
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| Row Houses |
Early that day, as the rain was already filling the storm drains and causing street flooding several inches deep, we hurried to the grocery store and got chicken and vegetables, other necessary foods and some presto logs to use in our fireplace. Then it was home again so I could start cooking meals that could be heated in the fireplace. I finished the stove cooking just a few minutes before we lost electricity.
It was my son's fifth birthday and we had gotten him a little transistor radio as a birthday present. Fortunately we had also gotten batteries because when we lost electric power, we had access to radios that were still broadcasting. By early afternoon, the radio stations had to shut down until only one remained. A technician was broadcasting from a field station and he reached a point when he had to close it down. He was standing in waist deep water and the water was about one inch below the electric equipment. He had to go.
We were safe and warm, our food was prepared and now it was just a matter of riding out the storm. It kept trying the radio with no luck until early evening when radio signals carry better. We found a radio station in Asheville, North Carolina, that was broadcasting to the residents in Savannah, that our "drinking water was safe to drink," and other helpful information. It was so comforting to know that people elsewhere cared about what was happening to us.
In September 2024, Hurricane Helene hit a large area of the Southeast including Ashville, NC. When I heard how much devastation was hitting the people of Asheville, I was brought to tears, remembering their kindness 45 years earlier when they broadcast information for Savannah. - MaryLynn
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| Headline from https://www.nbcnews.com/ |
"Bomb Cyclone" was a term most of us in western Washington had never heard, when we were hit by one the winter of 2024. Our son Thomas was in the air as the storm developed for a Thanksgiving visit, and by some miracle, his plane was able to land safely. By the time we met him at SeaTac airport, our power had been out for hours, and the house was getting cold. Many roads were closed but we were able to find an open restaurant in Auburn, warm up and eat breakfast together. In contrast to the devastation around Black Diamond, downtown Auburn seemed untouched. However, people at neighboring tables were talking, sharing stories. Something in a shared disaster makes us aware of our shared humanity.
As we made our way home, we were grateful for the map apps on the cell phone steering us around the routes closed by fallen trees, broken power poles, and piles of debris. Some roads and streets took days to clear, days more for power to be restored, with internet connection returning even later. Fortunately, we have a gas-powered generator and were able to find an open gas station where we filled the gas cans, so we could keep some food cold and warm the house a bit.
I grew up in the country, and our house had a fireplace, so I remember power outages as fun vacations from school. My battery-powered radio even let me listen to my favorite music; my parents listened to the news instead! How many of us have radios anymore? We now have an emergency radio which runs on a battery that can be recharged by cranking. The weather information is useful and interesting.
Monday morning, there was no power or internet, and Thomas was working remotely, so we set off for Covington very early. We headed to the Covington Library, where the parking lot was already full. Next stop, a coffee shop with an empty seat. We met for lunch, hoping for a connection at our favorite teriyaki restaurant, but they had no internet for customers. My phone showed that Kent Library was open, so we headed down the hill and were both able to work that afternoon. Like a river flowing around obstacles, we humans adapt and adjust to new realities. -Valorie
What is your story of disaster, and how you or your ancestors fared? Send your story to m.strickland@skcgs.org
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