When I was in elementary school, my science teachers all said the same things: "Oh, there are barely any hurricanes that hit this area. The hurricanes usually hit Florida and the Gulf, so you'll probably only have to prepare for a hurricane a couple of times during your school career." Perhaps that was true once upon a time, but not in the 2010 decade. This weekend in the Mid-Atlantic, we're preparing for the third major hurricane to hit my area, the eastern portion of south-central Pennsylvania, in a year. Last year, in the early fall, we were hit by Irene, which knocked a friend of mine out of power for a week, and Lee, which brought so much flooding that it causing portions of nearby roads to erode and collapse.
It's not as though we've only had hurricanes to worry about, I must say! Those same science teachers told me we'd probably never feel a major earthquake in Pennsylvania, or have to worry about tornadoes. The spring before last, tornadoes touched down about ten miles from my house, and in the August after that, my house shook as a result of a Virginia earthquake. Thankfully there was no major damage from that string of tornadoes (they hit other areas of south-central part, like western York County), but that's as close of a call I'd like to have, thank you very much!
Let's just say, this decade so far has been quite the anomaly, both in the number of significant events and in the summer and winter weather patterns over the past couple of years. In the summer of 2010, when the grass in my area turned as yellow as prairie grass and temperatures tipped over 100 many times, my father told me, "You may never see such a hot and dry summer in Pennsylvania as long as you live here." In 2011 and 2012, he said the same thing. Winters have been moderate and void of snow, except for, well, the February snowstorm of 2010, in which we received perhaps two to three feet of snow. Last year, the only snowfall was a snowstorm the day before Halloween (conveniently, the day of the only wedding my family and I attended last year, so we were crazy enough to drive through it).
Let's just say, perhaps the abnormal has become the new normal. It didn't even surprise me very much when, in the middle of the week, reports began to show that Hurricane Sandy would likely collide with a cold front in the Mid-Atlantic, bringing at least 8-12 inches of rain and 30-60 MPH winds. The "Frankenstorm", as the hurricane and cold front mix is dubbed, knocked the election off the front page of the paper.
Anyways, if you were to visit my area, you'd think we were to be stuck in our houses, powerless, for the next month. Or, at least that's what you'd think when you got a glimpse of the grocery store, as I did earlier this afternoon. My family's idea of hurricane preparation (thankfully, 'cause I definitely can't bike home from the store carrying gallons of milk) is, "Well, I suppose we should buy some bread." That task was given to me, and I rode my bike to the local grocery store, where I found, well, surprisingly little! There was no milk except for minuscule amounts of fat-free and whole milk, and most of the plain water, which took up a significant part of an aisle, was gone.
Looking at the carts of the people around me, many of which were filled past the brim with essentials such as milk, bread, and water, I couldn't help but remember a passage from the book "Persepolis". In this passage, the main character, Marjane, travels with her mother to the grocery store during food shortages during the Iranian Revolution and Iran-Iraq War. When her mother sees the shortages, she says to Marjane that, if everyone took only what they needed and no more, there would be enough for everyone. That's what I thought of as I saw women with more bottled water and than they could possibly drink in a fortnight! If everyone took one medium-sized container of water, one gallon of milk, and one loaf of bread, many more people would be able to get what they needed. But that's not really the American way, as my father would say: the attitude is more reminiscent of "Well, I got here first, so I might as well take whatever I want." Thanks to this attitude that I've witnessed, I've always wondered how Americans would react of food rationing was ever to begin for some reason!
Yes, I called this post a ramble for a reason: so I could get off topic! :) To get back on topic, I feel like the hurricane is generally viewed with a sort of excitement. Before The Decade of Unusual Events began, a hurricane would be extremely rare, so there's still a bit of excitement about the hurricane, which I think is positive (better than mass panic over flooding). Speaking of flooding, as Martin Luther King Jr. once mentioned, Pennsylvania is fulling of rolling hills. Therefore, amounts of flooding will vary a lot even within towns and communities. It's hard to predict until it actually happens, so I'm glad that emergency teams are prepared, bringing in crews from other states to help deal with the outages, informing people about flood safety. I wonder if there's anything I can do to spread the word about flood safety?
To all of you Mid-Atlantic and non-Mid-Atlantic readers alike (well, probably just to me, since this blog has a total of five views), just cross your fingers that there's not as much flooding and property damage as this time last year! Hey, with all of the fuss that's been made about the storm, we'll probably get a whopping 2.5 inches of rain!
Now that I've said that, I'm guaranteed to be underwater this time next week, aren't I?
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