Hurricanes

As soon as a breeze comes off Africa it seems they start the warnings. I've never left the island & just rode them out but with all the warnings you could leave if you went early enough. But then hurricanes wobble so you might be leaving for nothing.

In general, we don't flee. Yes, I was here for Marilyn. No power for two months, no phone for six. You see the ugly side of human beings, but you also see the good. There is a "hunker down" mentality that is difficult to explain. As Trade says, the early warning system has changed tremendously since 1995. We now watch tropical waves from a long way off. The forecasters are amazingly accurate in their track predictions. You learn a great deal about meteorology.

Some may 'flee', but 'hunkering down' is the norm. And remember...our homes are built to deal with these every-now-and-then things called hurricanes. We use concrete, with walls that are a foot thick! No more woodedn homes being built here! Haha! Plus, we are all on a 'hill', so flooding isn't normally a concern. I've been thru Georges and Lenny on STT and I wouldn't even consider them 'real' hurricanes, though they were. Just some wind and rain. A few days later everything was back to normal...now, keep in mind, these were NOT Cat 5 storms! But, lessee...Cat 5 storms: '95 - Marylin, '89 Hugo...before that it had been 65 years! Because of the location of the VI and the way the storms usually track, the prevailing Trade Winds, rotation of the Earth, etc...the odds on a hurricane are much lower than you might think. I felt a whole lot safer in the VI than I would have had I lived in one of the Gulf States or Florida!! Sure, I prepared for them, kept canned food and bottled water in my 'kit', but in the nine years I lived there, I never had to use it...heck, it's still in my apartment closet!