Off the Cuff / My Other Journal

Storm

Today we had one heck of a thunderstorm. At midday, I received an emergency e-mail that said:
"The national weather svc in Melbourne has issued a severe thunderstorm warning for St. Lucie county in East Central FL.

This includes the cities of White City, Walton, Saint Lucie nuclear plant, Port Saint Lucie, Indrio, Fort Pierce inlet,Fort Pierce.

Severe thunderstorms produce damaging winds in excess of 58 miles an hour & or large destructive hail. Frequent to excessive lightning and very heavy rain will also be possible. If the storm approaches you, seek shelter in an enclosed building on the lowest floor. Keep away from windows.

Tornado warning for East Central St. Lucie County in East Central FL: this includes the cities of White city, Walton, Saint Lucie nuclear plant, Port Saint Lucie."

At first, I didn't believe it would be that severe, because we usually get warnings with nothing following. Still, I shut down the computers and anything electronic. I am not taking any chances since my computer came back from the factory with replaced memory and other faulty hardware and it's only a two-month old computer. What can you do! Some babies are defective at birth.

Despite my disbelief, TV stations also began giving emergency broadcasts. A few minutes later, when the rain, lightning, and high winds started, I instantly became a true believer.

Since we had close to category one hurricane force winds, some flower pots, empty garbage cans, and other indistinct material tossed about on the lawns; our street, front and back yard, and our porch turned into a deep lake; our new outdoor rug on the porch floor sank like the Titanic; and the electricity went off for a few hours.

Yet, since this is Florida, nature's wild whims are delightful to watch and even the storms are handsome in a frightful sort of way, like the beast in "The Beauty and the Beast," which--I guess--makes me the Beauty.

One thing is for sure. Our storms give people a few things to do, and most of these things are very productive, or should I say, "reproductive," since it has been nine months after the 2004 Florida hurricanes and the local TV stations are reporting a major baby boom.