What to Take in a Hurricane

LUCY BURDETTE: Honestly, hasn’t this been an unbearable week news-wise? It’s a little hard to maintain a person's optimistic equilibrium. And then I woke last Friday to see the above prediction on my weather app. 

We kind of expect the worst storms in Key West, but occasionally they come to our summer spot, Connecticut. I freak out no matter which place is in the bullseye. I don’t want to live through a scary hurricane, I get nervous with a lot of wind and a bad thunderstorm. We live in a low lying neighborhood that has been flooded more than once, suffering damage and long blackouts during both Sandy and Irene.

And besides, our town‘s first selectwoman had emailed, texted, and Robo-called us to say we needed to evacuate by 8 PM Saturday. Why would I argue with her?

 John, being a more phlegmatic personality, would have been happy to ride out the storm. Then some good friends who live 40 minutes inland invited us to stay along with the animals. The writing was on the wall. The only question left was what to pack. 

Several of our neighbors were declining to evacuate, even though by this point the fire department had also come through all the streets to suggest that we leave. One neighbor, with anxiety even greater than mine, had packed up all of her important stuff including birth certificate, marriage certificate, and insurance papers. We both packed plenty of pet food. Lottie would be happy eating people food if her kibble ran out, but T-bone is particular. Prescription medication for everyone who needs it, of course.

Here are the furries hunkered down in their hurricane shelter quarters, both a little nervous.

I also packed my computer with pretty much my life on it, including the book that is due on Tuesday, A DISH TO DIE FOR. And my phone and iPad with multiple chargers. But what about books? John would point out that my Kindle app is loaded with more books than I’ll ever finish in my lifetime, but I also have a marvelous stack of hardcover and paperbacks that I’ve been collecting over the summer. Was I going to load them all into the car? I whittled it down to two.


Here are my furries after we'd been at our friends' place for an hour.

As it turned out, the storm was a bust, thank goodness. So was I sheepish? Not really, we had a nice visit with our friends, and I would do the same thing next time. I can write my characters into all kinds of scary situations, but I don't have the nerve to stick out weather danger myself.

How about you? Are you an evacuator, or someone who will hold the line against any kind of weather? If you were leaving and had a little time to prepare, what would you take?