At Least My Cistern is Happy about Hanna....
...which seemed to hover above Anguilla for quite some time before moving on.
It's amazing to see how fast this island floods after a few days of
rain and the lightening is blinding while the thunder makes you want to
hide under a rock.
People often ask if I worry about living here because of the hurricane threat, and most of the island hotels and restaurants shut down for September and October because the one time a hurricane WAS coming straight at Anguilla, the local establishments had to rent an American Airlines jet at some ungodly rate to get all the employees off the island.
The way I see it though, is that there are natural disasters anywhere people live, and seeing how I used to live in the middle of Tornado alley, I don't really worry much here.
Additionally, hurricanes are typically weak when they're here, nothing like Gustav now or Hanna will be, I'm sure.
Throughout cooking dinner (a delicious pumpkin and chicken soup) we've lost power twice, which also means no water, since the pump from the cistern is powered by electricity.
Somehow though, even after the initial fumbling for candles and matches and calming of the kids, seeing the house lit with the soft glow of candles while listening to the wind and rain outside is serene.
Here's to this year's hurricane season go down without loss of life nor significant damage.
It's amazing to see how fast this island floods after a few days of
rain and the lightening is blinding while the thunder makes you want to
hide under a rock.People often ask if I worry about living here because of the hurricane threat, and most of the island hotels and restaurants shut down for September and October because the one time a hurricane WAS coming straight at Anguilla, the local establishments had to rent an American Airlines jet at some ungodly rate to get all the employees off the island.
The way I see it though, is that there are natural disasters anywhere people live, and seeing how I used to live in the middle of Tornado alley, I don't really worry much here.
Additionally, hurricanes are typically weak when they're here, nothing like Gustav now or Hanna will be, I'm sure.
Throughout cooking dinner (a delicious pumpkin and chicken soup) we've lost power twice, which also means no water, since the pump from the cistern is powered by electricity.
Somehow though, even after the initial fumbling for candles and matches and calming of the kids, seeing the house lit with the soft glow of candles while listening to the wind and rain outside is serene.
Here's to this year's hurricane season go down without loss of life nor significant damage.
And so sad that you only recently filled your cistern, too.
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Hi,
I think you're a little misguided...I'm not sure about the American Airlines story but there have been several hurricanes that have hit Anguilla as category 3, 4 and 5 storms and they have been devastating. In 1995, Hurrican Luis sat over Anguilla for 30 hours and was the worst storm snce Donna in 1965. In 1999, Jose dumped 9 inches of rain in October and was followed by Lenny in Noember which left us with 22 inches of rain. The Valley was flooded under nine feet of water and Cap Juluca shut down for a year. I would suggest you look up these storms and prepare yourself in case somehing should come our way. Please don't kid yourself about storms on Anguilla. You may be unpleasantly surprised.
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John, you are right and I didn't intent to say that we are no in danger and that nothing COULD happen. There is always a risk and anything can happen but most people think we're in a much worse position that the Southern US States, which is not the case as the storms TYPICALLY are weaker when they go by us here in Anguilla.
But interestingly enough, I came across this article today, that is well worth a read:
http://www.leadvillechronicle.com/article/20080904/NEWS/809049989/1017
Thanks for your comment, John.
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