For Bermuda, first there was Colin, who wimped out and fell apart. As it was the first storm warning we'd had, everyone braced for it. Businesses (such as the dvd rental store) closed, tennis games were cancelled (for me, anyway), and it turned out to be a rather boring weekend of sitting and waiting. Although my friend's karaoke birthday party went ahead, thank goodness!
Next there was Danielle. She didn't even bring us clouds. Just wind and great waves in which we spent a couple of hours body-surfing at Horseshoe Bay.
Then there was Igor...
In the week prior, people in Bermuda were glued to the storm tracking websites such as stormpulse.com and weather.bm. What scared people was that until the day before, it was a category 3 direct hit. That would have been worse than anything anyone's ever seen here – even worse than 2003's Hurricane Fabian.
Igor was supposed to be at its closest point of approach by Sunday evening when it would be as close as 10 miles from the eye. But as it was a whopping 1400 miles across, we'd be feeling the effects of the storm for many, many hours before and after that.
Friday afternoon I had a bit of a panic attack when I realized that I had no food in the house, let alone any batteries or water, or whatever else one should have. We got out of work early to take care of things and I stocked up.
Luckily though, it was downgraded to a category 1 by Saturday. Saturday was overcast and windy, but everyone was still able to get ready. People were busy putting plywood over windows, trimming branches and bringing things inside. I went for a pre-storm run in the afternoon just in case I ended up being sat inside for a couple of days eating and drinking – as you do.
Sunday was the big day. I could hear the wind and rain gradually pick up as the morning went on. My friend and I were invited to spend the storm at some friends of his. We made a break for their place in Paget it around lunch time.
The power went out mid-afternoon, but they had a generator so we were completely spoiled. We had lights, watched dvds, and were able to cook dinner. At around 6pm we ventured outside and walked to the end of their street to see the ocean. The waves were bigger than I've ever seen!
The next morning, it was all over except for a bit of wind. There were lots of branches down and leaves were everywhere. Also, from the force and length of the the strong wind, many of the leaves on trees have been burned brown. It kind of looks like fall. I attempted to go for a walk on the railway trail that afternoon. I realized that it probably wasn't the best idea I'd ever had when a few metres in, there was a fallen tree blocking my path. Still, I climbed through, and went a few more steps only to come to another, etc. Eventually I had to give up and turn around.
I think that the hurricane season is probably over now. This storm made the sea-surface temperature go down 6 degrees! As the water cools down, so do the number of storms. To be honest, it's probably a good thing that none of the storms amounted to anything.
No comments:
Post a Comment