Hurricanxiety
By Chip Drago
Mobile Bay Times
Hurricane season just ain't what it used to be. Hurricanes haven't really changed. Some years there are more, some years fewer. Some are huge and devastating. Some are small and inconveniencing. Most are middling and in between the extremes.
One constant is: the one that hits you is an S.O.B.
People change and technology changes. Now coastal residents know seemingly weeks in advance of a threat. Radar and satellite images of tropical storms pulse and glow on our television and computer screens like ravenous beasts prowling at the back door. High anxiety reigns. Talk about your prevailing high pressure systems.
Clearly, the populace is better off with the earliest possible, best information as well as organized government emergency operations. Without a doubt, lives and property have been spared.
Still, years ago in the 50's, 60's and 70's, hurricanes were nowhere near being the long-running productions they are nowadays. Past hurricane seasons held less technical information, less Uncle Sam, less hysteria but perhaps more common sense. Get to high ground, gas up the vehicles, water in the tubs, fresh batteries in the flashlights, candles at the ready, rear ends in the interior of the dwelling away from windows.
At least it seems that way. But was it?
"In the 50's and 60's we had a gas refrigerator, stove, and hot water so
cooking and bathing were not an issue. My dad made sure we had
flashlight batteries and oil for the hurricane lamps. As he was in the
hardware business we had plenty. We lived mid--town so I don't have any recollection of boarding up, but our streets flooded and we moved cars to the highest point. Beyond that I don't remember much other than
stories. I was in school during Camille so am only aware of the stories
and photos. Frederic was my first as a married man with a home,
business, etc. Those stories are too long for this."
-- Jimmy Lyons,
CEO, Alabama Port Authority
"In the 60's and 70's we cleaned up outside, boarded up the windows, filled the bathtubs with water, made sure we had batteries and hunkered in for the duration unless we were in low lying areas and then left our homes.
Hurricanes were not projected as early as they are in the present times."
-- Georgia Roussos,
Roussos Restaurant
"Prior to Frederic we did not understand the potential devastation in our community that a strong hurricane could have on the coast and inland with tornadoes and flooding and the power outage. Also today versus the 60's and 70's, we have far superior advance warnings and much better public and private coordination of various agencies. We also have a better understanding of our individual obligations to protect our family and property before and after these natural disasters.
-- Randy Delchamps,
real estate developer
"Candles and flash light batteries!"
-- Tommy Tyrrell,
construction manager
"Camille was the biggest one we experienced while I was growing up in
Mobile. We lived in a house that had lots of big picture windows and
sliding glass doors. I was about 12, and remember helping my dad nail
plywood over the windows. Those we didn't board up, we taped with
masking tape -- a lot of good that was going to do in Camille! The bottom floor was actually under ground like a basement, so we stayed down there all night, and I mean for at least 15 hours.
Generators were not an item then, so we had gone down to the ice plant at the Loop and bought ice -- both regular and dry. I don't remember how long it lasted or how long we were without power. Other than having generators, I do not think individual property owners do things much differently now; however, governmental agencies are far more advanced in their preparations now. Communication has improved tremendously as well, so we have much more information at an earlier stage than we did back then."
-- Doug Anderson,
Attorney at Law
"Lay in enough good single malt, and drink it in Denver."
-- Milton Brown,
businessman/songwriter
I don't know exactly when President Carter issued the executive order creating FEMA, whether it was prior to or as a result of Hurricane Frederic, but I remember the hurried, almost hectic pace of getting things in order. The forecasting techniques were not as accurate or precise then, so the planning seemed to be more time-compressed as compared to today. We as a family had similar pre-hurricane issues to everyone else. Although I was coaching and teaching at the time and lived out near Semmes, most of that fell on my shoulders because Danny was off in college and Daddy was heavily involved in the City's preparation.
I know we sat out Frederic at their house on Dog River. None of us, and I doubt many in town, had any idea what we were about to face as a family or as a community.
Daddy was in continuous communication with the Public Works' personnel prior to, during, and after landfall.
As far as I know, the daybreak after landfall of Frederic, was the first time I ever saw my Daddy cry. When he looked out at our property, he realized just how much devastation there had to be everywhere else.
The Public Works Department had pre-staged equipment in various locations in an effort to open major arteries for access by emergency vehicles. In fact the Public Works Department personnel worked for 90 straight days in an effort to try to get things somewhat back to normal. I remember that the city alone picked up over 400 million cubic yards of debris.
I would imagine that anyone who lived through the experience of Frederic could say with some certainty that the results of the clean-up was evidence of proper preparation. The effectiveness of the City's effort was recognized in Public Works circles around the country. Daddy was elected President of the American Public Works Association and for several years was the leader of Hurricane Preparedness Workshops for professional and elected officials from around the country in conferences sponsored by the association. His slide show featuring hundreds of photos of the aftermath is around this office somewhere. It probably needs to sent to the archives at South Alabama with some of the other stuff. He used this as part of his preparedness presentation.
You probably don't remember this little (known) fact, but Camille hit the day of the municipal election in 1969. Thank goodness we missed a direct hit from it. We didn't campaign much the last few days because of the preparation for it. There are probably a lot more details I could recall if I had a little more time."
-- Dale Mims,
real estate broker
"Quite simple. Fill the bathtub with water, bottle some water, extra
batteries and ice and at least as much beer and whiskey as water. After
hurricane usually had plenty of water and batteries left."
-- Albert Haas,
orthopedic surgeon
"We just hunkered down but then we were not frightened to death by days of 24/7 videos of twirling red instruments of death approaching us."
-- Jo Ann Flirt,
public relations executive
"In 1969 in front of Camille, I had just gotten back from Vero Beach with a new plane for Mobile Aircraft. I had seen the storm on Tampa radar before I left Tampa (long story) and it was a blob over the west end of Cuba. When I got in they asked me to wait in the plane while they topped it off and then asked me to taxi over to a large WWII hanger, now Teledyne, where they put a bunch of planes. My boat was on the repair yard at Dauphin Island Marina when I went down to see it, having some major work done. The next morning they topped it off and I, along with four other boats, went to David Lake at Mount Vernon where we tied the boats up for the duration and we all went home. The storm hit that night and the next day we went back, got the boats (undamaged) and went back to DI. Mobile Aircraft picked me up at the DI Airport and I went home. We had little or no damage.
In Frederic, I was down at Dog River playing poker and it was hard to get out, which we didn't notice until we tried to go get some more ice. When I got home, the next morning I had some major tree and yard damage, but very little to my house.
This time, I'm leaving, as planned on 9/10. I have an automatic generator and two strong smart sons who will take up the slack, just in case we get Ike."
-- Tom Horst,
retired
"Since it wasn't hyped nearly as much, I don't recall any special preparations within my family."
-- Rusty Allman,
banker
"We holed up in the middle of the house in a hallway and prayed."
-- Mark Berson,
Alabama Gulf Coast Chamber of Commerce
"We boarded up and hunkered down when I was in elementary school, later after college, during Frederic, my wife and I drove to Atlanta to get away and left one car in the raised federal court parking deck
(elevation 15 feet). Amazing experience driving back into the
devastation."
-- William M. "B.J." Lyon, Jr.,
attorney
"In town, We closed the blinds (yes. we had real working blinds, not the nailed on variety), filled the tub with water, made sure there were plenty of batteries and candles and mother would fill up mixing bowls with water to make big blocks of ice. Oh, I think Mama and Daddy made sure there were plenty of ingredients for Manhattans!
Over the bay, we closed the blinds, took the furniture off the porch and wharf, moved the boats to high ground (after Camille one of the boats that was safely on high ground was smashed by a falling pine tree! So much for that!) emptied the fridge and lowered the awnings on the porch."
-- Douglas B. Kearley,
architect
"I grew up in Lucedale, which is not that far removed from my place here in Semmes. My grandmother told stories of hurricanes that blew the timber down in the Basin Community, about ten miles north of Hurley. She said the dark clouds would blow up like bad summer thunderstorms, but as the land fell quiet and the wild birds and small creatures disappeared, that people were aware this was a bigger, more dangerous storm. Since there were no warnings, there were no preparations back in the early 1900s.
As I grew up, weather prediction became more sophisticated, and my father would make us pick up our bicycles and wagons and toys and the tools and store them in "the little house," our storage shed that was built as sturdy as a real house. I remember during Frederick we taped the windows to keep the glass from blowing in if the panes shattered. We moved the cars to the center of the "baseball field" (the back yard, which was big enough for neighborhood games). We bought candles and flashlight batteries, but no special food. There was never a sense that we wouldn't have food (Heaven forbid that my brothers might go hungry!) or that the roads would be blocked. Lucedale was more rural then, and most people had chain saws and a more self-sufficient attitude and would simply get out and clear the roads and help clear the way to get the power lines back up.
We were surrounded by pecan trees, oaks, a few mimosas and dogwoods. The real work came mostly after the storm, when we'd have to pick up the downed limbs.
-- Carolyn Haines,
author
"I grew up about 60 miles from the coast. I do not recollect taking any
precautions other than filling all the vehicles with gasoline in event of power outage."
-- Steve McMillan,
state legislator
"Nothing that jumps out at me, except taping windows and getting food. I guess old becomes new again since back then we knew the first 72 was on us.
I was running the old Holiday Inn across from Bel Air Mall when Frederic came through in '79. We boarded up and took down awnings and prepared for the worst, which we got. Most of our employees stayed there that night, and we saw an occasional Mobile Police vehicle, but we felt like we were on high ground. Of course, it was in the middle of Wragg Swamp, but it was still high ground. We were proud when the power came back on after seven days even though we had almost 50 rooms of Alabama Power personnel staying with us.
-- Bill Tunnell,
executive director, Battleship Park
"More uncertainty and worry about all of them! The relatively high
availability of relatively accurate information via the www has made
life somewhat more bearable."
-- George Crozier,
marine biologist/teacher
"We always used 'masking tape' on the windows. The window panes were the small ones with wooden supports. Really stupid because there was likely no way for such a small pane to be broken by wind and you had a hard time getting the masking tape off the windows especially after the sun had set the glue. We also filled all sinks, bathtubs, and any containers we had with water assuming the possibility that the water service might be contaminated. We also contained water for flushing the toilet and taking washtubs baths. Batteries for radios and flashlights were purchased and we bought plenty of canned goods to eat since we knew the refrigerator and freezer food would spoil quickly without electricity. We also made sure we had plenty of candles to conserve the batteries. It was not unusual to expect 7-14 days without electricity. We also bought a few new games to pass the time (eg: Scrabble). Beer was probably a priority. Since I was a Marine, the fact that it would be warm was of no consequence. "
-- Dwain Mangold,
systems analyst
"My recollections are that our family got together and went to my
grandmother's house and waited things out and then all pitched in to
clean up the mess."
-- Page Stalcup,
CPA
"We pulled all the boats out of the water, put all the furniture at the
beach house inside, tied all outside furniture to trees and taped the
windows with masking tape. We then went inside, filled the bathtubs with water and camped out in the most interior hallway with a battery
operated radio until it was over. Spam was the typical meal."
-- Sam St. John,
The Computer Broker
"First, we went to Dauphin Island Marina to secure the boat by tying it in a larger boat slip. We filled up the bathtub with water and saved some drinking water in containers. In the 1960's I went to bed and slept through everything. In the 1970's, I bought a new battery operated radio and flashlight. That was about it."
-- Randy Crane,
attorney
