On The Other Hand, It Could Have Been Worse

As southeast Florida continue to piece things back together after Hurricane Irma, I can’t help but think … as bad as it was (and it was bad), it could have been a hell of a lot worse.

Because for all the damage to homes and businesses Irma caused in the region, the worst part of the mid-September storm was the power outages. And even that, by comparison to past years’ situations, pales.

Let’s face it: Yes, it's been a rough stretch two weeks ago. Yes, while there was a ton of hype, for once the reality was relatively close. And yes, we've had to deal with long gas lines, grocery aisles void of bread and bottled water, and the other “regular” inconveniences of preparing for a major hurricane. But for all that, in the end, we weren’t hit as bad as was forecast.

Part of the reason we can look back and breath a collective sigh of relief is that Irma came on the heels of Hurricane Harvey, which dropped an estimated 33 trillion gallons of water on Houston (the equivalent of 275 trillion pounds) - which, according to the Nevada Geodetic Laboratory, pushed the earth’s crust down two centimeters while simultaneously flooding the entire region in ways reminiscent of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005.

Part of the reason is that when Irma nailed St. Martin, Anguilla, and Barbuda, she destroyed thousands of buildings, displacing many from their homes and knocking out power and potable water systems. Food and water are scarce. Hospitals and health clinics are struggling. Schools are closed indefinitely.

Part of the reason is, quite frankly, even when our area was hit by hurricanes Frances and Jeanne in 2004, the area decimated was north of Sewell’s Point in Martin County: Port St. Lucie, Vero Beach, and the Treasure Coast suffered far worse than Palm Beach County.

Add the raging wildfires in the Pacific Northwest and the earthquake that just hit Mexico, and … yeah. We’re doing ok here.

None of this is to say we had it easy. But in the grand scheme of things, we lucked out. And that luck continued this week with Hurricane Marie, which blasted Puerto Rico with the same fury Irma laid on St. Martin, with the same devastating results.

So we pick up the pieces. And we donate like crazy.To organizations like the Red Cross (https://www.redcross.org), Band Aid For America (https://www.bandaidforamerica.org/), Boots On The Ground (http://www.bootsontheground.org/), Mercy Corps (https://www.mercycorps.org/), UNICEF (https://www.unicefusa.org/), Save the Children (http://www.savethechildren.org/), or SPCA International (https://spcai.org/). Or you can help with the rebuilding effort through Habitat for Humanity (https://share.habitat.org/globalvillage), or volunteer via the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (https://www.nvoad.org/).

Locally, the southern half of Florida is in need of volunteers; consider participation through Volunteer Florida (https://www.volunteerflorida.org/irma/). 

The 2017 hurricane season has been absolutely devastating, but it is always inspiring to see communities come together in times of such great tragedy to help those in need. We’ve done quite a bit; we’re not finished yet.