She was a nasty one. Most South Floridians had a bad feeling about this sucker and prepared, even though some idiot on TV assured that it would reach our side as a weakened category one. It turned out to be an almost category three but for five miles an hour.
The blue roofs…mine was one.
and the obligatory repairs
The local trees did not fare well.
According to Wikipedia:
Hurricane Wilma caused widespread destruction of critical infrastructure, including power, water and sewer systems. Florida Power and Light, the largest electricity utility in the state, reported more than 3,241,000 customers had lost power, equivalent to approximately 6,000,000 people, with most residents getting power restored in 8–15 days. Running water was restored for most residents within 2 days.
We were without power a bit longer, but we never lost water service. Where I used to work was one of the last areas where power was restored last and it took a month. The only saving grace was the weather was beautiful right after the hurricane: the highs were never above the low 80s dropping at night to the low 70s ,very low humidity, breezy and not a drop of rain.
I wanted to post pics of the massive looting in the aftermath of Wilma, but I remembered that there was not much to be even a statistical blip. Some careless people lost their generators to burglars, but the crap you saw in New Orleans does not happen in Florida, a state where the signs that go “You Loot, We Shoot” plus accompanying firearms and ammo are part of the hurricane kit in every home.
I might be exaggerating just a bit about the sign being part of the hurricane kit.
Your post reminds me that it makes 10 years since a hurricane hit Florida. Truly bizarre.
Remember the fake postcards that Florida was the “blue tarp state”? I’m way up the coast from you, near the Cape, so we had no damage. I mostly remember that a cold front pushed through behind Wilma, and it’s the only time I’ve ever gotten cold cleaning up after a hurricane or tropical storm. Hosing down my cars actually got me cold as the northwest winds blew in.
Enter liberals talking about how “this is so devastating, this is because humans are causing global warming, hurricanes are wrecking out coastal states”
If you live on the freakin’ coast you have to expect hurricanes, and if you don’t have hurricane insurance then tough shit you don’t get to live on the coast much less a coastal state.