Hurricane Matthew

Nothing like a major hurricane to interrupt blog posting!  By late Wednesday, October 5th, Matthew was predicted to be a category 4 and was heading straight for Melbourne, FL, where I live!

We finally decided to evacuate, and began to pack.  You don’t need a lot when you flee a hurricane: your personal items, medications and medical records, home owners insurance policy, computer hard drives, chargers, passwords, and maybe some entertainment.

I decided not to take any quilts.  I knew I could make them all again.  But, I was concerned about our family photo albums.  Not wanting to lug them with us, I put them in a water tight area, the dryer.  We also lifted a few things off the floor, like the abundance of quilts I store under my son’s bed.

Since we didn’t decide to evacuate until very late in the game, there were no hotel rooms available.  Instead, we went to a nearby shelter early on the 6th.  It turned out to be a very good option.  Of course, that did require quite a bit of additional packing: sleeping bags, air mattresses, and camping chairs.

This was our home away from home, where we spent the next 24 hours.

It was very well organized and not a bad way to weather the storm.  We shared an elementary school classroom with a total of 12 people.  Everyone was nice and we got along well.  Every room had a bathroom, additional sink, and water fountain.  Plus a TV for the REQUIRED weather watching.  And WIFI!

The Red Cross fed us, which was a pleasant surprise.  Meals were the “main event,” (even though the food was only fair.)  I’m NOT complaining!  There were about 1100 people in our shelter, so the line was always long.  No worries, though.  We generally talked with the people around us.

There was lots of storm noise during the night, when Matthew came its closest at about 3 AM.  THANKFULLY, for us, it stayed just off shore, so local damage was not nearly as bad as expected.  Still, the wind and rain managed to blow under the doors of the school.

The next morning, we packed up quickly, and hurried home to find our home UNDAMAGED.  Woohoo!  We fired up the generator and sat around in front of fans until our power started again mid-afternoon.  All in all, an amazingly trauma free event.

BIG KUDOS to the staff of Meadowlane Intermediate and to the Brevard County Emergency Management Preparedness  Folks!  Preparations were wonderful, our needs were met, and everyone was kept safe.

Thankful to be living in the well-prepared Sunshine State,
Ellen Lindner

P.S.  Did you notice the Goldilocks look to our sleeping set up?  I was the “baby bear” since I’m quite short.  Still, it was pretty comfortable for all of us.