Spectre Spectator « Philly Expatriate

Monday, August 29, 2005

Spectre Spectator

My husband was chuckling and shaking his head at me yesterday as I sat glued to "The Weather Channel" and some of the 24-hr news networks awaiting the pictures of devastation from Hurricane Katrina. I was worried about the storm all day - firstly because of all the problems it will cause for residents of that region and secondly for the enormous impact that destrucion of critical ports, refineries, and nautral gas/oil production and distribution facilities will have on the US economy.

When I was a kid, a hurricane struck the northeast coast, and my dad, an engineer with a large public utility, was away from home (on duty) for what seemed like an eternity. I recall sitting with my mom and my two little sisters huddled around the kitchenette table in the dark with no noise but the hum of static on the battery-operated radio as we tried to get information from all-news KYW - 1060 AM.

It was 1976 and it was category 1 Hurricane Belle that packed a whallop to New Jersey and New York, as well as affecting the Philadelphia area. That was pretty scary as a kid; I can't imagine what the feeling is like with a storm of an exponentially larger magnitude.

Posted at 10:03 am by brandy101


	loz August 31, 2005 08:05 PM PDT bad fire storms we've had, and we've had some wild & wet storms up here (some of them doozies), but nothing that ever forced us out of our homes or was particularly dangerous (aside from any possible danger of getting hit by lightning/falling trees/falling power lines, or wonked by golfball-sized pieces of hail). I can't even imagine how awful it must be to have such awful weather happening around your home :(. l. x


	Lyly August 31, 2005 02:50 AM PDT I remember so many storms in the NYC area that forced us to huddle around the kitchen table with candles and the black transistor radio - but I don't recall any of the names.


	chrysalis August 30, 2005 09:40 AM PDT Hey, as I was leaving it had just been upgraded to a Category One storm -- but after I arrived here in Germany I heard about the landfall and the devastation down there ... it's simply awful. My heart is sinking. Never wanted to see another Camille again.


	chrysalis August 29, 2005 11:49 AM PDT Wow. I may be dating myself, but I remember us huddling around the kitchen table by candlelight in 1969, listening to reports of Hurricane Camille on our Phillips transistor radio (Ooo - solid state!). It was bad enough even in Western PA to cause serious damage and protracted power outages. My dad worked for Penn Power and spent similar periods away.

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