For my last post in my Irma mini-storm series, let’s have some fun with Floridians. I actually drafted this on Wednesday, September 6^th, when we were preparing for a direct hit of Category 5 proportions on the east coast of Florida!

Preparing for Hurricanes seems to be an annual occurrence in South Florida. It doesn’t matter if it’s a hurricane, a tropical storm, or tropical depression, you still need to prepare. You never know when your neighbor will leave the recycling bin out after the hurricane party and beer bottles will start bouncing off the shutters.

This happened to us during Hurricane Jeanne (2004). I was so thankful we had the shutters in place! Of course my husband had to go out in the storm to investigate. It must be a guy thing because almost every guy I tell the story to totally understands this! Us women, not understanding so much! Imagine that!

Even though this was a bigger storm than I have ever faced in my life, I’m wasn’t so wrapped up in my head this time. I’m actually started watching people’s reactions to the storm. You think we Floridians would have this preparation thing down pat.  What I observed were types of Florida storm preppers.

The emergency management folks here start public notices for storm preparation sometime in April. Do we listen? Absolutely not! Most of us Floridian’s are like overgrown teenagers. Here’s my Prepper Types:

The Committed:

• The committed preppers start in November of the year before at the end of hurricane season.
• They check the roof, structures and safe rooms. Test the generator. Take stock of supplies and start their lists for rotations and replenishment.
• I don’t know any of these types myself but, I have my suspicions about one friend.

The Chicken Littles:

• The panic preppers started panicking when Irma was 3000 miles away. I can almost hear the chant: “The sky is falling, the sky is falling…”
• They are the ones buying cases of water by the trunkload. I so want to tell them, you know the taps in the house have water too…
• I just stay out-of-the-way! I really don’t want to be slapped down by the stampeding webbed feet of the Littles.

The Reasonably Sane:

• The reasonable folks really start about 10 days before the storm might hit. Might as well break the task into manageable steps.
• I actually fell into this category this year for the first time. Woohoo! I moved up from the Harried! There will be moments of sheer panic and last-minute searches for supplies.
• At least the Reasonably Sane are battened down or evacuated about 12 – 24 hours before the first feeder band hits.

The Harried:

• Ah…my old way of doing things. Procrastinate until a Hurricane/Tropical Storm watch is issued 48 hours before storm force winds are expected. Then run around and get almost everything done.
• The Harried are the ones running around the big box store grabbing stuff off the shelves without much thought. Like the ingredients for s’mores…It’ll be 110 in a shuttered house without power. Hmmm. Do you really want to roast marshmallows? I think not. This isn’t your usual campout!
• The harried almost always forget something or under-estimate the storm. One tropical storm was stronger than we thought it would be. We ended up putting up the shutters in the middle of the storm! Even 40 mph winds make you feel like you’re flying when it tries to grab the steel shutter in your hand! (this was over a decade ago, so don’t ask me what they named it
• The nice thing when you’re the Harried type…You don’t even notice the heat, you’re to busy sleeping off the exhaustion!

The Partier:

• This is the most fun type. It’s great to have at least one of your crew be more concerned about the fun. Warning: You don’t want to stay in their house!
• The Party type may be the most fun and the most dangerous if left to their own devices.Invite them to your house and give them a healthy budget for drinks and snacks. Keep in mind if you invite more than two Partiers your home will look like frat party house before the storm is over.
• But Hey, Partiers are needed for the 24-48 hours you are locked in the house. Enjoy the Hurricane Party my Responsibly Sane peeps.
• Oh! and you’ll always have ice…

The Totally Clueless:

• The Totally Clueless didn’t even know there was a storm on the radar until the feeder bands started coming across. Even then, if the storm is not a bad one, the Clueless may not even notice. It’s a lot like a really bad summer thunderstorm. Dude…
• These are the ones roaming the big box store bopping to the headphones in their ears and buying things like strappy red stilettos or the latest video game.
• They also express their shock at so many people rushing around the store like it’s on fire. “What’s going on? What’s on sale?”
• Hopefully they have a mom type (Either Harried or Responsibly Sane) to take care of the details like I did for my son. Two days before Irma was due to arrive; We sat down to go over last-minute details. My son asks, “So there’s a hurricane?”

As I write this we may be preparing for Hurricane Maria within the next couple of weeks. Ah good thing the shutters are already out of storage!

So, since the world has many types of natural disasters, what types of preppers have you seen in your corner of the World? What type are you?

Talk to you soon! Peace and laughs!

Milly

P.S. I’m getting back to my regular scheduled programming. I plan to post on Sundays and at least once during the week. {Hugs from Florida}