This hurricane season we managed to get through September with no issues (in our experience September is the worst month for storms), though it seems like October is becoming the month for hurricane activity here on the island – last year we had two hurricanes in October, Faye then Gonzalo. This year, Joaquin came for a visit on Josh’s birthday!
The storm looked pretty strong as it approached the island, it was a Category 4 storm as it steamed it’s way through the Atlantic towards us. Luckily it dissipated slightly as it approached, it was a Category 2 storm as it passed to our West, and we didn’t get directly hit.
Typically during a hurricane the majority of the island will lose power for at least a day or two during / after the storm, many are often left without power for weeks afterwards. We were lucky this time around, only losing power for about two hours in total throughout the storm. (At the peak, about 1/4 of the island was without power but most were restored within a few days.)
Having power throughout a storm makes the experience completely different! Typically we lose power before the height of the storm, so by nightfall everything is completely dark and there is nothing to do but look outside (when there is light) and listen to all the scary sounds of the hurricane-force winds doing it’s worst, plus we’d be all sweaty and sticky from the lack of air conditioning (it’s very humid during a storm). And of course there is no running water (so no flushing of toilets either)!
With power, however – we really didn’t pay the storm any mind. When we had no power it was still the middle of the afternoon so just built some Lego in the daylight; when the power came back on late in the afternoon we turned on the A/C and the TV and kept ourselves entertained (it was Josh’s birthday so he got his wish to play video games while we were stuck inside!), until bedtime when we could sleep soundly and comfortably in our air-conditioned rooms, thus not really hearing the storm at all.
We ended up having a day off of school and work (half a day for Jenn) due to some localized power outages and general clean-up, so not a bad deal all around. It certainly could have been a lot worse, we’ll count ourselves lucky this time around.
Until next storm season…