The clouds parted and the loud rumbling and
howling of the winds finally came to an end. I opened my eyes and peered
into a room completely dismantled from last night’s trials. My kitchen floor
was now submerged with murky water about two inches deep. The room seemed to
have moldy essence, like the smell of a cloth after being wet for a day or two.
Water marks drained down the walls as if they were crying with despair.
My mother and her friend Ted were sleeping on the couches next to me; we had
decided it would be best to stay together. Ted was deathly afraid last night,
being a midst a hurricane for the first time wasn’t an easy thing to endure, even
for a 45 yr old from the Midwest .
Being raised in South Florida prepares you for a lot different
things. Hurricanes and natural disaster preparedness is of top priority. As a
ten your old I’ve been through quite a few hurricanes big and small, but none
had ever struck me as hard as Hurricane Wilma. On October 24th 2005
Hurricane Wilma reached Florida as a category three hurricane. As such, no one
in Hollywood, Florida was too frightened. During the early part of the
hurricane my mother and I were talking to a family friend a few miles north of
us, “There’s nothing much going on around here, just a little water on my
balcony, what about you guys”.They bantered. As my mom began to respond
the unthinkable happened! The roof of our two story townhouse apartment flew
right off! Our roof ripped off so easily, like thin foil paper , as if it wasn’t there to begin with.
I was in utter shock; we were upstairs at the
time so my mom grabbed my hand and pulled me downstairs towards the family
room. My mind went on a rampage, how could a category three hurricane
take our roof off? That isn’t even possible! Ted exited the downstairs
bathroom unaware of the chaos that just occurred, as my mom filled him in, he
panicked. “What do we do now, we have to go somewhere else! What if things fly
in? Oh my god,” he choked .
MY mom
being a strong and determined woman channeled the panic into something more
productive: she tried to mop the rainwater out of the den and kitchen, sadly
her efforts deemed unsuccessful. As the hurricane raged on, all I could think
about were all our personal belongings that were getting soaked and ruined
upstairs in the open element. This may have been a little materialistic but I
had a lot of personal things that meant a lot to me. I couldn’t help myself but
wonder if I was going to save any of my baby pictures or pictures from all the
memorable times in my life. I know I will still be able to cherish those
moments in my mind but how many memories can one brain hold. With the mind I
have very few. Those images were the only things that could remind me of my
past and the moments that meant the most to me, I prayed that they weren’t all
ruined completely.
The eye of the storm created a lull of activity
for half an hour. It was weird , after hours of destruction and terror,
everything just stopped. The weather was cool there was an emptiness, like no
activity was happening for miles. The silence was deafening. I have experienced
being in the eye of a storm many times but there was something significantly
different this time. Maybe because I actually witnessed the destruction first
hand, I became so confused by the calmness that took over after the storm. Even though it was weird to have
everything pause for a couple minutes It was great that it did because it
allowed my nerves to finally get some rest. Sadly, it didn’t stop me from
tossing and turning for at least an hour; my couch was definitely not as
comfortable as my bed. As the sun peaked over the horizon, I awoke the next
morning with the only the memory of yesterday’s destruction.
Once my mom and Ted finally got up, the first
thing we did was go outside and to our surprise we saw the roofs of twelve
townhouses laid perfectly in front of our homes. Every single roof came off;
twelve different families were now in the same situation as we were. It was
really a sight to see, 12 identical ceiling fans, 12 skylight windows, and 12
conjoined wooden roofs lay upside in the front driveways of each home. The
thing that really took me by surprise was that even though Mother Nature tried
to rip away our ceiling, it still seemed to stay fused together as one. While
this was an amazing example of what Mother Nature could do, it was also the
most devastating thing I’ve ever seen in my ten years of life. But the mere
fact that everything was still together that gave me some hope that even though
this might affect and change our lives we’re still together and well and one
day everything will be fixed and whole once again.
I walked around to see how badly other streets got hit but nothing
came close to the wreckage on my block. Apart from our street, outside look so
serene. The morning sun peeped up through the crystal clear blue skies.
As the days passed I learned the true meaning of
selflessness: friends and family helped us through the disaster. We were offered
places to stay, which we gratefully accepted. Others gave us clothes to replace
the ones destroyed by mildew. My mom even received money from people who
wanted to help us through. It was heartwarming how a community could come
together to help those who really need it. The compassion I received
became a motivation to push on even when times got rough. The effects of
Hurricane Wilma changed me and help create the altruistic, compassionate person
I am today, because of that I will appreciate the experience forever.
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