Boltlady
Mayor
It was Sept., 1964 and I was a young navy wife living in Jacksonville, FL. I was 7 months pregnant with my 3rd child and lived in a house trailer. We were paying close attention to the news which kept assuring us that Dora would NOT hit us. She was coming across the Atlantic and hurricanes never hit Jacksonville that way; she was sure to veer off and go north. They said that over and over.
Well, she didn't. She came straight in from the Atlantic right into our lap. She stalled at the beach and took 24 hours to slowly meander through Jacksonville, spent several hours more slowly going up into Georgia then turned around and came back down the same path on her way back out to sea. She came at us as a cat 3 but then also dropped to a cat 1 and then a tropical storm. There had been a small amusement park at the beach that simply did not exist after that.
Because my husband was a corpsman and the warnings were so vague, he was among the guys who were told they would have to stay on base 'just in case'. He was allowed to come home for one hour to secure our home, get up loose stuff, etc. and then had to go back. After the winds started getting high the navy decided to let the married guys go. By then arrangements were hastily made and we found ourselves taken in by a fellow he worked with. The family lived in a small cement block house with their 3 kids and we arrived with our 2 small kids and me a very pregnant soul.
As luck would have it, we only lost power there for about an hour and were able to watch the hurricane out of the front window. The eye passed right over us but the only damage there was a little water in the garage. We actually saw trees literally folding in half out side that window. We stayed there for 3 days (picture 5 small kids and 4 adults in a very small house) and then decided to make our way back home. We too had a lot of rain for days under the circumstances, but at least it wasn't as much as Harvey is dumping on Texas.
We had lost all power at home and were without for another 4 days after we got back. Bottled water wasn't a thing back then but we had filled our bathtub with water and our stove was gas fired by propane. We had a small freezer which was insulated enough to keep the food cool and we ate really well for a few days so the food wouldn't spoil. The only real damage to our trailer was our awning. We had put it up the weekend before. It wound up looking like Fritos all over the trailer park. We were really lucky compared to many there.
The fact that it was something that never happens there and the way she slowed way down and then came back on her way back out to sea, seemed pretty similar to me.
Well, she didn't. She came straight in from the Atlantic right into our lap. She stalled at the beach and took 24 hours to slowly meander through Jacksonville, spent several hours more slowly going up into Georgia then turned around and came back down the same path on her way back out to sea. She came at us as a cat 3 but then also dropped to a cat 1 and then a tropical storm. There had been a small amusement park at the beach that simply did not exist after that.
Because my husband was a corpsman and the warnings were so vague, he was among the guys who were told they would have to stay on base 'just in case'. He was allowed to come home for one hour to secure our home, get up loose stuff, etc. and then had to go back. After the winds started getting high the navy decided to let the married guys go. By then arrangements were hastily made and we found ourselves taken in by a fellow he worked with. The family lived in a small cement block house with their 3 kids and we arrived with our 2 small kids and me a very pregnant soul.
As luck would have it, we only lost power there for about an hour and were able to watch the hurricane out of the front window. The eye passed right over us but the only damage there was a little water in the garage. We actually saw trees literally folding in half out side that window. We stayed there for 3 days (picture 5 small kids and 4 adults in a very small house) and then decided to make our way back home. We too had a lot of rain for days under the circumstances, but at least it wasn't as much as Harvey is dumping on Texas.
We had lost all power at home and were without for another 4 days after we got back. Bottled water wasn't a thing back then but we had filled our bathtub with water and our stove was gas fired by propane. We had a small freezer which was insulated enough to keep the food cool and we ate really well for a few days so the food wouldn't spoil. The only real damage to our trailer was our awning. We had put it up the weekend before. It wound up looking like Fritos all over the trailer park. We were really lucky compared to many there.
The fact that it was something that never happens there and the way she slowed way down and then came back on her way back out to sea, seemed pretty similar to me.
