Hurricane Hermine : Storytime

I grew up in Minnesota, and we used to stare out our windows at ungodly hours and pray that the white sheets pouring down would have school cancelled. It was fun when it happened because, most of the time, the worst of the blizzard would have died down by noon and we would be able to play in the freshly packed snow drifts.

It’s honestly no different here in nothern Florida. Announcements of a hurricane potentially hitting our city generally means that a) it won’t actually hit us and b) there will be torrential downpour for at least a few hours. Schools rarely get cancelled in our county and it sucked when we were in grade school.

On Thursday University cancelled early and it was announced late in the afternoon that we wouldn’t be open on Friday and that all public school’s in our county were closed. For us, this meant a four day weekend, woo!

Friday morning was the worst of it. Honestly, we didn’t really experience any issues. Luckily, nothing went down in our neighborhood. We did lose power for a few hours, so we just left the house, went out to lunch, went shopping…

And then… Get ready for it, this is what’s important…

My mom came home yesterday from the infamous Burning Man and we went out to dinner. We drove separately because we had to get Lucy back home and settled. All day it’s been cloudy but nothing terrible. We left the house with gray skies. By the time we were on the interstate it was downpour. The kind of downpour you can’t see through. I was freaked out because my whole life my mom has taught me the concept of hydroplaning and it scares the sh*t out of me.

I hit a long body of water and slowed down. The car next to me also slows down, but not gradually, they just slam on their brakes. Apparently they were also driving with bald tires because the next thing I knew I could see their car sliding around in the rear view. There’s a bunch of construction going on in our area so the car hit one barrier and spun into the other barrier… Luckily, there weren’t other cars around so as far as I know no one hit them.

If it hadn’t been raining so bad I would have stopped to make sure they were okay but stopping my car would not have helped anyone in that situation.

Never drive with bald tires. ‘But we live in the Sunshine state.’ No. We live in a hurricane ridden state and wet roads require traction.

Also, while some states do allow you to use your hazards while driving, the state of Florida absolutely does not. Not even if driving under 35 miles per hour. Make sure all of your lights are functional, especially around hurricane season, and please do not get on the interstate thinking that you’re just going to use your hazards in place of your brake lights, this is one of the stupidest ideas I’ve ever heard, and yes, I have heard people say that.

Thankfully, we are all safe and we hope that everyone who was affected has the best of luck recovering.

Xx.