The Wrath of Mother Nature – No One Escapes!

After my area suffered from a catastrophic weather event last Memorial Day – a devastating flood – I have been more attuned to weather reports than ever before.

There is good and bad to this. Mostly the doomsday predictions for my specific area are wrong time and time again. (This had happened in the past when a hurricane was supposed to be a direct hit on Houston and it never usually happens – in fact there have been 3 here since my move here in 1981. Florida gets more than we do.)

Now though with most of us from my area of the world suffering post traumatic shock syndrome, we are peeled to weather and rain events like another catastrophe is bound to happen.

Chances are that lightening does not strike twice at the same spot. Most of the flooded on my side of Brays Bayou on Memorial Day had never flooded before; and many have already repaired their homes without a thought of elevating since it was a one-time event for them.

Others like me realized there was too much damage, and some likelihood of another weather event, and we are choosing to start fresh and rebuild a higher home. That means steps, something unheard of in our neighborhood before all of the elevated mini-mansions started going up around us.(well before the Memorial Day flood) Anyone who had been building new in our area was required to elevate. Our area had been ripe for these mini-mansions due to the schools we are zoned to and the reputation of our neighborhood and it’s proximity to everything. (See this past blog for some gorgeous examples of this.)

Regardless, the national weather reports any severe weather event as a way of alarming people. We then get calls, notes on Facebook and the like, telling us to be safe. (Please read this blog about the safe quote – we are NOT in an unsafe place with levies that could break or in the middle of a swamp land or tornado valley)

When these doomsday predictions turn out to be false (and we have had about four scares since Memorial Day but nothing happening each time) I have a sense of relief and also some anger that we are all still so shell-shocked and frightened.

This last “giant storm” bypassed Houston entirely. Other parts of Texas got hit, and Louisiana, our neighboring state got hit badly. Here is a photo of what happened in Louisiana.

It may not have been doomsday for me and my neighbors, but it was for plenty of other people and that just makes me sad. Now that we have lived through one of these 100 year storms affecting our area of Houston, I have much great empathy and sympathy for anyone who goes through one of these horrific weather events.

So I guess, there is relief for us, anger at being scared, and sadness for others all at once. This aftermath is surely an emotional roller-coaster.

The wrath of Mother Nature knows no limits these days. It is really just a matter of time until each and every one of us experiences something. No one is immune.