Hurricane Watch 2008, 1945 and Writers Notebook

Since Hurricane Ike died on Monday September 15th there has been a lull in tropical activity. However a tropical wave did appear in the eastern Caribbean in the vicinity of the Lesser Antilles on Friday September 19th generating thunderstorms and rain showers. And since then the system has moved around the area paying visits to Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and the British Virgin Islands. Since Ike hit Galveston, Texas hardest, I thought you might like to read some of the local news about the aftereffects.

Back to 1945 and Hurricane IX A Category 4 heading for southeast Florida.

Excerpt from The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle. (Continued)

If that notice on the chow hall door hadn't made the emergency warning clear, the deterioration of weather throughout the morning certainly did. For once work details were organized and tools issued, it seemed that everyone on the base became an instant carpenter. Every piece of plywood or scrap lumber was put to use in boarding up windows and glass-paneled doors. By noon high gusting winds and rain began to rip the plywood right out of our hands. It finally became obvious that we were about twenty-four hours late in reacting to our own warnings and getting the base ready for a storm.

Work details generally have a couple of goof offs, but not today. All hands worked at a furious pace and by the time we were ordered inside the administration building, our designated hurricane shelter, most of the essential work had been completed. The outer lobby of our shelter was the only part of the building that was off limits "“ too much glass. However all interior waiting rooms, conference rooms and hallways were pressed into service. Someone in charge of the galley had provided hot coffee and sandwiches. The operations office had an entrance into the building and provided us with whatever limited information they received concerning the oncoming storm.

Primrose and I found a place in the inner lobby. We couldn't see past the covered windows and could only see outside if we walked to a window and peeked through a crack. Of course we could hear the howling winds and wondered what it would sound like if, or more likely when, the hurricane arrived as a Category 3 or 4. Primrose turned to me and said; "When the storm passed Bimini they reported winds up to 138 mph, think it'll maintain that speed?"

"There is no obstruction between there and here that could diminish it," I said worriedly.

"Do you think this building will stand up to a Category 4 hurricane?"

"I'm told it was built to withstand 165 miles per hour winds. There is one thing we can count on though. Sometime within the next few hours we're gonna find out"

At 4:45 pm we heard a short-wave broadcast stating that the hurricane was battering Miami Beach with winds up to 135 mph accompanied by an eight foot storm surge and heading due west. At 5:00 o'clock we didn't need a radio report to tell us, the hurricane announced its arrival with the sounds of high keening winds, broken glass and objects blown off one building then tumbling through the air and smashing into another obstacle. The shrill winds continued relentlessly unabated and the building stood strong, the scary part was the sharp cutting wind accompanied by the buildings harsh grating noises that settled into long creaks and rattles leaving all of us inside to wonder if the next moment the thing would collapse and fall in on us. The wind got on a kind of never ending high and it seemed that the storm would never end. Windowpanes rattled in the upper part of the building, then a sharp whistling wind found its way through the cracks, then a crack and a crash as a window blew out and suddenly a gust of wind surged into the building.

At first light the doors were opened and we spilled out of the building. No one was surprised by what we saw since operations had given us the latest word that an area from Homestead to Ft. Lauderdale had caught the brunt of the storm and of course Miami was right in the middle. Grim reports of wind damage came in from all around the area. Downed trees and power lines obstructing streets made it impossible to assess all the area damage. Roofs were blown off some houses and other houses simply collapsed leaving nothing but a pile of debris. But the greatest damage to life and property along the coastline was not done by the wind, but the strong storm surge. That large dome of water can range from fifty to a hundred miles across as it sweeps in overwhelming the shoreline and flooding beach and other low-lying areas. The surge is capable of carrying boats and small yachts several miles inland. The Category 4 hurricane wreaked havoc in the Miami area, but spared Central Florida that same fate as its ferocity diminished when it moved over the Everglades and dropped down to a Category 1 storm.

Writers Notebook:

I was at a writer's conference a few years ago when I heard this statement pronounced by one of the speakers. "A writer must turn out a thousand words a day - day after day to have any chance at success." My muffled retort was, "What a stupid statement." Well, stupid might be a little harsh, I suspect ignorant would fit better. I've heard similar statements and they don't serve any good purpose.

We are all different in our approach to writing and I have no idea what Hemingway's rejoinder to that statement would have been - he struggled to turn out 500 words a day. But here's a portion of a Gustave Flaubert letter to Louise Colet on the subject. (He's referring to his novel Madame Bovary)

Croisset January 2, 1854 - Bouilhet was satisfied with my love scene. However, before said passage I have a transition of eight lines, which took me three days; it doesn't contain a superfluous word, yet I must do it over once again because it is too slow. It is a piece of direct discourse, which has to be changed to indirect, and in which I haven't room to say everything that should be said. It all has to be swift and casual since it must remain inconspicuous in the ensemble.

There's nothing wrong with turning out a thousand words a day- but when you don't meet that goal, don't beat up on yourself. Just think of it this way you're joining some pretty good company.

Tom Barnes -- Actor, Writer and Hurricane Hunter. Check out my website for books, blogs, western legends, a literary icon, reviews and interviews. Also my novels The Goring Collection and Doc Holliday's Road to Tombstone along with a non fiction remembrance of The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle.
www.tombarnes39.com
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