When I read about Katrina and Rita, I thought of my moments in Florida last year.
I was the fourth Singaporean to be stationed there. The period when my predecessors were there were pretty smooth and uneventful other than the usual reporting of business progress and negotiation details. However, during my stay, I had to content with a series of hurricanes (4 major ones I think) and even tornados.
I remembered Hurricanes Charlie, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne most of all. Life for me during that period was seriously tough and I missed home a lot a lot. While it was kinda exciting and full of anticipation for me in the beginning, I began to feel a sense of desperation and lost when the hurricane approached my house. We (my fellow comrades living in Hillsborough and its neighbouring counties) had to be evacuated in the end (mandatory evacuation for Charlie and voluntary evacuation for Jeanne) due to the strong possibility of a storm surge (which, if happened, would have drowned all of the town I stayed in). Orlando and Lakeland district had it bad as they experienced 3 out of the 4 major hurricanes that visited Florida state last year. Disneyland, for that matter, was closed for the first time in its history due to the hurricanes.
During the first hurricane, I, together with my friend's most loveable dog and a Thai officer, had to take refuge with the Thai officer's relatives in Hollywood, Miami in the hills. It was really scary cos we initially wanted to drive away from the storm but all roads and highways out of Florida were totally jammed as every father mother son daughter and what have you were trying to escape the impending storm. All major shopping centers, supermarkets and petrol kiosks (gas stations) were closed as all groceries were totally wiped off the shelves and petrol (gas) got sold out due to people stocking up their house as they go into hiding. As for us who were running away, we quickly got jammed on the highway and so we decided we would drive into the storm instead of driving away from it. We estimated that we would have enough time and that we would be able to reach Hollywood before the storm make landfall. We had to make our way fast cos the predicted path of the hurricane showed a direct hit at my estate and my office in the base. Even the whole base packed up and evacuated inland. It was a surreal drive as we made our way to Hollywood, Miami. The sky was pitch dark, electric wires started snapping, and for a certain 1-2hr stretch, I was driving in pitch dark at the Everglades. There was nothing in front of me except my high beam that shine into nothing and occasional streaks of lightning that covered the sky like spider web and the thought that we were on a tar road flanked by swamps in the middle of a huge gator swamp country was most unsettling. I swear to myself I would never want to experience this again as I drove into the darkness. That was my first experience with a hurricane - Hurricane Charley.
I experienced 3 more hurricanes subsequently and for 2 of them, I decided to take the emergency commercial flight out of Florida. I managed to book a seat in the last flight before the airport close. It was a flight to New York and I stayed there for 3 days before the airport opens again. For the only one that I did not run away (Hurricane Jeanne), I had electric wires snapping in front of me, people looting the shops and gas stations near my apartment, and all sorts of unsettling events happening around me. Admittedly, I crouched at the corner of my room praying very very hard that my apartment would not collapse onto me or get blown away when the storm was at its peak. I didn't like this experience, especially when I was alone in Florida at that time (my only friends and family to me at that time had gone for holiday in Washington to escape the storm).
Those experiences however made me realised how PGO our people in Singapore were. For example, when I updated home office about the possibility of evacuations, I was asked about the cost involved, whether I could cut cost by staying with other Singaporeans, why I had to fl
y out of Florida and not drive out, why I chose a hotel and not a motel, why I chose this domestic airline and not that etc... My gawd! I was thinking - Here I was, panicking like shi&^&#$%$% wondering how I could stay alive and how I could savage my property and all my barang barang so as to minimise damage/ lost and here we have our Singapore office asking me a thousand why's about why I did this and not that so that I could reduce cost!I had to convince myself really hard and look on the positive side that perhaps these people have not experienced a hurricane and therefore did not know how bad the situation and how panicky a person could possibly get. And in the process, I had to also be really patient and explain/ educate my dear Singapore office of the predicament I was in and patiently explained things to them; and without sounding like I was an opportunist trying to get a free holiday using company funds.
Some of the things that I had convinced myself that they did not know, despite all the reportings and updates in the media, were:
- That the size of a Hurricane can be as large as the whole of Peninsular Malaysia (such as Hurricane Jeanne). And that no matter how far I drive, I will end up still somewhere in the hurricane.
- That each hurricane has its own individual characteristics (size, speed of wind, speed of movement of its eye, etc) and that each one can create its own degree of mass destruction.
- That it is impossible to predict the exact path of a Hurricane. Much less to decide where to run to!
- That a Cat 4 Hurricane (such as Charley that swept through Punta Gorda) could have brought along a 20 ft (6.5 m) of waves and floods and this is enough to drown the whole Tampa peninsular (roughly a little smaller than the size of Singapore and just as flat, if not flatter) that I stayed in.
- That, airports, seaports and all major transport hubs would be close when a Hurricane approaches and we have to book our ticket out of the city soonest possible without getting stranded.
- That land evacuation via car would be very difficult cos it would mean driving my car along a congested highway for hundreds of kilometers and that gas (petrol) would be difficult during that time as everyone would have drained all gas stations (petrol kiosks) of gas in anticipation of electric power failure?
- That people would wipe out supermarkets of groceries and water and canned food etc in anticipation of such facilities collapsing when and if the devastation is horrific.
- That most, if not all, accomodation and hotels along the evacuation routes would be fully booked by evacuees?
Anyway, when I returned to office after surviving the hurricane/s, I had to write a standing instruction for my office back home to endorse so that my replacements in future would not face the same red tapes as me... so, look on the bright side - at least I got something productive out of the whole hurricane season.
:-)
I remembered Hurricanes Charlie, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne most of all. Life for me during that period was seriously tough and I missed home a lot a lot. While it was kinda exciting and full of anticipation for me in the beginning, I began to feel a sense of desperation and lost when the hurricane approached my house. We (my fellow comrades living in Hillsborough and its neighbouring counties) had to be evacuated in the end (mandatory evacuation for Charlie and voluntary evacuation for Jeanne) due to the strong possibility of a storm surge (which, if happened, would have drowned all of the town I stayed in). Orlando and Lakeland district had it bad as they experienced 3 out of the 4 major hurricanes that visited Florida state last year. Disneyland, for that matter, was closed for the first time in its history due to the hurricanes.
During the first hurricane, I, together with my friend's most loveable dog and a Thai officer, had to take refuge with the Thai officer's relatives in Hollywood, Miami in the hills. It was really scary cos we initially wanted to drive away from the storm but all roads and highways out of Florida were totally jammed as every father mother son daughter and what have you were trying to escape the impending storm. All major shopping centers, supermarkets and petrol kiosks (gas stations) were closed as all groceries were totally wiped off the shelves and petrol (gas) got sold out due to people stocking up their house as they go into hiding. As for us who were running away, we quickly got jammed on the highway and so we decided we would drive into the storm instead of driving away from it. We estimated that we would have enough time and that we would be able to reach Hollywood before the storm make landfall. We had to make our way fast cos the predicted path of the hurricane showed a direct hit at my estate and my office in the base. Even the whole base packed up and evacuated inland. It was a surreal drive as we made our way to Hollywood, Miami. The sky was pitch dark, electric wires started snapping, and for a certain 1-2hr stretch, I was driving in pitch dark at the Everglades. There was nothing in front of me except my high beam that shine into nothing and occasional streaks of lightning that covered the sky like spider web and the thought that we were on a tar road flanked by swamps in the middle of a huge gator swamp country was most unsettling. I swear to myself I would never want to experience this again as I drove into the darkness. That was my first experience with a hurricane - Hurricane Charley.
I experienced 3 more hurricanes subsequently and for 2 of them, I decided to take the emergency commercial flight out of Florida. I managed to book a seat in the last flight before the airport close. It was a flight to New York and I stayed there for 3 days before the airport opens again. For the only one that I did not run away (Hurricane Jeanne), I had electric wires snapping in front of me, people looting the shops and gas stations near my apartment, and all sorts of unsettling events happening around me. Admittedly, I crouched at the corner of my room praying very very hard that my apartment would not collapse onto me or get blown away when the storm was at its peak. I didn't like this experience, especially when I was alone in Florida at that time (my only friends and family to me at that time had gone for holiday in Washington to escape the storm).
Those experiences however made me realised how PGO our people in Singapore were. For example, when I updated home office about the possibility of evacuations, I was asked about the cost involved, whether I could cut cost by staying with other Singaporeans, why I had to fl
y out of Florida and not drive out, why I chose a hotel and not a motel, why I chose this domestic airline and not that etc... My gawd! I was thinking - Here I was, panicking like shi&^&#$%$% wondering how I could stay alive and how I could savage my property and all my barang barang so as to minimise damage/ lost and here we have our Singapore office asking me a thousand why's about why I did this and not that so that I could reduce cost!I had to convince myself really hard and look on the positive side that perhaps these people have not experienced a hurricane and therefore did not know how bad the situation and how panicky a person could possibly get. And in the process, I had to also be really patient and explain/ educate my dear Singapore office of the predicament I was in and patiently explained things to them; and without sounding like I was an opportunist trying to get a free holiday using company funds.Some of the things that I had convinced myself that they did not know, despite all the reportings and updates in the media, were:
- That the size of a Hurricane can be as large as the whole of Peninsular Malaysia (such as Hurricane Jeanne). And that no matter how far I drive, I will end up still somewhere in the hurricane.
- That each hurricane has its own individual characteristics (size, speed of wind, speed of movement of its eye, etc) and that each one can create its own degree of mass destruction.
- That it is impossible to predict the exact path of a Hurricane. Much less to decide where to run to!
- That a Cat 4 Hurricane (such as Charley that swept through Punta Gorda) could have brought along a 20 ft (6.5 m) of waves and floods and this is enough to drown the whole Tampa peninsular (roughly a little smaller than the size of Singapore and just as flat, if not flatter) that I stayed in.
- That, airports, seaports and all major transport hubs would be close when a Hurricane approaches and we have to book our ticket out of the city soonest possible without getting stranded.
- That land evacuation via car would be very difficult cos it would mean driving my car along a congested highway for hundreds of kilometers and that gas (petrol) would be difficult during that time as everyone would have drained all gas stations (petrol kiosks) of gas in anticipation of electric power failure?
- That people would wipe out supermarkets of groceries and water and canned food etc in anticipation of such facilities collapsing when and if the devastation is horrific.
- That most, if not all, accomodation and hotels along the evacuation routes would be fully booked by evacuees?
Anyway, when I returned to office after surviving the hurricane/s, I had to write a standing instruction for my office back home to endorse so that my replacements in future would not face the same red tapes as me... so, look on the bright side - at least I got something productive out of the whole hurricane season.
:-)
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