B”H
Hurricane Wilma
Here goes, I know that I said that I would do this a while ago but I just never had the time.
Hurricane Wilma was suppose to be a category two Hurricane, so I decided that I still had my ticket to go to Florida, how bad can a category two be? Besides I was going to be with friends who had kids and if anything I thought that I would be a help.
To start I called my airline to make sure that my flight was actually taking off, as I had heard on the news that airports were being shut. Wilma took longer to arrive in Florida than originally anticipated as it hung around in the Caribbean Islands for longer than expected.
The airline told me that my flight may or may not take off. They did advise to take an earlier, and that they would change my flight for no charge. So I changed my flight to an earlier flight Sunday @ 1:30 pm which actually worked out better as Devorah’s sister and family – the Engels - from Australia were on that flight.
We took off all ok, as we landed about 4 pm , you could see and feel the strong gusts of wind, well at least we thought that those were strong little did we know what was coming our way.
I rented a car, now we are at about 5 pm and drove the Engels to Coral Springs where they were staying for the last days of Yom Tov. It was about an hour drive. I dropped them off and hurried to where I was staying, Devorah’s other sisiter - the Halsbands – about an 45 minutes from Coral Springs.I guess you can say I have never been so eager to get out of the car and wind than I was that day it was about 7:30 pm by the time I got there.
The Halsbands were all ready to wait out the storm, with some cooking to do for Yom Tov we stayed up until about 11pm and then went off to bed not before making sure all the shutters were down, all things that could be boarded up were, all this time the wind still let us know that he was out there.
Monday at about 3 am we were awoken by banging shutters, lights flickering on and off, car alarms going mad and many other noises that we really couldn’t make out what they were. The house was dark as it was the middle of the night and the shutters were down, so we just lay and sat there waiting out the storm.
By about 6am, we really felt what was Wilma at it’s strongest. There were not more lights flickering, there was just no electricity at all. The wind outside howled and howled like I have never heard before. There was one window in the house that didn’t have a shutter, every so often we would peek outside, and now that it was light we could actually see a little. The trees were flapping in the wind like leaves, swaying from one side to another. In the back of my mind I was thinking that those trees are not small new ones but rather big huge palm trees, how can they be flapping and swaying like a leaf.
Until about 1 pm it rained, the wind howled and with no electricity, no water, we just waited out the storm. Really I felt worse for the kids they were really scared. Every so often I put on my headset to catch some news and updates, all we heard we there is no electricity, do not drink the water and stay inside.
Apparently there was a man who went outside during Wilma to check on his wife’s new car, well, he didn’t make it back inside. And there was another man who called in to say that the roof of his house blew off and he didn’t know what to do. All these stories made me feel good about what stage we were at.
At one stage as I walked across the dining room I walked into water, the apartment started to flood. At the base of the sliding doors there was just water pouring in. Now with no electricity which means you cannot do laundry, we had to think twice before we put down a towel to soak up that water.
We had filled up the bathtubs with water just incase we didn’t have water for a few days; hot water didn’t even come into consideration.
At about 1:30 pm we finally decided that the storm was really over and decided to venture outside. First I wanted to check on my rental, and besides I was really curious to see the damage. We were lucky that it had cooled down and that it wasn’t hot, as we had no electricity which means no AC.
There were trees down every where, some trees looked big and you couldn’t believe that they too had fallen. We decided to drive to the Shul- Rabbi Halsband owns a shul - to see the damage there, beside my cell phone was dead and I needed to charge it in the car.
As we drove out of the complex all we saw were fallen trees, it was a real obstacal course, I had to jump out about 5 times to move branches to that I could drive past. There were walls that had collapsed, windows broken and downed power lines ever where.
When we reached the streets, not only was there no electricity so there were no traffic lights but the traffic lights themselves were not hanging anymore, they had too smashed to the ground. There were no street signs, or shopping center sign still standing, everthing had been blown to pieces.
As we turned the corner to where the shul was, we couldn’t believe our eyes. Basically it was amazing that the actual building was standing. The entire fence had come down, every tree that was standing was not any more. The Succah was now a pile of wood on the floor, actually half of one wall was still standing bu that was only because a fallen tree was holding it up.There was a palm tree that was blocking the entrance to the shul, so initially we climbed over it but later we decided to move it a little so that if people actually came to shul that night they wouldn’t have to climb over it in the dark. To give you an idea of how big and heavy the tree was, it took 16 men 30 minutes to move it a meter. And Wilma had the nerve to blow it down like it was a twig.
The outside of the shul literally looked like a Huricane hit it….
For the rest of the day the men tried to rebuild the succah, even part of it, so that they would have a succah to eat in and we tried to figure out how to cook with no electricity, and how to keep the food that was cooked edible in a fridge and freeze that were not working as there was ……no electricity. We don’t realize how much we rely on things until we do not have them.
We took cold showers and brought in Yom Tov in the dark, actually by candle light.
Yom Tov was an experience of it’s own. There was a curfew out, no one was allowed to be out after 7pm. So we thought , do we go to shul, and risk stepping in puddles with downed power lines and risk falling over trees and broken traffic lights that lined the side walks, or do we stay home and play uno or rummy in the dark!
First night we stayed home with the kids, you know that it’s really hard to entertain kids in the dark, it was a really long night. The next day we went to shul, there was word of it being weeks before the electricity was back and we heard that 36 people had been arrested for being out after the curfew, in a way I was glad that I stayed home, but on the other hand that night was Simcahs Torah, I really didn’t want to spend it in the dark trying to entertain kids.
Tuesday we decided to go to shul for Simchas Torah night , it was actually fun, we cooked, davened and watched the men dance by candle light. The walk home was a real experience, on one hand we prayed that a car would drive by to light up the sidewalk but there was a curfew, and when a car did drive by it was the police who wanted to know what we were doing out at 11 pm when there was a curfew. We explained that it was a religious holiday and that we were coming home from synagogue…….they believed us and told us to walk safely.
We ate what we could and were very careful what we served etc by the second day Wednesday food was on the low side, we ate hot dogs and pickles for lunch……definitely the most interesting Yom Tov lunch ever.
Once Yom Tov ended we were really ready for the electricity to come back on. I looked outside and I actually saw that there was an area that had lights, do not ask me what area that was.
But …………….about two hours after Yom Tov ended we got our electricity back…B”H.
No we really had to start concentrating on the wedding which is why we were all really in Florida.
Thursday we called the dry cleaners about Devorah’s gown which had gone in to be pressed and they were closed b/c they had no electricity, like the rest of the city, we had no idea if she was going to have a gown for the wedding on Sunday.
I drove to Coral Springs to pick up the Engels. On the high was I saw signs, Gas 6 hour wait $30 limit, I started thinking about sitting on line for gas, I quickly turned off the AC and opened all the windows.
On the highway I saw Gas tankers being escorted by police to gas stations. I passed many gas lines and couldn’t believe what I saw. Bill boards that were torn down and the metal twisted like we twist a straw. The drive other that having to go to a place with no signs to lead me where I was going as Wilma destroyed them all was pretty smooth.
On the way back from Coral Springs we scooped out a few gas stations to see which line was the shortest. And we got on line…..
After waiting for hours with the gas station not at all in sight, Devorah decided to take a walk and see how long the line really was. She came back and told me that they were closing the gas station at 6:15 pm as the curfew was at 7 pm and that we might not make it. I decided to sit it out. At about 5:30 the gas station was in sight, it made me feel a little better. At 6:05 pm the police announced that the gas station was closing in 10 minutes. And a gas attendant announced that he was allowing 10 more cars in, after that he was closing the line. There were police all over , there was no fooling around. The gas attendant started counting car 1, 2,, 3, 4, 5 ,6, 7 ,8, 9, 10,………….. we were car #7. I couldn’t believe it, but B”H we got our $30 of gas, which by the way is only half a tank, and we were on our way.
Now that we had gas we decided to see is we could get some food, there was a grocery store a block away and we stopped there but they wouldn’t let us in, they were closing.
So we did our duties and we were on our way home when Devorahs brother Mendy – the chosen- called , ……he was stuck on the side of a main road, he had no gas……………….we decide to go to his rescue.
There is just a wedding in three days, Mendy has no gas Devorah has no gown and the hair lady just canceled………..
Now that it was 6:45 pm and curfew was in 15 minutes we had little time, but we drove to him. It gets better, while parked on the side of the road a police car smashed into a car that had stopped to help him…… now Mindy had reports to worry about and gas too. We needed to get gas into his car, at first this guy who stopped, using a tube tried sucking gas out of my carto put into Mendy’s but that didn’t work, don’t ever try it………….
Our second plan was to beg the closest gas station to give us gas. Mendy and this guy walked to the nearest gas station with a gallon water bottle praying that they would never mind give them gas but that the would still be open. About 15 minutes later they returned with a gallon of gas, we cut another water bottle to use as a funnel and poured the gas in. later we found out that putting water into a container that is not regularly used for gas is illegal.
Now for the miracle, when Mendy and this guy came to the gas station which was about to close, Mendy asked to speak to the owner and told the guy that he was getting married in 3 day sand that he really needed his help, that is his gas.
The owner turned out to be a Jew and filled up the water bottle no problem end then told Mendy that he should go back to his car pour in the gas and that he would stay open for him, he should come back with the for more gas. Mendy did exactly that and not only got $30 gas but he guy filled his car up for him.
And another day passed.
Friday morning I took Rabbi & Mrs Levy to meet the parents of the bride. We drove from North Miami to Miami Beach normally a 45 minutes drive, took us an hour and a half. There were many streets blocked off, gas lines by every gas station and no traffic lights so every intersection acted as a four way stop.
Once I returned, I got dressed and headed to Bal Harbor for Shabbos. That was another hour and a half drive, but all was well, we got there just in time for shabbos.
Shabbos was great, we went to shul and we ate Friday night by the Gansburgs (Chani Shusterman), it was a very nice meal, Chani just felt bad as when she started to cook for shabbos there were limited things to buy as far as food goes, as most store were either very low or had nothing on their shelves. But the meal was great and all was well.
Shabbos day we went to shul and it was really nice, buy does Rabbi Lipskier like to talk. And once again we had a very nice meal by a family in Bal Harbor.
After shabbos it was back to North Miami , to get ready for the wedding.
Besides the fact that the hair lady canceled on everyone, all went well with the wedding, it was beautiful.
That’s my story, please check out the pics, so you can see some actual scenes of Wilma’s destruction.
