« A Return To Arabism In The State Department? | Main | The Waiting Game »
September 20, 2005
Now, It's Personal
Well, I've got the hurricane jitters.
This is really the first time I've had a deep seated sense of fear about an approaching storm. The easy explanation is the front row seat we Houstonians have had to the disaster in New Orleans has given us a tangible example of what a major hurricane can do to a big city.
But that's not it. I've been fascinated with weather almost since my first memories. I'll never forget my first hurricane--Carla in 1961, a strong cat 4--and how my parents gathered themselves and all three of us kids into their bedroom. We all slept together in their shoved-together twin beds (I had to slept on the crack between the two mattresses.)
As I grew up and chose engineering as a profession, I became even more aware of the power of those storms. I knew all about technical things like the power of storm surge (one cubic yard of water weighs about one ton) and the exponential relation of wind damage to wind speed (a 150mph hurricane is at least four times as destructive as a 75mph storm); still, I didn't yet have a visceral fear. Too young, I suppose, with too much of an engineer's clinical interest in the awesome phenomenon.
That's all changed now. Mainly, I'm sure, because of my beautiful six year old; and I'm older too. Going without electricity for two weeks as my family did in 1961 and 1983 is not an experience I want to repeat. Even more worrisome is the memory of walking into my parents' back yard in 1983 and finding four oak trees laying across the ground at various angles. The massive weight of what was an appearently modest tree is hard to convey; a falling oak or pine will crush to a pulp anything below it.
And my house is surrounded by tall oaks and pines.
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.thebernoullieffect.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/346
