Last October as I was getting ready to close on my house Hurricane Matthew swept in and put a dent in my plans.  I was literally on the way to the closing when the Realtor got the word that all closings were put on hold until after the storm passed.

Now Hurricane Irma is targeting the entire state.  That is quite rare.  I think it accounts for the massive run on gas, water and generators.  Usually some of us Floridians are spared the brunt of the storm, so only a section of the state has to prepare.  The rest of us watch and see where the storm heads.

This time gas was gone at many places by Tuesday around here.  Any stations with gas had long lines.  More deliveries came, and my two sons were able to get gas after waiting in line.  I’ve waited for gas before, but it was after the hurricane had passed.  It was tough to get deliveries to the stations.  People needed gas for their generators.  At my location, we were without power for 7 days after Hurricane Charlie.

Now, many people are evacuating the state.  There is no place to go to avoid Irma within the state, since the storm is going straight up through.  I wonder where all those people will go.  Many may be coming from Miami, and many are probably tourists who have to cut their vacations short.

I live near the East coast, but not directly on the water.  I am not evacuating.  My son is a firefighter so he will have to go into work for the duration of the storm.  My other son will sit through it with me and our two cats.

This is what we’ve done to get ready.

We don’t have a generator, so we’ve stockpiled ice in coolers.  I’ve also frozen bags of water and been making ice cubes.  I’m filling everything I can find with drinkable water and have 2 big buckets of water for whatever.  We have plenty of food.  Unfortunately we will probably lose some food in the freezer.  That is where a generator would come in handy.  That and running the AC!

But we haven’t even been in this house for a year.  Our money has gone toward so many things, as is the case when you move.  And really, we had a hurricane last year… why another one?  We will have a generator by next summer, since it’s a good investment in this state.

We are on city water, so hopefully we will not be without water for too long.  The heat will get to me, but if we have water, I can cool off a bit.

Stay safe if you live here.  Often these storms surprise us by not being as bad as predicted.  I hope this is the case with Irma.