If you read my column from two weeks ago,“Home, Sweet Home: Joe and Heidi’s Excellent Adventure Comes to an End (with Plenty of Help from Penn Staters),” you know that our last few months have been filled with plenty of adventure. Yet one week after we moved into our newly constructed home in Bluffton, South Carolina, Hurricane Ian decided to pay the southeastern U.S. a very unwelcome visit. You also would have read that I tempted the weather gods with this, perhaps, ill-advised pontification:
I further tempted the fates by adding, “What I do know is there is a 100% chance that I will not shovel snow this year, walk my dog in sub-zero temperatures, or wake up to cloudy, gray skies at least 50% of the time.” …Only time will tell if I jinxed my new town, and we incur Ian’s wrath.
Well, we were blessed and very fortunate that Hurricane Ian went east and north of us. We were spared as we got only light wind and light rain in Bluffton. You see, to be safe, we decided to build inland from Hilton Head Island, 30 minutes from the beach. It’s a big reason why we chose Bluffton as our final location in the Lowcountry.
Yes, we were lucky. But we also did our homework when we picked Bluffton as a retirement destination as we knew that almost all hurricanes and tropical storms, like Ian, miss Bluffton. We have all heard this phrase a lot over the past few years: “Listen to the science.” OK, we did. That’s why we built our home in a development that is 17 miles inland, 24 feet above sea level, is not in a flood zone, and we have multiple evacuation routes available to us if a hurricane were to hit us directly.
I am not telling you not to build on the coast, but I am telling you to be sure if you do that you understand the risks. Those who choose to live directly along the coast, on lakes or near rivers in known flood zones must weigh the risks they are taking against the peace and pleasure they hope to receive from living in such areas. They are tough choices and are not to be made lightly. Oh, and be sure to factor in insurance costs, assuming you can even get flood insurance in some areas.
While the news media rightfully focuses on the devastating building and bridge collapses that put lives in immediate danger in natural disasters, it’s the power outages and impassable roads that really affect the masses the most. People simply under-prepare, and with close to 3 million people without power for several days, more lives were in danger than just those who took the full force of nature head on.
So, what did we learn having survived our first real hurricane scare? Better safe than sorry, and while we hope and pray for the best, be prepared for anything. Do your homework and have a plan.
Some measures are common sense.
- Stay informed watching local news, using weather sites and apps like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association Weather and the National Hurricane Center.
- If necessary, evacuate well in advance.
- Plan well ahead for those with special medical needs and be sure you have all your medications packed safely.
- Get bottled water, flashlights and batteries and be sure they work.
- Put potable water in all bathtubs and laundry tubs, for washing, brushing your teeth and eventually using to flush your toilets.
- Have enough non-perishable foods on hand for at least 3-5 days and as many as 7-10
- Fill cups, pitchers and jugs with water as well for cooking.
For a more complete checklist visit the National Hurricane Survival Initiative website.
My heart goes out to the folks who live on the water in places in Florida like Fort Myers, Naples, Sanibel Island and St. Augustine, and in South Carolina like Charleston and Myrtle Beach that took the brunt of Ian, which reached Category 4 status. The storm didn’t stop there and created a mess on the coasts of Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey. Longtime friends Glenn and Donna DeStefano have a home in Manahawkin, New Jersey, a few miles inland from Long Beach Island. The island itself was flooded from Ian but thankfully their property was safe.
I am particularly saddened for the people of Fort Myers, Sanibel and Naples, Florida where my wife and I have vacationed many times. To see landmarks that we are so familiar with completely destroyed is heart-wrenching and we continue to pray for the families and residents as they survey the devastation. It will take years to rebuild if they are able to do so at all.
But Ian’s havoc wasn’t limited to just coastal areas. People in the mountains of the western Carolinas and Virginia also dealt with monsoon-like rains and flooding. My boys went to the Penn State football game and, in the words of one of my longtime friends, “It was the second worst conditions in my 40 years of coming to games.”
I do appreciate all my friends and family who reached out to check on our safety during Hurricane Ian. I think a lot of them now have a better understanding of just how far south in South Carolina Bluffton is located. When people, my mother included, heard that the coast of South Carolina was directly in Ian’s path, I think they believed the worst was happening. Hey, I’m not the Pragmatic Passioneer for nothing! Like I wrote above, we did follow the science and chose Bluffton because of its location and its natural protection from bad weather. Of course, we also chose it for the better taxes, the proximity to beaches, to Savannah, Georgia, lots of golf courses, tennis, pickleball and, most importantly, the sunshine. Let me repeat that. It’s the sunshine. First 20 days here, 18 days of sunshine and temperatures between 60 and 84.
I love Happy Valley. Always will. But I am applying the “improvise, adapt and overcome” mantra learned from one of my best friends and mentors, Lt. Colonel Dick Bartolomea. My body just can’t deal with the cold, damp weather anymore and my mind needed the natural vitamin D. Besides, there is a huge Penn State presence here!
Our Saturday was lunch with Penn State alums Mike and Jane Ferrero, golf at Okatie Creek Golf Club with PSU alum Matt Santangelo and his sons, and we had dinner with my former Lion Ambassador classmate and Johnstown native Stephanie (Dobis) Dennis at the Burnt Church Distillery in Olde Town Bluffton. This weekend we will gather with the PSAA Lowcountry Chapter to watch the football game complete with a DJ who plays music right out of Beaver Stadium.
We’ll be heading north soon for a couple hockey games, the Whiteout game vs. Minnesota and the big showdown with the Buckeyes. We hope we’ll bring some “Sa-Kerlina” sunshine with us and we look forward to seeing our friends. Our dog, Barkley, looks forward to seeing his friends as well!
