June 1 is the start of the Atlantic hurricane season. There, I said it.
The last one to hit South Florida was Wilma in 2005. It came along two months after Katrina tromped through on the way to New Orleans; we got off lightly compared to the Gulf Coast.
The forecast is that we will have a heavier-than-normal season. Two things about that prediction: 1) They say that every year, and for the last eight years — at least as far as Florida is concerned — they’ve been wrong. Not that I mind. 2) Since we haven’t had a major hit in eight years, any hurricane that makes landfall here would be heavier than normal.
I’m going to stock up on my usual hurricane supplies: fresh batteries for the radio, canned food and Nutra-Grain bars, a supply of bottled water, and hope for an uneventful season. The unused food goes to the food bank at the end of the season, just in time — appropriately, I hope — for Thanksgiving.
Check out your stores for Boxed Water (a brand name). The boxes are pint-size containers of …. water. The point is to reduce the amount of plastic we toss that is overloading the landfills and endangering the seas. The boxes are delivered to the distributor frozen and will defrost in your refrigerator. We’re going to use them in the car and refill the box from the 40 gallon jugs of filtered water we depend on.
I hope you don’t need any of that stuff.