Hurricane Part 2 (10/7/2024)
I'm in a safe zone but the whole state is under siege...
Milton’s Paradise Lost…
Part of me doesn’t even know what to say about this. It is already one for the history books, which only four or five days ago was estimated to be a completely unnoteworthy tropical storm at worst.
Goes to show that weather doesn’t listen to what we say.
I’m in Tallahassee, up in the north side of the cone, in the dark blue “tropical storm” area. Yet, the ground is still saturated from Helene so I expect we’ll get more downed trees and localized flooding. Will power stay on, at least? We’ll see.
But here’s the thing: I’m a graduate of the New College of Florida, and I came of age in the Central Florida region. I know a lot of people who live in the path of that storm, and I’m very worried for them. Many of them are too poor or just not not-poor enough to evacuate. Evacuation costs $1,200 to $5,000 depending on family size, food, pets, and hotel costs. Caretakers with elderly parents or family in poor health can’t hire medical transport to get them to safety. A lot of people I know are sheltering in place simply because they don’t have any other option.
Most of the help that would normally already be ramping up at the border—linemen, trucks filled with supplies, medical personnel—are already dispersed across Appalachia trying to get Georgia and North Carolina back up and running. They are still collecting bodies up there. FEMA, underfunded and sabotaged for years by Republicans who don’t “believe” in government assistance, is stretched as thin as a thread of silk.
Milton, even if it weakens to a Cat3 by landfall, is still going to be a monster slamming face first into my state.
September Recap
Honestly, I feel like September was a wash but it really wasn’t. I started my new job, I lost five days to COVID booster vax brain fog, another five days to stressing about Hurricane Helene, and then another five days to a common cold. So that brings us to Hurricane Milton (see above).
Ya get what ya get.
THROWBACK!
I published a whole novel for FREE here on the Scriptorium! It was more of an experiment than anything, as I had the book ready to go and was considering publishing it. I thought, why not serialize it here? So I posted it over the course of 2023-2024! If you enjoy love-triads (MMF), romantic fantasy, dragon shifters, and exciting battles, this is for you!
The Queen's Aerie - ToC + guides
It’s a Keely-Boo World
She’s doing fine, and getting all the treats she demands! Here she is, on her back and waiting for belly rubs! YOu can barely see her eyes through her fuzz-face!
Thanks for reading Keely’s Way!
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This has been a tough month indeed, especially for those in the path of those storms. My thoughts are with you.
I thought that big blob in the western gulf was a nothing-burger. This is going to be ugly.