Irma

Ich habe diese Nacht mit einer Freundin geschrieben, die in Fort Lauderdale lebt mit ihrem Lebensgefährten und ihrer sechs Monate alten Tochter (zur Erklärung: sie haben weiter im Landesinneren ein Haus und direkt in Strandnähe eine Eigentumswohnung).
Derzeit ist ihre Familie aus New York zu Besuch - hier eine Mail, die sie an alle Freunde versandt hat - damit kann man sich, glaube ich, ein Bild davon machen, wie es derzeit dort ausschaut:


To all my friends who have contacted me, concerning Irma… Thank you for keeping us in your thoughts and being patient with my sparse responses. My family and I have been very busy the past few days, trying to prepare for this Category 4/5 hurricane. Many have asked if we evacuated.. the answer is no. There are a few reasons for this.. First, the area we live in now does not have a mandatory evacuation because we are about 5 miles (7.5 km) from the beach. Areas by the beach (where Tom and I previously lived) HAVE been evacuated. Second, flights out of Florida have either been full, cancelled, or price hiked (which airlines should be ashamed of!). Driving out of Florida would have been extremely difficult. My parents & Gomez are here visiting, and including Tom, Gloria & I, we would have needed to take 2 cars. Gasoline has been extremely difficult to get- my father and I waited 4 ½ hours the other day at a gas station just to fill up the tank, because demand is so high and the state just cant keep up with gas deliveries. Most stations who get fill ups, are empty again within a short time, because lines for gasoline are miles long with so many people waiting. For my non-Floridian friends, Florida only has limited highway access out of state, so that means all evacuees are traveling in the same direction- north, and causing major traffic. Everyone leaving needs to re-tank during the long trip, and so gas stations along the highways are definitely in high demand. I have friends who have evacuated and it has taken them 25+ hours to get out. There are many shelters which have been opened up by the state, to accommodate people who need to evacuate and do not have transportation. These are last resort shelters though, if you do not have family or friends’ places where you could go. Luckily, our home has windows and doors which are hurricane proof, and those which are not, have metal hurricane shutters bolted in front of them. My family has spent the last few days preparing: We have shuttered the windows and doors, brought all patio furniture, plants, outdoor shower, garbage bins, hoses, string lights, solar lights… into the garage and house. We have collected emergency supplies, food and water. Stores have been sold out of water for the past week. We were very lucky and were at our local Publix store when they brought in a pallet of water. And let me tell you: people were on top of it like it was the end of the world! I have never experienced Black Friday, but Im sure it was the same! (for my European friends: Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving, where some Americans go Christmas shopping because apparently there are huge sales. It gets vicious!) Store shelves have been sparse: bread has been rationed to two loaves per person at our local Publix and canned goods have been bought out. Home improvement stores have been sold out of propane and other supplies needed in case of power outages. Social media and supply specific Apps have been very helpful in informing us about where we can get these needed supplies. We got a Facebook tip from a friend, and were lucky enough to get our propane tank filled at a small local filling station. Keep in mind, we are not the only ones preparing, so everywhere we go, there are lines and long waits. For the most part people have been patient and kind- we are all in the same boat trying to survive and keep our families safe. There are always a few bad apples though, and on the local news, we’ve even seen people getting arrested because they fight over plywood or water at the stores. As of right now, 11:00am EST, the cone is predicted to head towards the western coast of Florida. That’s good for us (we live on the eastern coast), but we will still feel heavy winds and have threat of storm surges (rain, flood). I am very anxious of the idea that our roof could fly off, and we have been preparing our walk-in closet as a safe room. We have also just been informed that at 4:00pm a curfew will be in effect in our county. Between 6pm today and Sunday 8pm, we will get the worst of the storm. I will try to keep everyone update, but if we do lose power then we will keep our electronic use to a minimum to conserve battery life. I’m sorry for the impersonal aspect of this message, but I just do not have time to write to each of you individually. After sending this, I will continue to fill up cups, jugs, and pitchers with water in case we lose water access. We will give Gloria a bath, because we do not know if and when we will have running water again. We will bring a mattress and supplies into our safe room. We will take pictures of all our important documents and put them into water tight bags. We will put personal items, like Gloria’s ultrasound picture, in a high and dry spots. Even though I may not respond (right away), I do think about you all! I appreciate and enjoy all the messages you send me. Please keep em coming and write to me about all the wonderful things happening in your lives right now. We could use as much positivity as possible at this time! XOXO ❤