By Michael B. Wright
Many times I have followed my Sherpa guide up to the peak of Mt. Dora. Not only did my ears fail to “pop,” but I have yet to find a guru sitting cross-legged atop it providing the answers to life’s questions. I have gradually worked my way across Florida seeking higher ground during hurricane seasons. We started out in Port Tampa where the elevation is only 6.9 feet above sea level (Mt. Dora is 184 feet). When we evacuated for Hurricane Charlie in 2004, the neighbors laughed at us and stood their ground.
We drove through the old neighborhood a few months ago to see how bad the damage that was left by Debby, Helene and Milton. I was hoping to knock on the door of a former neighbor to check on them. I couldn’t even get to the door. Everything they owned was sitting out between their door and the curb. No one answered their phone. By this time we were living in Lakeland, Florida (elevation 197 feet). We received minimal damage, mostly related to the lanai of our manufactured home. Others weren’t so fortunate.
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The safest location in Florida would probably be Britton Hill in the panhandle, fairly close to Ft. Walton Beach (elevation 345 feet).
Passing through North Carolina we saw LOTS of damage. I always wondered why they got it so bad there, so I did the research. North Carolina’s coast is one of the nation’s most vulnerable areas to a direct hurricane strike because its coastline extends out into the ocean. That, plus the fact that the water off Cape Hatteras is considered rough due to the collision of the warm Gulf Stream current with colder waters from the Arctic, creating turbulent conditions. Along with the shallow, shifting sandbars of the “Diamond Shoals” which further disrupt the water flow, it is a treacherous area for ships and swimmers alike, earning it the name “Graveyard of the Atlantic” because of the numerous shipwrecks in the area.
The destroyer I served aboard sailed the Atlantic, Pacific, Caribbean, Mediterranean, South China Sea, the Taiwan Strait, and the Tonkin Gulf. The roughest waters by far were those of Cape Hattaras. If anyone were to fall overboard, they would most likely stay overboard. It is far more fearful than Cape Fear, despite not having Robert Mitchum nor Robert Di Nero.
Mike Wright has quite a stockpile of emergency canned goods. If you have any recipes that include cranberry sauce, please send them to him at micwrighthamo@gmail.com.
