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Welcome to Stuff I Learned Yesterday. My name is Barb Rankin, my first experience with a hurricane was Donna in 1960, and I believe that if you aren’t learning, you aren’t living. In today’s episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday I share a lesson about how I learned that I could make a difference.

Fun Fact:

It’s officially the 2016 Atlantic Hurricane season. The “season” begins on June 1st each year, and ends on November 30th. Generally the most destructive storms tend to occur in August and September, but there have been exceptions to that rule.   Here are some facts from the National Hurricane Center website.

The scientific term for all these storms is tropical cyclone. Only tropical cyclones that form over the Atlantic Ocean or eastern Pacific Ocean are called “hurricanes.” Tropical cyclones are like giant engines that use warm, moist air as fuel. That is why they form only over warm ocean waters near the equator. Storms that form north of the equator spin counterclockwise. Storms south of the equator spin clockwise.

The Atlantic storms often form near the Cape Verde Islands, which are about 350 miles off the western coast of Africa. They travel across the Atlantic where they may gain strength or diminish, depending on the atmospheric conditions. When the winds in the rotating storm reach 39 mph, the storm is called a “tropical storm.” And when the wind speeds reach 74 mph (64 knots or 119 kilometers), the storm is officially a “tropical cyclone,” or hurricane.

When you hear about a hurricane, you hear that it might be a Category or Cat 4 storm. So what do those categories mean?

The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale is a 1 to 5 rating based on a hurricane’s sustained wind speed. This scale estimates potential property damage. Hurricanes reaching Category 3 and higher are considered major hurricanes because of their potential for significant loss of life and damage. Category 1 and 2 storms are still dangerous, however, and require preventative measures. A Category 4 storm has sustained winds of between 130 – 156 MPH (113 – 136 knots; 209 – 251KM/hr) and a Category 5 storm has sustained winds in excess of 157 MPH (137 knots; 252 km/hr). In a Category 5 storm, Catastrophic damage will occur: A high percentage of framed homes will be destroyed, with total roof failure and wall collapse. Fallen trees and power poles will isolate residential areas. Power outages will last for weeks to possibly months. Most of the area will be uninhabitable for weeks or months.

This is why hurricane watches and warnings should be taken seriously, and individuals who live in hurricane threatened areas should have their hurricane preparedness plans in place well before the onset of any storm.

What I Learned Yesterday:

As I mentioned in SILY Episode 435, one of my early childhood memories was seeing the mess that Category 4 Hurricane Donna made in our backyard when it passed south of Miami – toppling a large avocado tree onto my swing set and also destroying an orange tree. But I also remember the preparations before the storm.

My father had died one year earlier, and I remember his best friend, our Uncle Jack, coming over to the house to lower the storm awnings over the windows. These awnings would shade the windows and then could be folded down and bolted to the wall to protect windows in the event of a hurricane. Our neighbors also came over and asked Mom if she wanted our family to ride out the storm at their house, but she felt confident remaining in our own home. It was a small, one story, sturdy, concrete block house, which was the best type of house to have in a hurricane. Because it was made of concrete blocks rather than wood frames, it was less likely to be impacted by strong winds. The kind of house the 3 Little Pigs would be safe in – no huffing and puffing by a big, bad wolf, or any hurricane for that matter, would blow that house down!

When we moved to a larger home a few years later, Mom was insistent that we find another concrete block house. And sure enough, we did, and just after we moved in August, 1964, along came Category 2 Hurricane Cleo. My brother, Rob, and I were old enough to help clean up the downed branches in the street. The next year, Category 3 Betsy struck in early September, and caused much more damage and flooding. Rob and I were back outside helping clean up the mess on our street, and at that point we had a pretty good understanding of what a hurricane could do, and how you needed to be prepared.

Flash forward to 1992. I was living and working in Baltimore, Maryland. I had called my Mom on Saturday, August 22nd to wish her a happy birthday, and to let her know that I had to fly out of town on a business matter that following Monday, the 24th. My brother answered the phone, and I asked if he was taking her to dinner, and he promptly asked me if I was “nuts” and hadn’t I seen the news? The storm that had almost disintegrated in the Atlantic 3 days earlier was rapidly strengthening into a Cat 5 storm heading straight for Miami. I was stunned – I had not seen the news. He told me they were going to ride it out – and not leave.

At 5am on Monday, Mom called to tell me the eye of the hurricane was passing overhead and that they were okay. Half the storm was over. She said she would call my hotel in California to let me know when the storm was over, as I would be traveling all day. After I arrived in California, and handled the issues at the plant, I finally went to the hotel to check in. The reservations agent gave me a message from Mom that they were okay. I was exhausted and couldn’t find much news on TV, but the next morning, the pictures began coming in. I literally fell off the end of the bed when I recognized a strip shopping center that was about 2 ½ miles from the family home, very heavily damaged. I tried calling but of course, couldn’t get through. Phones were out. Electricity was out. And I was in California, not Florida.

After I returned to Maryland at the end of the week, I was finally able to get through and talk to my Mom and brother. The home had some damage – tiles off the roof, trees down, but they were okay. They still didn’t have electricity, and Rob was spending his days cleaning debris from the neighboring yards and major cross streets to allow emergency vehicles to get through. They had gone to get ice, and water, and had waited in long lines. They were just north of the worst damage, and knew that others had been more severely impacted than they had been. I had seen enough pictures to know that this was the most destructive storm to ever hit South Florida, my birthplace and still my home in my heart. I had to do something. I had to make a difference.

I called one of my dear college friends who lived about 60 miles north of Miami, and found out that her church was organizing crews to help clear yards. I asked if I could stay with her, and she immediately said “yes.” I also contacted the American Red Cross to ask about providing assistance. They said they were using warehouse facilities to take donations, and needed help to sort and pack boxes of supplies for residents. They said that if I could get down there, they could use me.

Less than 3 weeks after Andrew made landfall, I was flying to Florida. The next week consisted of good old hard labor. I spent two days working with the church group as we traveled down to Homestead, and cleared debris from yards, piling it up along the side of the street where it would eventually be picked up by city and county crews. I spent another two days working in one of the Red Cross warehouses. People from all over the country were generously donating water, nonperishable food, clothing, personal hygiene supplies, flashlights and batteries, and anything else you can imagine. We sorted the supplies as they came off the trucks, putting like items together in the warehouse. We then created “care packages” – boxes of needed supplies for men, women, children, and families, that would be distributed by other volunteers. I spent another day at my high school, which was in an area that received the brunt of the storm. And of course I went home, and saw that my family had things under control, and were continuing to help their neighbors and friends.

What shocked me the most was the destruction.

Miles upon miles of wrecked businesses, broken windows, insulation falling from buildings, rubble.

Familiar landmarks were badly damaged or destroyed.

Trees had no leaves, having been ripped off by the wind. Driving up Old Cutler Road from my school to my home, I could see the dividing line – where the winds were the most intense.

The devastation was overwhelming.   And the only thing anyone could do was to work on it one piece at a time. Remove one tree. Go through one pile of belongings. Help one person and then move on to help someone else.

What amazed me the most was the hope, the determination, and the positive attitudes of the people we worked with.

One of the yards we cleaned up belonged to a woman in her 80’s. She kept coming outside to check on us, and actually apologized that she didn’t have any cookies or other treats to offer us. She was still without electricity, and yet she wore a smile on her face and was worried about us. Amazing!

Here’s what I learned.

There will always be situations in which people in our neighborhoods, our cities, our states, our countries, our world – need help – perhaps due to a natural disaster such as a hurricane, a flood, a tornado, a blizzard or a heat wave, or due to a famine, a fire or a war.   The enormity of some situations can be overpowering; and we wonder: “Can I do anything to help?” “Where would I begin?”  “Can I make a difference?”

Human resiliency and hope are powerful – but sometimes we need a little something to help get us started. Maybe we need that bottle of water, or that can of food, or someone with a chainsaw to help clear our yard.

It was probably good that I didn’t realize how far reaching the destruction was until I saw it with my own eyes. It would have been easy to give up before I began, thinking that I couldn’t possibly help the situation; that I couldn’t make a difference.

But we can do things to help others.

There are several variations of The Starfish Story, adapted from The Star Thrower, by Loren Eiseley, which I am sure many of you have seen. Here is one of those adaptations:

“Once upon a time, there was an old man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach every morning before he began his work. Early one morning, he was walking along the shore after a big storm had passed and found the vast beach littered with starfish as far as the eye could see, stretching in both directions.

Off in the distance, the old man noticed a small boy approaching. As the boy walked, he paused every so often and as he grew closer, the man could see that he was occasionally bending down to pick up an object and throw it into the sea. The boy came closer still and the man called out, “Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?”

The young boy paused, looked up, and replied “Throwing starfish into the ocean. The tide has washed them up onto the beach and they can’t return to the sea by themselves,” the youth replied. “When the sun gets high, they will die, unless I throw them back into the water.”

The old man replied, “But there must be tens of thousands of starfish on this beach. I’m afraid you won’t really be able to make much of a difference.”

The boy bent down, picked up yet another starfish and threw it as far as he could into the ocean. Then he turned, smiled and said, “It made a difference to that one!””

You don’t have get on a plane and go to an impacted area. You can donate food or other items to your local Red Cross or food pantry. You can pack food for an organization such as “Feed My Starving Children.” You might be able to donate cash to help with the logistics cost of getting supplies to where they are most needed.

This past weekend during Geekinomicon, Golden Spiral Media raised over $2800 for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society to fight this terrible disease which impacts millions of people, including two of our own GSM hosts. If you contributed, you helped make a difference.

Even the very smallest thing you do will make a difference for someone.

I CAN make a difference.

YOU CAN make a difference.

Together WE CAN make a difference.

I’m Barb Rankin and this has been stuff I learned yesterday.

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