Hurricane Frances − 5 September, 2004
We barely escaped Charley. Frances blasted us hard.
In all my years in Gainesville, I'd never really been through a bad storm. We're in the center of the state, so normally, storms that hammer the coast only aggravate us.
Not this time.
Frances dumped rain until the ground turned to oatmeal like mush. Trees toppled in the softened, soggy soil. Power lines ripped apart, roads flooded.
I'd just started teaching middle school, and school was canceled for an entire week -- most of Levy County, where I teach, was inaccessible. We were on an island, of sorts, ourselves: fallen trees blocked one way out of our neighborhood, a flooded golf course the other.
Our power stayed off for several days. Unable to play music during this time, I reached a decision to go for a different sound on the bass when I was finally able to play again.
That was very optimistic of me, thinking that the worst was over. It wasn't.
In all my years in Gainesville, I'd never really been through a bad storm. We're in the center of the state, so normally, storms that hammer the coast only aggravate us.
Not this time.
Frances dumped rain until the ground turned to oatmeal like mush. Trees toppled in the softened, soggy soil. Power lines ripped apart, roads flooded.
I'd just started teaching middle school, and school was canceled for an entire week -- most of Levy County, where I teach, was inaccessible. We were on an island, of sorts, ourselves: fallen trees blocked one way out of our neighborhood, a flooded golf course the other.
Our power stayed off for several days. Unable to play music during this time, I reached a decision to go for a different sound on the bass when I was finally able to play again.
That was very optimistic of me, thinking that the worst was over. It wasn't.
