Tropical Storm Elsa

I am not one to underrate the power of a tropical weather system as I have seen enough of them blow over to know how bad they can be. But Tropical Storm Elsa has done not much to impress me.

After a fast gallop across the Atlantic the storm slowed down, passed over land masses in the Caribbean and after one moment as an actual hurricane, the tropical storm has stayed well under 74 mph. 

I must say I have been impressed by our community leadership facing off against this potential buzz kill. After a year of pandemic tourism starvation no one wanted to see Fourth of July wrecked by some rain so the response to the threat was muted. An advised evacuation of mobile homes they said, suggesting residents stay with people in more solid homes. 

Years ago the threat of a storm led to shut downs, evacuations and a loss of business. Then the storm blew through and nothing much happened. That got old. 

We've had some crappy storms. Wilma in 2005 followed Katrina which sideswiped the keys and destroyed New Orleans so when we had flooding later that year we were all bit freaked out. There was money in those days before 2008 and car dealers set up tents on Stock island to help replace the ten thousand cars drowned by Wilma. Trash was everywhere but it was nothing compared to Irma in 2017. That was a hurricane for the ages and that I don't want to live through again.

Tropical Storm Elsa is scheduled to arrive overnight between Monday, yesterday and today Tuesday. 50 mph winds over Cuba may strengthen a bit but the National Hurricane Center in Miami says the eye of the storm will slide westward and pass over the Marquesas Keys 15 miles west of Key West.

Tourists have been leaving for sure, RVs and boats on trailers have headed for the mainland but this isn't an evacuation situation. I worked overtime this weekend and we got a few calls from people wondering if the Keys were evacuated. Really? Gas stations have been busy but a tropical storm of these proportions didn't stop fireworks on the fourth (and Rusty was none too happy about that).

And yet we see people parking their cars on the approaches to the bridges on the Overseas Highway. This is a tactic deployed to get cars above potential flooding when conditions merit. Even if we get the full six inches of rain predicted this doesn't seem necessary to me. Whatever they want, hurricane preparation is more to make people feel better than to actually out-think a force of nature.

I looked south on my way home from my last dog walk with Rusty (we got soaked in a sudden shower which didn't stop us) the seas were flat as expected. Havana was getting the rain and we were getting a little wind. 

I had thought about spending the night at work so I drove in aboard Gannet 2 thinking I might hunker in the van and be at work for my six o'clock shift Tuesday morning. In the event the afternoon was so still and calm and utterly dull I would have felt like a total idiot setting up camp with a Lean Cuisine in the police station parking lot with my wife, my dog and a proper kitchen with pork chops and roast potatoes 25 miles away. I drove home.

I drove in to work this morning at five in the expected rain and wind and the Fiat 500 handled the conditions just fine. It was actually quite pleasant having the Overseas Highway to myself. Put some rain on the road and everyone starts to act like it's a snowdrift crawling along and peering through the windshield like modern tires can't handle rain . City offices are closed and most people get a post Fourth of July pause today. As usual the National Hurricane Center predictions came through, furthermore we never even had a power outage as Keys Energy has built a system designed to brush off mere tropical storms. They are now warning of floods on the mainland and I see pictures of people stuffing sandbags. Much fun no doubt.

I hope Tropical Storm Elsa is the worst we get between now and November.