Flood Season

You might think this is some place in the distant Mid West or Virginia or Delaware or somewhere getting hammered by Mother Nature this wild weather year. Nope, this is the quiet old backwater known as the Florida Keys, land of the world's best mild weather.

These are side streets on Ramrod Key and this is rainy season with a very high tide around the new moon, so it should come as no surprise that there'd is some flooding. Just lately it's been getting quite wet on the ground.

The main paved roads are raised enough not to flood, and even the City of Key West is trying to organize it's storm drains to keep streets flood-free when it's raining hard. Highway One is not affected by flooding, just so we're clear and driving between islands is a completely dry affair.

This is not snake country because this sort of flooding isn't unusual, and for a snake to live in these watery islands would be a feat of endurance hard to imagine.

There isn't much to choose between natural disasters but flooding is a dreadful way to wreck homes with the consequent mud and mold, which makes me glad I live in a stilt house - just in case.

As folks Up North get ready to deal with excessive rain and floods and misery it's not surprising to find oneself contemplating the irony of life when we in the unprotected Keys are enjoying a lovely breezy, low humidity summer, relatively speaking and people in sensible communities in the industrious Up North are about to get spanked.

Oh, and one more thing, when the seasonal rains cease in a couple of months the cool dry other season kicks in. We call it winter but most residents of temperate climes call it delightful. Either way I'm happy but I'll be glad to get my winter trails back even at the highest of high tides.

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Goodnight Hurricane Irene

People can die on the sandy Outer Banks of North Caroline when strong hurricanes strike those vulnerable islands so they are evacuating as fast as the ferries can haul them. In 2003 a storm cut a hole in one of the islands known ironically as Isabel Inlet, and killed 35 people up the East Coast all the way to Canada, which is a figure that astonishes me.


We have dodged a big one here in the Keys and there is nothing quite so snug as watching a category four churn off in the other direction while life goes on entirely as normal here at home. Good luck to them and all the inexperienced New Englanders who visit the Keys and ask us with pity in their eyes, "What do you do in a hurricane?" They are about to find out first hand.


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Hurricane Irene

There has been a nervous tingle in Key West, but at this point Hurricane Irene seems most likely to be nudged off Florida by a building ridge of high pressure. Jolly good.


The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration website shows a decided path toward Charleston, South Carolina, a harbor city open to the south east and doubtless not ready to absorb another storm surge on the level of Hurricane Hugo of fond memory. This is payback for a long tedious 2011 of climate change disasters across the country except in the southeast. Or not. Nothing has happened yet and nothing is promised. Perhaps the rabid capitalists of Bermuda and the peasants of the Bahamas will be the chosen tribes this time around. Or we Conchs. In the meantime life goes on as the platitude has it.


I would ask that storms not be personalized. I hate how people talk about hurricanes as "he" or "she;" they have no feelings they are caused by wind and water. Everyone should have a hurricane plan and sensible people do. Inexperienced people think they are brave until the winds start to howl and then they crap themselves by which time it's too late. Evacuate often and early is my credo but...most people plan hurricane parties instead.

Well, so far it's a false alarm for the Keys, so until next time, keep planning life as normal unless you live in Charleston in which case prepare to kiss your ass goodbye if you listen to the sadists. I prefer realism. Roll on November 30th.

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