I’ve always heard when mama was about to have me in 1964, a huge Hurricane named Dora was heading to North Florida and South Georgia and was going to cause lots of damage.
Sixty years later and on m y birthday last week, Hurricane Helene came and did her damage. She hit land Thursday, September 26, which was my birthday.
We lost power late Thursday night. I didn’t have too much damage at my house other than a bunch of limbs and pinecones and a good bit of rain.
I did have a generator and was able to keep my freezer and refrigerator going until the power was turned back on late Saturday night. I had just got off the phone with my nephew. He was going to bring me more gas from Brunswick to keep my generator going. At 9:32 p.m., the power came on.
I called him back and told him to not bring it after all.
My sister-in-law’s power came back on a few hours before mine. If not for that, I was on the verge of getting a bar of soap and going skinny dippin’ in my pond.
I believe we were very fortunate to not have more damage in our little town than what could have been.
I know I have heard some people say that they wouldn’t have liked to live in the “old” days without power, phones and running water. I don’t know how mama and daddy did back when I was born 60 years ago when Hurricane Dora hit, but I do know we survived it.
Same thing with Helene. She made things uncomfortable and created a lot of yard work, but we survived. I know a lot of people faired way worse than we did.
• Wayne Morgan is freelance wildlife photographer and author.
