This was the cloud formation I saw from the deck the night before Hurricane Irene arrived. It looked ominous.
Combined with the radar images on TV which showed a swirling mass of wind-whipped clouds spanning over 650 miles, I was convinced that Armageddon was on the way.
Our basement had flooded on four occasions in the past but after spending $10,000 on extra drainage and sump pumps, I discovered that the builder had not graded the land properly and that it sloped down towards the house.
This I rectified by crawling under the deck and depositing over sixty bags of dirt and stones sloping away from the basement window and the back of the house. I had thought about actually hiring somebody to do the dirty work but couldn't bear the thought of paying any more money for flood control.
I went down to the basement and looked around. What a pain to have to move everything. Surely nothing will happen. But then I remembered Katrina and people on rooftops--and the mantra constantly repeated on TV--"prepare for the worst and hope for the best".
So I resolved to move all the bookcases and desks and chairs along the far wall of the basement. I rolled back the carpet and created a zone for the water to pour through the basement window (as it had in the past) and then head for the two waiting sump pumps. That was the theory anyway.
Mercifully, Irene passed over our neighborhood without causing any historic flooding or blowing down any of the huge trees which surround us. The chairs on the deck were blown around during the night and there were a lot of branches all over the place. But we were safe, dry and thankful.
Like watering the garden and bringing on rain, I had cleaned out the basement and averted disaster. Now I have to put all that stuff back where it belongs. But I am not doing anything until Hurricanes Katya, Jose, Lee and Maria have blown through
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