All week long, Governor Nikki Haley encouraged, called for, and pushed people on the coast of South Carolina to evacuate. Her worried face was on every local news channel, pleading with the people of the Palmetto State.
Finally, she warned that Hurricane Matthew could potentially be worse than Hurricane Hugo from September of 1989.
When my parents heard Governor Haley's comment about Hurricane Hugo, they went out and bought loaves of bread, jars of peanut butter, and big cases of water. They had lived through Hurricane Hugo and they recalled the power outages and the widespread flooding.
"Why are you so worried, Mom? We don't live near the beach, so we should be fine, right Dad?" I didn't see how they could be worried. No one else didn't seem to be taking the storm seriously.
Besides, I thought, we have lived in our house for ten years and every time a storm hits, we only get rain. If we've lost power, it's only been for a couple of hours. Nothing serious.
I never knew what was coming.
The rain began slow at first, like any normal storm. We pressed our faces to the screen door and watched the water pour down and puddle in the yard.
The wind started slowly and rustled the leaves. I sighed in relief. It didn't seem to be amounting to much.
However, it soon picked up and the wind howled. As the weather worsened, the strength of the wind beat the limbs of our trees and moved them in all directions. The branches thrashed around angrily.
"Mom! That tree looks like the Whomping Willow from Harry Potter!"
Then, the power went out.
Mom rubbed her hands together anxiously. "I'm going to call your dad," she said. She took her phone and dialed his number with shaking hands. I could hear her voice crack as she asked him when he would be home from work. "The storm is starting to get bad over here," she warned him. "Be careful when you drive."
Five minutes after she hung up with my dad, the first tree fell. The heavy thud shook the floor. We ran to the back door, mouths wide open.
One of large oak trees in our backyard had toppled and its roots were sticking up in the air. On the way down, the tree fell on our pool and ripped it down the side. The pool water began to rush out, causing our yard to flood even more.
The second tree crashed down less than thirty minutes later. The ground had become so saturated, the roots couldn't hold on anymore. This tree's roots came up and propelled our fence into the air. Chain link was torn and wooden planks broke apart.
When my dad got home minutes later, he urged us all into the living room. He told us trees were falling everywhere and the roads were flooding quickly. When the third tree fell, my mom's eyes filled with tears and my dad's mouth formed a tight line. We were scared, all of us.
The only trees left were the ones close enough to hit our house.
We sat for hours on worried anticipation. Would more trees fall? Would we lose our home? I held my little boy as he slept, oblivious to the situation, and kissed his forehead. Were we safe?
As the storm ended and the sunset, I helped my dad move one of our mattresses to the living room so we could all sleep in the safest part of the house. We lit candles and grilled the meat in our freezer before it spoiled.
The next day, people walked the streets and gaped at the damage in our neighborhood. Power lines hung close to the ground, yards were flooded, and trees were on top of houses and cars.
The damage wasn't just in South Carolina, either.
Hurricane Matthew's path of destruction included Cuba, Haiti, and several of the eastern states of America, including Florida, North Carolina, and Georgia. The hurricane had over 1,000 fatalities and people are still unaccounted for.
Even as the days go by, people are without power and clean water. Many roads in my area continue to be marked off due to trees in the path or power lines on the ground. In my college classroom, there are still absences for people who live further out.
Living through Hurricane Matthew was by far one of the scariest events I have ever been through. It showed me just how vulnerable humans are when it comes to nature and how easily the weather can put our lives on pause.
However, it also showed me the good in the world.
Schools opened their doors as shelters for people with flooded houses and churches put together bags of food for families who lost everything. Neighbors and friends set out to clear the roads by cutting and moving trees in their neighborhoods. Those with power extended their homes to those without and offered showers and a warm meal.
Overall, I feel extremely blessed. Despite the damage to my yard, fence, and pool, my family is safe and that means more to me than anything else.
I pray for the families that lost homes and loved ones and I encourage you to do the same. You never know what life has in store for you, which makes every moment even more precious.
