Oh, no - not again!
Just when you breath a sigh of relief, just when you consider storing the worry beads and stress squeeze balls, just when you think that this cursed hurricane season is winding down, along comes Wilma.
The Caribbean-generated tropical storm was originally tracked to head into the western Gulf of Mexico but is now projected to make a serious right hook around Cuba and then beeline toward South Florida.
And of course, Wilma will not be a tropical storm when it arrives sometime Sunday; Oh no, Wilma will be a hurricane. But for Ol' B2 it gets much, much better. The National Hurricane Center has projections that indicate the damned storm will make a direct hit on Little Martin - that would be three direct hits by three different hurricanes in the span of one year. And I did not count our hit by Hurricane Katrina this year because Little Martin was not ground zero.
All of our emergency preparedness personnel and residents are, quite frankly, burned out. We were collectively happy about nearing season's end. And then in the blink of an eye...Wham! Relief to grief. I have already begun contacting essential coordinators and advising them to casually prepare for a potential activation. I have been met with casual groans, casual curses, and casual damnation.
And why not? When you can't do anything to prevent a really bad situation from happening - shoot the messenger, that's what I always say. I've done it myself and although you're still going to suffer, you'll feel a little bit better while you're doing it.
You know this can only end badly.