Day of Destruction, Night of Peace

By Kevin Taylor

On a hot and humid day of July in Florida, the sky becomes grey and hazy. Some people stand outside of their homes while others are preparing to evacuate the state. The impending hurricane makes headlines all over the local news networks. The sky turns darker and darker as many residents are boarding up their windows and reinforcing their doors. Nothing can be heard outside in residential areas, there remains a spooky silence. In many homes, you’ll hear the sound of hammers driving nails into plywood boards and beams. By the water you can hear the sounds of the waves crashing into the beach and whistling wind picking up dramatically from 81 mph to 94 mph within a matter of minutes. Strangely, there are still boats that can be seen sitting about in the ocean. Some of these boats are at least 100 feet away from the shore and dock. It is unknown if these boats are occupied by human beings or not. The boats can be seen swaying and shifting about as the force of the wind pushes the waves even harder than before. The odd silence of the town is interrupted by a sound… “BOOM! BANG! POW!” as lightning crashes into the northeastern section of the town illuminating the dark atmosphere of the clouds above and nearly striking power lines. According to local meteorologists, the storm should be at full force by 4:45 pm and the current time suggests that there’s only about 15 minutes left until the eye of the storm will be there. Suddenly, the wind speed increases once more and a ground that was once dry, dusty and dull became rivers of water rushing down the surface of the streets. Many locals were unaware of how powerful this storm would be and only assumed that it would be a minor storm. However, they would soon find out that the storm was more serious and dangerous than they would ever imagine. The storm was growing in intensity as the rain seemed to become heavier. Out of nowhere you could hear the sound of glass being shattered as hailstones the size of tennis balls were dispersed about. These large hailstones stripped paint off of cars and houses. As leaves and debris were scattered all over the town, the power of the storm would lead to a loss of electricity. The storm would go on for hours but it would quickly begin to move north towards the edge of dark. In the storms wake, it left thousands of downed trees, 145,831 reported power outages, 22 overturned vehicles, flooded beaches and some homes but left no casualties. It was 9:21 pm when the storm appeared to dissipate; it was still windy outside but clear and cool. The electricity was restored in every location and people were happy again. The moon and stars could be seen from above as it would be one of the most peaceful nights there in Florida.