Isabel

"Vows are made in storms and forgotten in calm weather."

         - Thomas Fuller, British writer (1608 - 1661)

For days now most of us who live on this island have been watching the Weather Channel for news about when and where Hurricane Isabel will make landfall. The highest point here is barely 20 feet above sea level and the average elevation is less than seven or eight feet.  A Category 3 storm such as Isabel would wreak havoc if it hit us.

The last big storm we had in South Carolina was Hugo,  but the one that did the most damage to our island was the Great Sea Islands Hurricane of 1893.  It left a major portion of Beaufort County underwater and claimed hundreds of lives here, thousands in the state.  Recalling the ferocity of these monsters can make you very nervous about what this one might be like.

It is difficult to take in how powerful a storm like Isabel can be.  While I've never had to endure a Category 3 or 4 hurricane face-to-face, I recall visiting south Florida sometime after Hurricane Andrew ravaged that area.  The destruction was total...like I would imagine a place would look after a nuclear explosion.   

I worry about the folks in North Carolina and northward who are in the path Isabel is projected to take.  I have friends in Wilmington and their home will most certainly be in danger.  I'm hoping she will continue to weaken and everyone will have worried for nothing.  Perhaps that's a bit much to ask, but I'm asking just the same.  Even if I get my wish, there will always be another.  But I think I'll be more prepared when the next one comes.  I'd better be.