Prepare now befor the big storms arrive

My wife likes to say that we have two seasons here in North Carolina, the green season and the greener season.

As a relative newcomer to the area, I feel a little more at ease when all four seasons make an appearance in a calendar year. I am thrilled when I actually get use the four-wheel-drive. It’s been a while since my little car has seen any real action, though.

Consequently, a few years back, I bought a motorcycle, thinking I was just driving my rig to work and back anyway. No use in throwing away gas money on a vehicle that gets 16 miles per gallon (21 highway).

I love my motorcycle. It’s fast and uses very little gas; and as a bonus, I never have to buy windshield wipers when it rains — which it does, mostly on days when I drive my bike.

I won’t lie, I do miss air conditioning and cup holders, and I’ve had a few near misses with “cagers,” that’s slang that we bikers use for drivers of vehicles with four or more wheels. But riding a motorcycle has made me much more aware of things happening around me.

For instance motorcycles are all but invisible to everyone else on the roads - except for other riders, who typically give a friendly wave when passing.

I’ve also become keenly aware of the weather.

June 1 marks the beginning of the Atlantic Hurricane Season, which last year produced 20 named storms, seven of which became hurricanes. Three of those were considered major hurricanes of Category 3 or above.

Anyone who has lived here for a while knows the devastation that a hurricane brings.

I was living in the Charleston, South Carolina, area when Hurricane Matthew blew through on its way here, bringing wind, downed trees and lots of water.

The National Weather Service reports that Lumberton saw wind gusts of just under 70 miles per hour, as the storm’s wrath unleashed not just wind but almost 13 inches of rain during that first week of October 2016. The average rainfall for October in Lumberton is 4 inches.

The next big storm for Robeson County was Hurricane Florence in mid-September 2018.

“After the eye crossed Wrightsville Beach, NC at 7:15 a.m. the storm spent the next two days producing record-breaking rainfall across eastern North Carolina and a portion of northeastern South Carolina. Over 30 inches of rain were measured in a few North Carolina locations, exceeding the highest single-storm rainfall amounts ever seen in this portion of the state,” according to the National Weather Service’s report on Florence.

Now, almost six years since Florence’s visit, residents are still cleaning up and rebuilding the devastation that Florence brought to Robeson County.

You may have the coverage we had a couple of weeks ago about the Baptists On Mission turning the house keys over to Berneeta and Jonathan Butler here in Lumberton. Their Lumberton house was so badly damaged that it was easier to tear it down and start over. Several residents in the area have similar stories.

Residents along the Lumber River always get nervous when storm clouds form. It doesn’t take much to bring the water level up to flood stage. Even this week, as we see the promised “severe thunderstorms” in the forecast for the next few days, residents in low-lying areas know that sometimes it’s better to seek higher ground.

With the approach of Hurricane Season, most residents understand that now’s the time to get things ready — just in case.

Preparation, of course, is mandatory from now until the end of November. That’s something we, as a community, are getting better at every year.

In today’s edition of the Robesonian, you’ll find a story about what to do before disaster strikes.

Our proximity to popular recreational sites — such as Lumber River State Park, and summer sports venues — can bring visitors who may not know what to do when a hurricane warning is issued.

Regardless of if you are new to the area or have a long history here, now is the time to get ready.

You can get a good start on that by doing some simple things now. The Red Cross has a simple checklist that every family should work through in the coming days.

Here is their list:

• Build an emergency kit that will last everyone in your family at least three days.

• Talk with household members and create an evacuation plan and practice it.

• Learn about the community’s hurricane response plan.

You probably have some ideas as well; here are a few that I’ll add from experience.

• Get the car tuned up and keep it full of gas and ready to go.

• Have enough cash on hand to get you wherever you need to go to find high ground and shelter.

• If you plan to stick around, fill your outdoor grill’s propane tanks now. And maybe pick up an extra tank now before they disappear.

• Put up three days worth - or more - of drinking water. We use those clear 5 gallon jugs and keep them upstairs — because it’s a lot easier to haul water down the stars than it is to hike it up the stairs.

My wife’s father used to tell the story of the lazy man who complained about the rain coming in through his broken window, but when the rain stopped he couldn’t see the logic of fixing his window on such a nice day.