Storm Watching

Of course I was watching the footage from Galveston when Ike hit over the weekend. I spent a good chunk of my childhood in a small town between Houston and Galveston, and I have really fond memories of that area. And since I've moved back to Texas, I've been down to Galveston a few times. Amazingly, it's one of the few places in my life that has changed very little. In fact, the same shell shop that we went to back in the 70s, with the same day-glo colored puka necklaces for sale and giant clams attached to the front is still there. So any time a hurricane hits, I sit and watch and wonder if this is the time Galveston gets swept out to sea.

I didn't sleep well on Friday night, because at the same time Ike's eye was approaching the gulf coast, the outer edges were starting into the Dallas area. And big fronts always mess with my head. So every hour or so, I'd wake up and wander down stairs to see what was on CNN. I'd kind of stare at the dark outlines behind Gary Tuchman and see if I could recognize anything. And one of my best party tricks is my impression of a CNN correspondent standing in a hurricane. So I'm going to be adding the bit I saw of a little tiny girl reporter standing out in the open holding onto a bush so that she didn't get blown away. Those reporters have to be a really special sort of different to want to stand in 60 mile an hour winds on camera.

But the image that caught me the most probably wouldn't have struck anybody who'd never lived in a coastal region. Early Saturday morning, they showed a picture from downtown Houston where the sewer manhole cover had popped off, because the bayou had backed up, and was spewing water in a fountain into the street. Not just water, black bayou water. And if you've ever smelled that stench of stagnation and decay, it stays in your nose forever. All I had to do was see that picture and it turned into smell-a-vision for me. As sharp and strong as if I was 9 and catching crawdads.

From all the reports, it looks like Houston took a pretty bad hit. And Galveston even worse. I keep looking at the footage, hoping that things I recognize are still there. Which reminds me, I need to go make a donation to the Salvation Army. They're feeding a lot of people and can use the help. And hurricane season still has a ways to go.

* Addendum - and speaking of a way to go: I think it may be time for all storm reporters everywhere to hit the old thesaurus. English is a varied and robust language. Can we find a different word than "power"? "Power of the storm", "powerful winds", "power of nature". Power is a good word. Power is a great word. But there are all sorts of other words that you can use. Let's give power a rest. And while we're at it. Uhm. What is the obsession with "hunker down"? Y'all really like that phrase. Really. Telling a field reporter once or twice to hunker down is sort of folksy. 20 or 30 times and it just starts to sound, mmmm, odd. I'm just saying.