There are downed trees everywhere. Traffic lights are out at busy intersections. Many thousands of residents — including yours truly — are without power, and may remain so for several days to come.
There is property damage, and flooding, and ruined belongings, and frustration and heartache.
And holy shit, it could’ve been so much worse.
When the largest hurricane to ever cross the Atlantic into the Caribbean sideswiped the Tampa Bay area, it had already devastated regions from Barbuda to Fort Myers, and weakened from a Category 5 to a Cat 1. We did not have to endure our own Harvey, our own Katrina. That may not be of much comfort to somebody whose ancient live oak went through their picture window, but I think we can all agree that many of us are still here who might not have been if it was as bad as it we thought it was gonna be.
So did some people overreact? Almost certainly. But people need to get to a place where, if they’re not exactly comfortable, they’re at least able to cope, and if that place for you was North Carolina, then more power to you.
There’s still a lot of work to do, but the worst is over — and the worst wasn’t cataclysmic. We’ll be OK.
This article appears in Sep 7-14, 2017.
