This is another common question we get from people when we tell them that we are moving to the Caribbean.
This seems a strange question coming from people in Colorado. Right this instant we are experiencing massive rains and flooding that is causing severe devastation especially to areas near the rivers. Roads are closed down, some people are stranded and some areas are shutting down municipal water service due to possible contamination. Some of our friends and former next door neighbors live(d) in one of the trailers in Riverside Park in Evans shown in this video. Their home and car have been completely damaged and are probably unsalvageable. They had to swim inside their home in shoulder deep water to just scrape together a few of their floating belongings.
This is a river about 1 mile north of our house. Thankfully we are still high and dry
While this is definitely one of the wildest weather rides we’ve had in a while, it is not isolated. Colorado has some of the most extreme climates ever. In just the last 6 months alone we have had raging wildfires, huge hail storms that demolished whole cars, sides of houses and rooves (one of which was a rental of ours), extreme heat that caused schools to close, tornados touching down with winds in excess of 50 MPH and snow blizzards with temperatures 20 to 30 degrees below 0 F! And again this is just in the last 6 months mind you!
This is the baseball field in Evans near Riverside
So it seems sort of bizarre when people from Colorado ask us if we are afraid of hurricanes in Puerto Rico. I’d say coming from Colorado we are probably more prepared for extreme, bipolar weather than most. When people ask this it is interesting that they do not see where they live as being an extreme climate sort of place. We (humans) tend to exaggerate risk when it is outside of our control, and minimize it when we are more familiar.
I am sure a hurricane would be a crazy intense thing to go through, but just like these crazy and intense things in Colorado, we would get through it. It will be tough to clean up and deal with the aftermath of these and future disasters, but life WILL go on. People will pull through as we always seem to do. We need to help each other out in times like these. We need to show our very best side. If there is any silver lining in these huge natural disasters it is at the very least, this.
This photo was taken by an aerial news reporter and shows the trailer homes floating in the flooded river
There is no sense in being afraid of future possible calamities. They are bound to happen whether you are afraid or not, so you might as well face them head on. We will continue to do our best to be prepared and avoid high risks, but life is full of disasters of one kind or another around every bend. We must be flexible and adaptable. We must be compassionate and community-oriented. We must be calm and not panic or exaggerate. We are from Colorado after all, right?! We can get through anything. So if you ask, I might remind you of this and say, no, we are definitely not afraid of hurricanes.
I am jealous that you have an empty basement.
Good for you Cassie. What a bunch of wussies asking you about hurricanes when they live in such a violent and unpredictable climate (I lived in Colorado 2 years and had my house hit by a tornadic lightening storm in Aurora, blowing the phone off the wall and leaving a giant scorch mark, and was scared to death in 76 when Char was camping with a friend in Big Thompson Canyon the night of the flood, but later moved to a safer place. Both summers there, the giant hail damaged our car, and one winter we were caught in a huge blizzard going to dinner a few miles away at the Red Steer, and almost froze to death on the way home, and our car engine block was frozen solid and cracked — all this in 2 years!)
Their worries about your hurricanes are more about themselves. They are really asking, “why don’t I take risks, like they do?” But the reality is that we are all living in a world of risk, disaster and ultimate change. The phone rings. Your life changes as you find out your loved one is in critical condition, or your loved one has committed suicide, or on the positive side, your first grandchild is on the way, get down to the hospital to welcome him. You get in the car. Your life changes when the drunk runs the stop light. You get home from a camping trip to find your partner bandaged from a life-threatening dog bite. These and other things happened to us; we survived, we coped, we thrived. Life is a serious of challenges, triumphs, disasters, recovery, new beginnings, endings and ultimately we say goodbye to it all and hopefully celebrate a life well lived.
Watching the Colorado videos and pictures I can’t help but remember the 128 poor people that were ultimately found in the rivers in the aftermath of the Big Thompson flood of 76. Did we learn from this and make sure that people didn’t live next to these potentially disasterous rivers? As you put it so well, “they do not see where they live as being an extreme climate sort of place. We (humans) tend to exaggerate risk when it is outside of our control, and minimize it when we are more familiar.”
The hurricanes, if you ever see any, will be a piece of cake after living in Colorado for 30 years. And it may be kind of interesting watching it from your cute little concrete guest house. Hope you take some good videos so we can watch it too!
Thanks Annie. Yep, life is like that. Ups and downs and side to side. One giant roller coaster ride. I love your stories! The 1976 flood had to have been pretty insane because people still talk about it today. Thanks for your perspective.
Linda, it is odd having all this empty space! Freeing but odd.