Dennis

It's here. The fourth named storm of the season, our first big one of the year. Here in Birmingham, we anticipate the affects of Hurricane Dennis. You would think our city is far enough inland to avoid the wrath, but we know differently. We experienced an actual hurricane here last year....Hurricane Ivan. I would consider us lucky in comparison to other cities. Last year Florida residents took a beating from the continuous flow of hurricanes. We still have to go through the "routine" in preparation. From the first sign of it heading our way, everyone rushes to the grocery store. They buy all the bread, milk, bottled water and other nonperishable types of foods. Peanut butter is a good one. (Why do people buy out the milk? It surely won't last long once the electricity goes out!) Then Lowe's and Home Depot sell out of batteries and generators; drug stores back up with people filling prescriptions; and gasoline starts selling out. Then at home, fill pitchers of water, coolers with ice, and the bathtub full of water. I guess we are not close enough to the shore to tape or board up our windows. All in all, it is better to be safe than sorry. We have to worry about flooding, winds and tornadoes which causes power outages. At least we don't have the actual storm surge this far inland. Then we watch continuous coverage from our favorite meteorologist and wait. It is gray and dreary and raining....and raining. Our area will get the brunt of the storm sometime during the night. I really hope the damage won't be too bad, so everyone stay inside and be safe.