Man, finals....ugh, two comprehensives, two others, a stack of notes up to my knees....Really, I don't think it could get any worse....Well, at least I get to fly home on Sunday!
God:
Me:
Shit....
Ok, on a more serious note. The storm is still far out at sea and much could happen between now and then. In the rare chance that the storm does hit, the school is amazingly well equipped for a major catastrophe in that it is elevated, has its own desalination plant for water, and huge genorators that supply the whole campus. That's the good news.
The bad news is that I really don't know if I trust the administration to make the call at the right time to let us go if it becomes obvious the storm is going to hit SXM. Even if the call is made 36 or 48 hours prior to a major storm I would anticipate massive crowding at the airport, and ultimately not enough flights to accomodate everyone. This of course may result in some having to stay behind. The problem with this is, that when an official hurricane warning is issued (Louisianians, back me up on this) there is a mad rush and within 4 hours there is NO bottled water, NO batteries, NO candles, NO canned goods (unless you eat vienna sausages, ughhh). And that's in the U.S. with good supply chains. It could take a week or more to get significant shipments in with damaged ports. You can anticipate the electricity being out for a minimum of 4 days in the U.S. with even a Cat. 1 storm. They can't keep ATM's running, the water on, and the electricity buzzing for 10 consecutive days here in GOOD weather. I don't even want to think what would happen in the event of a storm. So if you're one of these people that thinks "Oh, I'll just evacuate if it is definetly coming here." Remember, in the most powerful country in the world, in the most Hurricane prepared state, whith billions of dollars in federal disaster relief money....it took 4 days to get water to the superdome.
I don't want people to ASSUME the storm is coming directly for us, it is by no means a certainty and its not the time to freak out or make bold decisions. There are a few benign things I would suggest doing as soon as possible just in case, however...
1. fill your car with gas
2. stock up on water, canned goods, batteries, candles and matches, hand sanitizer is a good buy too
3. take some cash out of the ATM
4. get an international phone card or two, its likely only landlines will work
Good luck on Finals.
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