By Shellie Miller-Farrugia
Having been a South Floridian for many moons, Irma wasn’t my first brush with counterclockwise winds measuring more than 100 miles an hour. But there was something about her that was a first for me.
It began a few days before she came ashore. I realized that gas was in short supply, with long lines at stations that still had fuel and other stations with plastic bags over their pump handles. As I was out visiting clients, I jumped into a gas line that went fairly quickly, and posted the location in my status on Facebook. A short time later, friends were making comments and thanking me for my help! For the day’s remainder, my travel through two counties had me listing open gas stations in the hopes that any friends in those areas would see my news in time to take advantage of the opportunity. And as Irma approached, I noticed more and more posts from people sharing locations of water, batteries, food and other essential items. The Facebook community became an invaluable timesaving and encouragement tool. We could see on our computers and smart phones that we were, indeed, all in this together!
I remember in preparation for hurricane Wilma all you could do was go to a store and hope that what you were looking for was still available. Otherwise, it was on to another stop or another and yet another. Also, the only way to find out if your friends/neighbors/relatives were alright was telephone or checking in person, which was made more difficult post-storm.
As a person of faith, I was encouraged that many posts regarding Harvey’s devastation in Houston included phrases like, “Please pray…” And a short time later as Irma lumbered ashore, we had many relatives and friends from all over the world inquiring about our well-being as well as imploring their friends to, “Please pray for Florida.” The fact that the loss of life could have been so much worse solidifies my belief that this worldwide “prayer chain” was supernaturally effective.
In our family’s case, this hurricane helped build a stronger sense of community with hurricane block parties, where neighbors gathered to barbecue perishables from their defrosting freezers. Social media helped us stay in touch with eachother and coordinate meetings to remove debris and fallen branches and share resources after some power was restored. My Facebook shout-out asking to borrow a portable air conditioner was met with several friends willing to share, and an angel I have never met supplied us with one until FPL brought us electricity six days later.
So my memories of hurricanes without Facebook are not bad… They are full of lots of driving, spending endless amounts of time in line and getting to know my neighbors. The nice thing about hurricanes WITH social media is a lot less wasted time, laughing at a few memes, and getting to know and appreciate neighbors and friends even better.
As we go to press, Puerto Rico is just beginning their healing from hurricane Maria. Please pray for everyone on that island and all others who were in her path. I have no doubt it will make an incredible difference!