Surviving a Hurricane-Or Three
by Don Price dprice@cityoforlando.net
Thursday, September 2
Mayor Buddy Dyer announced that this category 3 hurricane is indeed going to affect us. We were asked to man every city vehicle with an open bed and clear the remaining piles of debris from the streets of Orlando. We spent the entire day driving through the city, loading large piles of tree limbs onto our vehicles and depositing them at specified sites.
Sunday, September 5
Orlando was pummeled with 50 mph winds for over 13 hours. Needless to say, this did not help things. Even though the debris had been cleared out, the ground was still saturated from the rain and some trees had been leaning. Some homes just had tarps covering damaged roofs. Gas and food were still in short supply.
Monday, September 6
Labor Day isn't a holiday this year. When I arrived at the cemetery gates, my initial reaction was one of relief. At least this time the gates were passable. It looked like the wind damage was aesthetic rather than physical this time, though the office again was without power or phone service.
The grounds were again littered with limbs and Spanish moss, but the cemetery lost only three additional trees, and the wind even helped in a way by blowing down most of the dead branches Hurricane Charley was responsible for in the treetops. I'd been trying to figure out how we were going to get those down, and now Mother Nature had taken care of it.
Tuesday, September 7
Perfecturf arrived today with a full crew, even though their office in Okeechobee is only 20 minutes from where Frances made landfall. They took a hit from the hurricane, but nevertheless showed up to help us clean up the mess at Greenwood.
Thursday, September 9
Hurricane Ivan is lurking out in the Atlantic and projections show it coming through the middle of Florida. Local officials have asked us to keep our homes and offices boarded up. When will this all end?
I used to enjoy my ride into work. I would leave just before dawn, and if I planned it right I could watch the sun rise over the downtown area. This was my Zen. Now all I see is the blight. Homes are boarded up; blue tarps cover roofs; trees litter the streets; and gas stations display "out of gas" signs. My formerly peaceful drive is now stressful.
Saturday, September 11
The cemetery's charm is starting to return. We had a funeral this morning during a light drizzle. The rain somehow brought out the smell of fresh cut grass and the aroma of flowers. I heard the screech of bald eagles flying overhead, and when I looked to the skies saw a rainbow.
Monday, September 13
New projections show Hurricane Ivan missing Florida and heading for the Gulf States. We have decided not to have another community cleanup at the cemetery until the lives of most people are back to normal. Neighbors need to concentrate on helping neighbors who have lost their homes. Power still hasn't been restored everywhere. Gas is still in short supply. Rivers and lakes are flooding. Post-traumatic stress is rampant.
When our lives are back to normal, maybe we can plan a community tree drive to help us replace the trees the cemetery lost.
Thursday, September 23
Our eyes have been glued to the televisions all day. Hurricane Jeanne had been stationary in the Atlantic for over a week. Projections had shown the storm moving north, so that Orlando would not be in her path. The storm began to head north, but then "looped." She is now heading on a track very similar to the one Frances took. The new prediction is that Jeanne will make landfall late Saturday night and then move northwest toward Orlando.
We have a new problem. The FEMA debris removal contractors have mostly pulled out of central Florida and headed to north Florida to take care of the aftermath of Hurricane Ivan. If we get hit by another category 3 hurricane, there will be no contractors here to help with clean-up efforts. I have been on the phone most of the day securing contractors just in case the most recent hurricane predictions are accurate.
Friday, September 24
I was awakened at 5:30 this morning by my caretaker. Last night, his mother had to go to the hospital, and now he needs some time off to see to her health. Wow, what timing. When I arrived at the cemetery, I cleared my schedule for the day and began to oversee the hurricane preparation process with the grounds crew.
One thing I did not expect was the flood of calls from funeral homes trying to "move up" funeral services to this afternoon and tomorrow morning. The last two hurricanes caused massive power outages, and the funeral homes are not looking forward to the challenges associated with the storage of the deceased without power.
We began preparing the grounds for the impact of another hurricane while also opening graves for immediate burials. We even joked about putting in a "drive through" lane for fast-food-style burials. Same quality of service, without the frills.
Saturday, September 25
I arrived at the cemetery at 6:30 am to finish boarding up the offices. This morning's forecast still has Hurricane Jeanne heading toward Orlando.
How can we possibly recover from three hurricanes ravishing our beautiful landscape? My head is spinning. Maybe I should print new business cards: "Greenwood Cemetery, established 1880 ... blown away 2004 ... reestablished 2004." Of course, the graves themselves weren't disturbed. Maybe we could sell T-shirts: "Your house might have blown away, but Grampa is fine 6 feet under at Greenwood."
After finishing up the last service of the day, I began the lock-down procedures for the cemetery: Change the answering machine message, print signs for the front gates, shut down the water mains and take one final look around the grounds for a mental picture of what I am leaving behind.
Monday, September 27
Well, it's another post-hurricane workday at Greenwood Cemetery. No power and no phone service-again! From the initial inspection, it looks like Jeanne did more damage than Frances. The storm up-rooted only three more trees, but she tore through the remaining ones and damaged them tremendously. There are huge limbs everywhere. The cemetery is back to resembling a war zone.
When Jeanne passed through Florida, the storm was moving west. Before the storm cleared the state, it turned north. The damaged caused by winds blowing from one direction as she crossed the state and then from another direction as she moved northward was unbelievable. Our trees are showing stress from the "twisting" effect.
Wednesday, September 29
We are still revising numbers measuring the damage caused by the storms. We initially reported that the cemetery had lost 88 large trees. This number keeps climbing. As we begin to trim the tops of the oaks, we are finding that the successive storms caused massive injuries to the structure of these majestic trees. We now anticipate losing about 125 tree, a loss financially unrecoverable through FEMA. It seems that after Hurricane Andrew devastated south Florida in 1992, FEMA stopped replacing trees.
Thursday, September 30
I received the paperwork to today from the FEMA debris removal contractor. The company removed 4,150 cubic yards of tree debris, or as the paperwork states, "vegetable matter." To put these numbers in perspective, a tractor-trailer holds a little less than 88 cubic yards of waste. So picture about 50 "big rigs" loaded with what was once part of our incredible landscape-and we are still cutting down trees!
Today, as I was walking through the cemetery, I noticed that the bald eagles were beginning to rebuild their nest, which was blown away weeks ago by Hurricane Charley. Mother Nature has a strange way of letting the creatures know when things are returning to normal. Until today, these birds have not made any attempts to rebuild their home. I hope today's activity is a sign that the storm season is over, at least for us.
I am planning to have a "name the bald eagles" contest during the month of November. It's a shame that I've relied on these birds for comfort and a feeling of normalcy in our daily routine yet I don't have a proper name for them.
There is an old saying that "if you love what you do, you will never work another day in your life." I used to feel that way, but lately I've lost my focus on that feeling. Every day has been a challenge. Every minute has been stressful.
On my way home, I drove to the Wal-Mart Superstore and saw an elderly gentleman handing out "smiley face" stickers to store patrons. With all of the trauma we've been through during the last six weeks, it was a heart-lightening sight. I actually forgot about my problems and began to grin. Does anyone know where I can get some of these "magical" stickers for the cemetery?
Don Price is sexton and archives manager for the city of Orlando, Florida. He manages the city's archives and Greenwood Cemetery (www.greenwood-cemetery.net). His major goal, other than keeping future hurricanes away from Orlando, is to someday venture north of the Mason-Dixon line. He can be reached at dprice@cityoforlando.net.
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