A Tale of Two Hurricanes Finds More That Differs Than Is the Same

The New York Times ^ | Oct. 13, 2024, 5:03 a.m. ET | Audra D. S. Burch, Eduardo Medina and Kate Selig

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Cindy Miller wasn’t sure where to begin the cleanup this weekend at her home in Englewood, Fla. Hurricane Milton had drenched her home and dumped debris everywhere. Much of it was not even hers. A sofa, doors and shoes littered the backyard, along with detritus that remained from Hurricane Helene, the deadliest hurricane to hit the U.S. mainland in nearly two decades.

“You work all your life to live in paradise and a hurricane comes and kicks you right in the butt,” said Ms. Miller, 70, who retired to Florida 15 years ago.

Around 700 miles north, in the rugged, craggy version of paradise that is the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina, Drew Reisinger was still reeling from Helene, which had left him and his neighbors without running water for two weeks and counting. He had just poked a tiny hole into the bottom of a grocery bag full of water, and was using it as a makeshift shower head.

Storm-weary residents are climbing out of the ruins left behind by two different hurricanes in two different locations. Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida on Sept. 26, then plowed through the South, including North Carolina. Hurricane Milton made landfall on Oct. 9 on the west coast of Florida.

Florida, a state where hurricanes are an enduring fact of life, avoided the worst-case scenario and is beginning to recover. Western North Carolina and its population center of Asheville, unaccustomed to frequent hurricanes, are still staggered by a storm that caught many off guard.

“Hurricanes no longer hit the coastline and then die,” said Beth Zimmerman, who led disaster operations for the Federal Emergency Management Agency during the Obama administration, and is now a senior executive adviser with IEM, an emergency management consultant firm. “Everybody needs to be looking not to what...”

[frank ballenger]

Yogi Berra about his son who was also a ballplayer.

“We’re not much alike. All our similarities are different.”

[Allegra]

Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.

[frank ballenger]

Ha.

Great sage.

Funny thing is we all nod and understand what he meant but we never put it into those words.

[SharpRightTurn]

“I want to thank you for making this day necessary.”

[kiryandil]

One of my favorite Yogi-isms...

[Jamestown1630]

“You work all your life to live in paradise and a hurricane comes and kicks you right in the butt,”

I feel bad for what has happened to the people affected by the hurricanes. But I just can't think of Florida as 'paradise'.

[fhayek]

—You can observe a lot by watching....

[rellic]

When you move to “paradise”, you need to consider
what can also go bad!
I have 5 acres and an ocean view in Hawaii, is it Paradise?The only natural disaster I don’t have to worry about is
an arctic blizzard, everything else can and has happened here.
So you prepare, that is part of the cost of the home.

[Libloather]

“Hurricanes no longer hit the coastline and then die,” said Beth

Another expert. How many are there?

[ealgeone]

“Hurricanes no longer hit the coastline and then die,” said Beth Zimmerman, who led disaster operations for the Federal Emergency Management Agency during the Obama administration,

******

Uh.....hurricanes do begin to die once they get inland. They've never just hit the coast and then died.

[Sacajaweau]

If you move to Hurricane Country...it happens...

[sopo]

right, both windy and wet, what else has to be said. But thanks for the Yogiism. Between him and Stengalese, there hasn’t again been that much humor in sports since.

[frank ballenger]

Great one.