I met Sandy in the Summer of 1978.
The radio had her and Danny’s song from Grease on heavy rotation where I lived in Homestead, Florida and the movie had hit like a Hurricane! What guy didn’t almost pass out when she said “Tell me about it…Stud!”
14 years later, in 1992, another Hurricane paid a visit to Homestead, Florida, but his name was Andrew.
I remember my father, who had been the Chief of Construction for the Air Force calling me and saying “I just got the aerial pictures of your old paper route on Homestead Air Force Base…looks like we dropped the bomb on it.”
Read more about it here:http://earthsky.org/earth/the-20th-anniversary-of-hurricane-andrew
At the time, I was active duty Air Force stationed at Langley AFB, Virginia and worked Hurricane Relief for all the displaced service members from Homestead Air Force Base. It was unbelievable to see the damage to their homes.
Several years ago, I had the opportunity to visit Homestead, Florida and see the home I used to live in and ride my old paper route again. All that was left of my house was a piece of driveway and the entire neighborhood had been bulldozed and overgrown by a forest of mangroves.
When I left the Air Force, I stayed near Langley AFB and built a contracting business in the Hampton Roads, Virginia area which is comprised of the cities of Yorktown, Virginia Beach, Newport News, Williamsburg, Chesapeake, Norfolk, Hampton, Suffolk, and Portsmouth Virginia. Our company started as a roofing business but we have grown to be a full service General Contractor and Remodeler and do all kinds of Home Improvement, Remodels, Additions, Kitchen, Bathrooms, Roofs, Siding, Windows. But the nature of our business changes when certain “girls” come to town…
In 2003, we were visited by Isabel and she made a mess of the place.
Hurricane Isabel threw trees through houses and residents here found themselves without power for weeks. We were swamped with calls at the office, receiving more than 100 per day for weeks on end as people became more desperate and frustrated because our competitors had shut their phones off due to being overwhelmed with repair work. For those that are feeling nostalgic, here’s a trip down memory lane:
Last year, 2011, Irene came to town. She wasn’t too severe, but still caused her share of damage. Here are some of our posts from the storm:
Hurricane Irene Storm Damage is Still Here
Hurricane Irene Causes Tree Damage to York County Home
Today, we are waiting to see what Sandy does. She’s got quite a resume so far having been responsible for 20 deaths in Carribbean. But why is she looking like she’s going to be so unique and so nasty? It is explained best by this graphic from the Washington Post (click for a larger view):
According to the lastest storm track from the National Hurricane Center, it’s looking like our area may be spared. But these things are so unpredictable, it’s too soon to tell. 
Friends in the Outer Banks of North Carolina have already been posting pictures on Facebook of the aggressive surf and Sandy is still a day and half away from them.
Sandy is a big storm as can be seen on this radar view and all we can do is sit and wait to see what she will ultimately do. It’s high drama, if nothing else!
