Hurricane Food

Florence was a Cat 4, maybe it would be a 5? We spent all day Wednesday preparing: secure the shutters, remove porch furniture, go to the grocery to get food. We have a gas stove and hot water so we bought some things that we could cook before they would go bad without a refrigerator. And we got the stuff that we did not need to refrigerate.

One also wants to keep up with what is going on during the storm. We went shopping for radio batteries. That took a couple of stops but we got 2 radios going and three flashlights. We had candles and matches, but the matches were so damp with humidity that we should have had a lighter. And we needed something to light the stove. Next time. Candles don’t provide much light. Our ancestors had a darker world.

We also needed to board up the beach house. It is ocean front on Wrightsville Beach, the ultimate location of the landfall of Florence. We have plywood precut for the windows and doors on the ocean side. We moved some stuff out of the storage area under the house (that had totally gone in Fran in ’96). We moved all the furniture off the porch (the waves had covered the first level in Fran). We put some things on the second floor. We took out the art work that was important to us.

Thursday morning---wait. We took a walk downtown in Wilmington. Anderson Cooper was in town. They took our name to call us during the storm (they didn’t). The winds and rain started Thursday afternoon. The middle of the night was the worst. The shutters were blowing off the north side. The front door blew open breaking the latch and blew the pictures off the piano and wet the entrance. Our alarm notified us and we got there fairly soon and managed to close it. I listened to the radio a good portion of the night. The eyewall hit Wrightsville Beach (about 10 miles east of Wilmington and our house) at 7:15 Friday morning. We still had electricity so made coffee and had eggs and toast for breakfast. Then the power went out.

By daylight we could see the many limbs down and the huge oak that lay across our historic iron fence and front yard. The wind and rain continued off and on as the bands of the storm passed. The storm had come in as a Cat I. Then after hitting land it slowed to a 2 mph forward speed. Sunday morning it was still going---day 4.

I began to lose track of the days by that time. We did get power back fairly soon and that is always a really positive time. Some friends didn’t get theirs for a few more days.

Over several days many came to our front door wanting to take down the huge oak in our front yard. The tree was on the city right of way and I wanted to see what the city would do. I knew it would not be soon. Then one afternoon someone knocked. My husband was trying to access the beach to see when they would reopen. I couldn’t open the front door. He yelled it’s just someone about the tree, but he finally came and pulled the door open. There was a young man who wanted to take the tree down. Free! This was a group from Atlanta who regularly did this after storms. They came with dump trucks, back-hoes, graders, chippers, chainsaws---ready to roll. They had just come to town through high water since the town was technically cut off from the outside by road due to flooding. They saw this as the biggest tree they had ever done. It was a little while before they could get all their trucks together. After opening a van loaded with water and food, they had a prayer and a meal and started. It was six men for two days but they cleaned it all up, down to raking the lawn. The fence was destroyed but a huge mess had been cleared.

I needed a tarp(s) for the roof of the beach house and was unable to buy any. The federal government was opening three distribution centers; one of them downtown. I drove down and got in line. It was moving fairly fast. I said I needed 2 tarps only. Our orders: “You get one case water, one case of MRE’s, and one tarp,” and they loaded them. Our government at work. My husband saw an old couple pulling a cart with their supplies. He gave them the MRE’s. After lunch he decided to go through the line again to get another tarp. He got the water and MRE’s again----but they were out of tarps!

Compared to many we were lucky. We got our beach house tarped (borrowed from a friend) and set our loyal carpenter to work on our other problems which included two ceilings down, some windows out, buckled floors, etc. Now to get out of town and back to Mississippi with so many roads out due to flooding. We got word that there was a road just opened south to Myrtle Beach and then to Florence---only about an hour out of the way. I was afraid we would have to go north to Virginia and then back south and west.

For a non-cook, this beans and tuna dish is a good meal. I call it my hurricane beans and tuna and sometimes we eat it just because we like it.

Hurricane Beans and Tuna

For 2

1 can 15.5 oz. Cannellini Beans (white kidney beans)

1 can 12 oz. solid white albacore tuna (in water or vegetable oil)

Chopped red onion (about ½ cup)

Red pepper flakes

Basil (if you have any)

Olive oil

Balsamic vinegar

Salt and pepper

Drain beans and rinse and divide into two bowls. Drain tuna and divide into bowls with beans. Add your chopped red onions equally and use whatever amount of salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes to your desire. Any available herbs can also be used such as basil, thyme or oregano, but during a hurricane they may be hard to fine (unless you have your herbs in a close by herb garden). HA! Drizzle olive oil over beans and tuna. Add the vinegar over the tuna. Delish!

Though my husband decried the MRE’s. I had to try them. Well, you have to be really hungry so I did not actually eat one but ate a cookie (dry) and some gummy candy! I looked at the sodium content and carbs and that was enough to turn me away. But I have a supply of 12 meals and I am sure they will still be ready to eat for the next hurricane.

My husband has to have his coffee in the morning. So we boiled water and poured it into the coffee maker. It worked quite well.

Next time get batteries and tarps early on. And a lighter for the candles and gas. Batten those shutters down better.