We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming

Almost three years ago, I lived through Hurricane Wilma. Most people outside of Florida don't remember Hurricane Wilma because Hurricane Katrina's devastation overshadowed Wilma's. (Most people also don't realize Katrina hit us first in a one-two punch that affected South Florida severely.) After Wilma, we didn't have power for 10 days and my husband lost a week of work. Gas was scarce, lines for generators were long, and only a few people were allowed inside the supermarket at a time (when they finally opened). Trees blocked roads, and there were no working streetlights for a week. I cooked on our grill or propane camp stove, or not at all. The showers were cold, which was miserable even though the days were hot.

I also lived through Hurricane Andrew in 1992. And that was just horrible devastation. Not so much for me, but for many people to the south and many people I knew at school.

Everyone here has interesting hurricane stories, but that really isn't the point of this post -- it's to highlight how to help recent victims of another disaster, the tornadoes in Iowa and Minnesota, as suggested by Iowan Surrender Dorothy.

Seeing images like this


Parkersburg, Iowa

Reminds me a lot of this


Miami-Dade, Florida

And it's just chilling.

Hurricane season starts on Sunday.