How I Evacuated from Hurricane Irma

Thursday, August 31, 2017

Some tropical storm off the east coast of Africa transformed into Hurricane Irma - to a Category 3 in one day! Sounds unusual and strong…

Monday, September 4, 2017

It’s Labor Day! I get a stay-cation on luxurious Longboat Key – off Sarasota – by dogsitting my friends’ German shepherd/collie mix for the week. Pepper loves to lounge on the balcony overlooking the pristine Sarasota Bay…

While Pepper’s outside, I am typing reports, though my eyes keep glancing at ESPN2’s US Open – Nadal beats Ukranian Dolgopolov!

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Sunrise is spectacular over Sarasota Bay – how the hell could some Hurricane named “Irma” even consider coming this way??

Longboat Key Town Manager Dave Bullock and I meet for a planned lunch. Dry Dock Grill – our usual meeting place – was closed, so we trekked north on Longboat Key to the Blue Dolphin Café. Hurricane Irma’s path is heading towards Florida…. Bullock is in constant communication with his Fire Chief and Police Chief… He even briefed me that if there is a mandatory evacuation, you need to leave. “Yes, sir.” I replied. And he responded with “Don’t forget to get cash.”

I gingerly walk into the Bank of America on Longboat Key – never been to this branch – and there’s no line. I casually withdraw money… a line forms behind me (five retirees). In the parking lot, a distinguished woman perhaps in her 70’s stepped out of her Mercedes with her oh-so-cute Yorkie. I asked if she too was getting evacuation cash. I told her that I got $1,000… She pronounced that she was thinking about “5”. “Five? As in $500?” I interpreted. “Five thousand” were her words, as she had just booked a flight for Thursday (today is Tuesday) to stay with her children in Arlington, Virginia. “Wow!” – I exclaimed internally.

Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Business is back to usual. My 1-hour meeting turned into two with my client (City of Sarasota), along with the architects, engineers and contractors on the St. Armands Parking Garage. There’s a conference call, so some folks did not have to drive in… They use my laptop to project the documents – I now cannot leave for Rotary Club of Sarasota lunch (I had invited the impromptu speaker Tonya Dottellis because the scheduled “feng shui” speaker canceled in order to evacuate with her family on Wednesday for the upcoming hurricane).

That afternoon, I fill up my gas tank in Bradenton and notice an odd line – for air to fill up their tires (for the evacuation distance). I learned that Manatee County declared “emergency” that day… Driving southbound on US41, I became stunned at the exodus northbound already on Tamiami Trail. This was not “rush hour” traffic… this hurricane must be big!!

Because I am dogsitting the “granddog” of Ms. Flo, I hire my trusted general contractor and longtime friend Scott Stoothoff of A Building Concept of Sarasota to hang hurricane shutters at Ms. Flo’s brand new Mattamy Homes house in Sarasota, so her 80-something-year-old couple can evacuate from their mobile home. My gal pal Anya finds out; she too wants hurricane shutters because her Siesta Key 3-story home has a boatload of windows, but it’s too late!

Thursday, September 7, 2017

Scott returned my call – plywood is sold-out; hurricane shutters are nowhere to be bought; and he’s lucky if he can find a few bolts needed for shutters…

After picking up two checks from my client Premier Community Bank in Bradenton – they would be close on Friday, similar to government offices and schools – I meander around Wawa for 30 minutes (long lines for gas), while the rain has started: at the first gas pump, only “click” sounded when I squeezed – no fuel; at the second gas pump, ditto. Thought something was wrong with my Wawa gift card. After jogging thru the rain and by the parked sheriff’s car monitoring the gas station, I witness the store clerk raise both arms in the air: “We’re completely out of gas!” she shouted throughout the store and gathered her yellow “Do Not Cross” tape to strap across all the fuel pumps. (Gas ran out twice the day before at this Wawa in Bradenton on US41.)

Scott and his helper have been pounding in hurricane shutters for two days straight; they’re exhausted and delayed (naturally, because of too many promised houses with too many windows) – to only arrive in the rain! They do a few things, but have to return early next morning to complete the project before the hurricane hits! And before he can get his own house and family prepared!

Friday, September 8, 2017

Mandatory evacuation was called for the barrier islands of Sarasota, including Longboat Key and Siesta Key. Yikes! I have to get the dog or else I can’t get back on the island because I have no proof of residency there… I grabbed my passport (placed into Ziploc bag) and raced to save Pepper.

Both of my trusted confidantes (Longboat Key Town Manager and Sarasota Police Chief Bernadette DiPino) assured me that I had till tomorrow, so I confirmed that I would be off Longboat Key by Saturday at noon!

While JetBlue is offering $99 flights (sold out!), Delta and American provided additional flights to vacate Florida, but I can’t get on any of those flights, especially with the size of this dog… and it’s too late to find out if any pet resorts have any room for Pepper…

Wow! I can borrow my friend’s lakehouse near Tallahassee – about an eight-hour drive north, BUT my local gal pals ALL advise me NOT to make that long trek because I will run out of gas. Under these dire circumstances, I agreed!

My BFF Denise Colosimo – who is packing and evacuating from Siesta Key – calls me and says that Publix got a shipment of water! Walmart, Publix, etc. all ran out of bottled water on Thursday! She emphatically stated that the limit was three cases per person; the line for the water was long, but the line for the beer and liquor was longer!!

Saturday, September 9, 2017

Mandatory evacuation! I gotta leave Longboat Key by noon! I pack my car (after dropping off the loaner car) with supplies (from toilet paper to gardening gloves for picking up debris in roadways), canned goods, water, and a month’s worth of dog food and treats! My car trunk is so full – three times to slam it shut. Oh yeah, don’t forget to pack the dog!

I called my Rotarian “Papa Jim” Henry to meet me at the 2nd house (the one with hurricane shutters) and help me unload my car, so I can race to my condo to empty out my lanai. After I repositioned the homeowner’s Acura SUV (so the vehicle can be facing out of the garage, in case our cars outside are flooded – we then would have a car to load and escape after the hurricane), an attractive woman recognized me from across the street while walking her dog… This was no time to chitchat – I’m on an evacuation rush! Turns out that Nancy is the younger sister of my elementary school classmate and lives diagonally down the street from Ms. Flo’s house!

As I race south on Beneva Road and arrive at my carport, the dog owners call me because they booked a Southwest flight for me from Tampa to Chicago if I would want it… [I had spent hours the night before trying to evacuate up north with their German shepherd collie, and my options kept waning… Friends and I kept each other updated: the 4-hour drive from Ft. Lauderdale to Gainesville took 9 hours; the 8-hour drive from Sarasota to Valdosta or Atlanta ended up 14 hours for some folks. Due to the scarcity of fuel in northern Florida, we heard that officers had Interstate I-75 checkpoints - waving some drivers off to further exits if their fuel gauges were not close to empty!]

Emphatically – and surprised – I said “Yes!!!!” I cleared out my lanai of orchids and bromeliads and too many empty pots from past orchids (while sweating profusely!), grabbed a few personal sentimental valuables and returned to Ms. Flo’s home to fetch my luggage… Nose kisses to Pepper was so tough for me, I got teary-eyed because I did NOT want to leave the dog behind…

Because most smart Floridians evacuated by Friday, the northbound drive to Tampa was a breeze due to very little traffic on I-75. My journalist buddy Earle Kimel with the Sarasota Herald-Tribune texted me at 2:13 that “long-term parking in Tampa is full,” but I had been circling on Level 6 (Roof) of Tampa Airport’s parking garage for 30 minutes – thinking that no one’s going to park on a roof during a hurricane! Wrong – parking garage was full! I did not read Earle’s text till inside Tampa Airport. I ended up parking on the Roof on a makeshift diagonal…

In Tampa Airport, I kept thanking folks for working that day. A young porter Gilbert was so kind helping little old ladies in their wheelchairs get thru the security line. Very long day for him, so I later complimented his stellar customer service to his supervisors. Apparently, 75% of those workers did not report to work at the airport…

I desperately called my former mentee Justin Wortmann (now an architect extraordinaire), who grew up tagging along on my jobsite visits and carrying my clipboard. He lives in Chicago. He picked up my call after the first ring! Turns out that his family too has evacuated from sunny Sarasota, but they were on their long drive to Chicago.

When Southwest landed at Midway, the flight attendant jokingly announced “Welcome to… Tampa!” We passengers all bellowed in laughter, grateful that we were one of the last flights out of Tampa Airport before shut down.

Back in not-so-sunny Sarasota, Chief Bernadette DiPino is commanding the entire Sarasota Police Department – to keep us safe and alive during this Hurricane Irma which fluctuates between a Category 5 and Category 4!

Sunday, September 10, 2017

Sunday morning, I had to evacuate again – transfer from Justin’s lovely home to a stranger’s. Because numerous New York City friends were checking up on me during the hurricane approach, my banker friend Al Lau (a colleague thru Rotary Club of Chinatown and Asian Columbia Alumni Association and founder of FAIB) asked his dear friend in Chicago if his family could take me in… This Indian family extended amazing hospitality for one day and one night, so I could then fly into NYC on September 11th…

Monday, September 11, 2017

On 9/11, our Delta flight descends. I notice the majestic NYC skyline…

I even captured the US Open grounds (just yesterday we watched Nadal win the US Open Men’s Finals – in between our hurricane updates on CNN & Fox News) and even Manhattan in the background, including the new One World Trade…on 9/11.

I was ecstatic to be evacuating to NYC – to be with friends and family!!!

Columbia alumnus Kyle Schmidt (also from Sarasota) and I walked in Central Park after dinner to see if we could get a better view of the two powerful light beams shining into the sky from the former World Trade Center – illuminated only on September 11… After reminiscing that 9/11 night of how NYC was once under evacuation too, I received this stunning photo from Kyle’s friend Sameer:

Kudos to the law enforcement, especially our local Sarasota Police Chief Bernadette DiPino, and the media for keeping us informed, safe and alive!

So many acts of kindness, so many people to thank!!!