The Bay Area storm is just what we needed
Extreme weather hit the Bay Area this week, and — let’s just admit it — we’re really excited about it.
How else to explain that no sooner did the National Weather Service issue a high wind and flash flood warning for the Bay Area this week, residents responded with the hashtag “#hellastorm”?
[...] we watch, with some bewilderment, while people in other parts of the country get to plan ahead.
When the event isn’t too destructive of human life or property, we feel a little envy for our friends in those places.
[...] that point, I’d been pretty blase, figuring that the storm would blow over with half an inch of rain and a little fog and a lot of very excited residents pulling out the rain boots that we never get to wear lately.
[...] I got e-mails from everyone from my gym to my housing management company, urging us to prepare 72 hours’ worth of sustenance and park on elevated land.
[...] I heard from a neighbor, who was clearing out storm drains, and also from a friend, who told me that she was trying to mend fences with her parents, “just in case.”
Plastic bags were whirling in the air above our heads.
On Thursday morning, while the rain drummed pleasantly outside, I checked the news reports and the social media feeds.
There were some horror stories — flooded highways, downed trees, submerged cars.
[...] the average story was one of people scrambling for child care, dealing with power outages and canceling appointments — and doing it with exclamation points.