Sunday, May 29, 2011

52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History: Disasters

Week 10: Disasters. Did you experience any natural disasters in your lifetime? Tell us about them. If not, then discuss these events that happened to parents, grandparents or others in your family.

After we moved to Florida and purchased our brand new home for a $12,500.  One of the first purchases my Dad made for the house was aluminium hurricane awnings.  When the weather was fine they shaded the windows like canvas awnings but when a storm came they were lowered over the window and hatched down to the house.  The windows under the front porch had aluminium panels that where screwed over the windows to protect them from flying objects. 

The first year we were there in 1959 there were a couple of storms but the one I really remember was Hurricane Donna the next year.  We missed school, always a fun thing for a kid.  We heated our food over Sterno cans.  Ate all the ice cream before it melted.  For a kid it was an adventure.  We had Jalousie windows on the house and we had to listen to the news on our battery operated radios to know which side of the house to open the windows.  They were opened on the lee side of the storm.  There was enough room in the awnings to open the windows. 

I just did a search about opening the windows and this is the new info I learned.  

When a hurricane passes through, is it true I should have the windows open on the side of my house that faces the wind?


No. Hurricane winds swirl from all directions and exert both pressure and suction. If wind gets into your home, it will seek a way out, blowing out a roof or ceiling, collapsing a gable end or a garage door. Your goal is to keep the wind out, period.

I have to say I don't miss hurricanes now that I am in Arizona. 





Hosted by Geneabloggers: http://www.geneabloggers.com/
Created by Amy Coffin http://wetree.blogspot.com/

No comments:

Post a Comment