A boy who lost his home in the recent hurricane that hit Florida is grateful just to be alive. Yet he is feeling sad and unsure as to what will happen to him.
My name is J.T. (Joshua Thames) Harriott, and I am 12 years old. I live in Bradenton, Florida, and right now, my life is a mess (LITERALLY!) because we just went through a devastating hurricane, and right now, we are staying at a shelter that the Red Cross put us up at until we get our lives back together. I don't know how long we will be here, but it will probably be at least several weeks to a month.
We lost our home, thanks in part to Hurricane Charley, which crossed Florida with over 130 MPH winds. As you can probably imagine, we had much in the way of damage to our house, and all we have left is each other (meaning my family) and also the clothes on our backs. We lost just about everything we had, and we are all understandably devastated and upset.
But it could have been much worse. I could have lost one of my family members, but God was watching out over us, and He protected us.
I have a sister, Amy, who is 11, as well as my dad and mom, whose names are Dan and Helga. We also have a Rottweiler named "Rotty", who is also with us at the shelter. I don't know how long we will be here, as I said earlier, but our lives have been changed, and we were lucky to have escaped the fury of the hurricane with our very lives. It's a miracle that none of us were injured or even killed during the duration of Hurricane Charley!
Oh, we knew that Hurricane Charley was coming (thanks in part to our weather radio, which alerted us of the approaching storm, and also the Weather Channel on our TV), so we took the necessary precautions; but we decided to wait out the storm in our home, which was probably a bonehead thing to do. Yet we didn't think too much about it, even when the winds increased and soon started howling and screaming, and the power died; but when the walls started wobbling and the rain and wind started hammering the sides of our house, we got scared, and we soon started to have second thoughts. That was especially true when the walls unexpectedly fell in, with the rain instantly soaking us to drenching wet.
Let me tell you something: that rain was cold, and it was a rude shock to our senses!
That was when we decided to try to get to a shelter as soon as possible.
We picked our way through the rubble that was once our house, and we walked and walked until a Red Cross van drove up. The person driving the van asked us if we were okay; we told them that we had just lost our house, and we were on our way to find shelter; and that was when they told us to get in, and they would take us to a safe and sturdy building, where we could wait out the storm that was still raging outside.
At the shelter, we were surprised to see it full of people. I don't know if anyone else lost their home or anyone that they knew, but I was upset about our house, and when it came to be too much, I just started bawling like nobody's business. Mom and dad both hugged me, and Amy looked at me, trying to keep from crying herself, but tears soon threatened to spill from her eyes, and she looked quite frightened.
I was glad that we had made it through the hurricane, but we were now without a home, and I didn't know what we were going to do. There was widespread devastation throughout the state of Florida, and upwards to 13 people were said to have died during the storm. The President of the United States was due to come to our state, to tour the damage caused by Hurricane Charley, and there would be news vans and helicopters all over the place. I didn't want to be plastered all over the tv or newspaper; I wanted more than anything to be left alone and to deal with the loss of my house by myself. I was feeling a complex of emotions: anger, fear, bitterness, jealousy, excitement, and a deep sadness that seemed to reach to the very deepest recesses of my soul, and I was trying to deal with what had happened in a quiet, unassuming way.
One minute, I was looking forward to school starting in two weeks, and now school was the furthest thing from my mind. All I kept thinking about was the storm and the damage that it had caused, and it was because of the storm that my life was now ripped apart, and I would slowly have to start rebuilding my shattered life, piece by piece, and try to come to terms with what had happened.
((((Karen)))
Hearrbreaking write, about a horrible storm
God Bless
Michelle~
Reviewed by P. Michaels
8/16/2004
Karen, this must be a horrible feeling to see your home destroyed. It's hard to even imagine, when one hasn't experience it. It's not easy to know if you did those feelings felt justice. Well done, though, and thank you for bringing it to our attention.
you capture the power and heartbreaking emotions of one going through a natural disaster and the uncertain times afterward. my heart goes out to all of those affected by hurricane charley. well written! and love that pic :)
My name is J.T. (Joshua Thames) Harriott, and I am 12 years old. I live in Bradenton, Florida, and right now, my life is a mess (LITERALLY!) because we just went through a devastating hurricane, and right now, we are staying at a shelter that the Red Cross put us up at until we get our lives back together. I don't know how long we will be here, but it will probably be at least several weeks to a month.
