Here's a rule of thumb for watching the Weather Channel. If you turn it on, and the correspondent is giving a live report from your hometown, that's not good.
As of Friday morning, the threat posed by Hurricane Wilma is very unclear. As I am writing, the storm, still a powerful catagory 4, is almost upon the Yucatan Penninsula in Mexico. Latest forecasts have it arriving in Florida on Monday. No one knows exactly where, or how strong it might be at that time. Naples is still more or less dead center in the projected path, but the storm has slowed, even though it has not weakened. Collier County (where we live and work) has issued a mandatory evacuation order for noon today for all areas west of U.S. 41 (this includes the Smart Marketing office).
I will not bother to recount (at least at this time) the nightmare of the last few days as the Smart Marketing staff scrambled to complete all time-sensitive projects, back up all computers (sending extra hard drives out of state), dismantle pack and transport everything, while at the same time arranging for their own families and property.
The highways out of this area are jammed, the flights are full, and it's hard to find a bottle of water or a tank of gas. Lesley, Sarah, and their families have left for Orlando. Nichole for Vero Beach on the east coast. Marcia and her daughter fly out to Michigan tonight. Diane wasn't sure, but might be heading for Georgia. The rest of us are either scattering inland or hunkering down to ride it out. The whole thing could amount to a couple of hours of wind and rain, or a major disaster — no one knows, and we have no choice but to prepare for the worst and hope for the best.
Smart Staff, My prayers are with you all -- glad to hear that most of you are already out of the area. I have a present to send to you all, but I will wait until after the storm has past. Hoping and praying for mere sprinkles, All my love, Diana
Posted by: Diana Law | October 22, 2005 at 12:10 AM