The good news
is that the powers that be have named the current hurricane bearing down on our islands Jimena. Historically, only hurricanes with Hawaiian names have actually struck Hawaii. Hurricanes strike about every ten years. The last one was Iniki (ee-nee-kee) - eleven years ago. I know that this one is not Hawaiian because the Hawaiian alphabet does not contain the letter "J".
I do remember Iniki though. Those dang sirens sound a hell of a lot louder at six a.m. without all the ambient background city noises. It is somewhat an understatement to say that being awakened by them is a bit traumatic. We know that the only thing they mean is that something bad is about to happen. But we don't what and more importantly when. In my case, I'd been watching the news the previous Wednesday evening and had seen the hurricane watch text messages flashed periodically across the screen only to be replaced by hurricane warning messages just as I turned in. That following Thursday morning I was now listening to the wail of the sirens. "OHMYGAWD!" was my wife's first reaction as she flew out of bed like a good little trooper to begin filling water bottles. I tuned in the local emergency broadcast channel, learned the storm wasn't due to reach us for several hours - then headed out to fill gas tanks and pick up some of the woefully inadequate supplies detailed in the standard-issue hurricane preparedness inventory. Unfortunately, that was the exact same thought of most of population. I quickly surmised that the two sundries apparently deemed the most important hurricane survival items were almost instantly sold out - candles and beer. C'est La Vie.
After, at least, filling my tank with gasoline I made a stop at the Hawaiian Hilton hotel which is just up from Waikiki Beach. The pre-storm surge had already flooded the basement parking structure. So many rental cars bobbing about like so many colorful corks. The lobby of the hotel was under about three inches of seawater but business appeared to continue as usual - at least for the time being. Ya know - don't want to alarm the paying tourists. Hotel guests were being offered free coffee, sodas and pastries - just no power, air-conditioning, or elevators. I climbed the fourteen flights of stairs to visit an old girlfriend of mine who just happened to be visiting at the time. J.P. thought that the whole notion of experiencing a hurricane on her vacation was "Neato" - a bonus. I assured her that she'd probably be safer in the steel and concrete Hilton than anywhere else and off-handedly inquired as to whether she had opted for the "full coverage" insurance option for her car. (heh heh)
Even rich p&s can assimilate that the (ahem) politically correct thing to do was to go be with my wife rather than a much (ahem) safer ex-girlfriend so I eventually returned to our rickety apartment building and a totally freaked out spouse.
The hurricane turned north at the last moment and while our island sustained some damage, folks on Kaua'i were not so fortunate. And you know the old joke - Kaua'i hit by class-V hurricane - $3.95 in damage reported. Seriously though, those folks were pretty much wiped out though it never received the same press that hurricane Andrew (class-IV) did that year in Florida. Guess we're just a bunch of country bumpkins.
Update: Jimena has been downgraded to a tropical storm but is still headed directly for the Big Island. My current thinking: put a fresh coat of wax on my surfboard and wait for the sirens.
8:37:00 AM 
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