As I write this, my home state of North Carolina, as well as South Carolina and Virginia are getting ready for an unwelcome visitor: Category 4 Hurricane Florence. I’ve written a stories with hurricanes in them (Take Two, set on Bald Head Island and also in the path of this very real storm and Stealing the Wind (Mermen of Ea #1), even lived through a few hurricanes in the 14 years since I moved to North Carolina (our last boat made it through at least 2 named storms that impacted the area where she was docked), but nothing truly prepares you for the earth-shaking reality of a storm.

My husband and I spent a good part of this past weekend preparing our boat to weather the storm. The Prelude (yes, named after one of my Blue Note Series books and the yacht in that book) is the boat my husband and I will be living aboard starting at the end of 2019. We pulled down the mainsail and jib, pulled all the canvas down (cockpit enclosure made of sunbrella fabric), put anything that might go flying inside the boat in sinks or other safe spots, and strapped her down with plenty of docklines. There’s no guarantee, though, and I’m glad we have insurance for her.

All that said, my problems are definitely First World problems. The possible damage to our floating home away from home is nothing compared to what this storm may mean for the people of our state and surrounding states. The governor has declared a state of emergency ahead of the storm and people are preparing. But the flooding we’ve had in coastal communities in the past looms large in North Carolina’s collective memory, and it’s usually the poorest parts of the state. The fancy homes at the coast are insured thanks to the federal government. The mobile homes and homes not up on stilts are probably not.

In 1999, Hurricane Floyd killed 51 people and caused severe flooding that destroyed 7,000 homes, rendered 17,000 more uninhabitable, and damaged 56,000 more homes. People where I live, in Raleigh, which is the capitol and toward the center of the state, still remember Hurricane Fran in 1996, which made landfall as a Category 3 storm, much as Florence is predicted to do. The home we used to own before we sold it and moved downtown was once a heavily wooded lot. Fran created microburst storms, tiny tornado

es, that brought trees down all over the Raleigh area. More than half the trees on our lot were destroyed. The before and after photos are incredible. Folks were without power for weeks. Those memories have

everyone on edge, and for good reason.

On the bright side, North Carolinians are resilient and will get through this. Living in the state that’s #4 for hurricanes in the US (only Florida, Texas, and Louisiana are ranked higher), you know to take storms seriously and prepare. Already at the coast this weekend, we saw people shuttering their homes and stocking up on supplies.

One of the reasons I set a lot of my stories in North Carolina is because it’s an incredibly beautiful place. I personally feel so lucky to have beautiful places to sail to like Bald Head Island, Cape Lookout, Hatteras, and Ocracoke. People like me, who love this beautiful state, know that storms like Florence are inevitable. We also know we’ll come through the worst and rebuild. But today, on the eve of what looks like a potentially deadly storm, we’ll get ready. And we’ll pray everyone stays safe. – Shira

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