Personal Journal: Former Woodside family battens down for Hurricane Rita Personal Journal: Former Woodside family battens down for Hurricane Rita (October 05, 2005)

By Gina Carroll

Special to the Almanac

You only have to converse with my husband, a native New Yorker and me, a Southern Californian, a short while before we disclose to you our love of our soul mate city, Houston, Texas.

Perhaps this connection to Houston is at the root of our surprising decision to remain in our Houston home last month as Hurricane Rita barreled through the Gulf toward our beloved city and us.

Our decision to stay was surprising because we are hurricane rookies. Rita was our first. It was a strange feeling to be staying put while others were making a vast and hurried exodus.

It was also odd that my husband and I decided to stay home given that he is the most cautious and risk-adverse person on the planet when it comes to safety, and I am the self-described President of the Paranoid Club, always fearing and expecting the worst.

But here we were -- him boarding up the windows and me moving furniture to the second floor; him, standing in the three-hour line at Home Depot for a generator, and me waiting in line at the grocery store for coveted cases of water.

At one point, the children and I were ready to leave. But Jon was determined to stay. I really couldn't understand his resolve until mid-way through Friday morning (September 23), the day before the eye of Rita was supposed to hit our coastal neighbors.

Friday would mark the third straight day that Jon worked tirelessly to batten down the house. He made several trips to Home Depot everyday. And each time, he came up with more and increasingly creative ways to secure home and family.

For Jon, this was clearly more than just hurricane preparedness. It was a chance to be the ultimate provider, the father and husband who could save and protect family.

In the end, by hurricane landfall time, the house was a fortress. He had secured every set of the storm shutters with a cross 2x4x6 board. The non-shuttered windows were covered with all manner of materials. When plywood became scarce, he covered windows with old solid doors that were stored in our garage. On one Home Depot trip, he found thick rubber door mats that had the exact dimensions of our arched windows. And so, he covered those windows with the mats. Brilliant!

When he couldn't get a generator, he found large-capacity AC adaptors that allowed us to use our car battery with extension cords for electrical power. When our power went out (not if, but when), our cars would be our generators. Brilliant!

On another trip, he found landscape lights designed to store up solar power during the day and turn on automatically at night. He figured we could use them indoors instead of dangerous lanterns or candles. Brilliant!

Jon thought of every contingency. If he had the time, I'm quite certain he would have constructed an ark and began gathering animals. Instead, we gathered the children and gave them a very clear plan to ease their considerable fears.

The recent memory of Hurricane Katrina held their minds captive. They knew all too vividly what the worst-case-scenario looked like. We all agreed that during the worst of the storm, we would stay together in the safest, most protected part of the house, which turned out to be our kitchen pantry.

The children busied themselves getting that room ready: blankets, flashlights (and landscape lights), books, sketch books, colors and new board games purchased just for this "occasion."

Jon continued to tell them that our Louisiana-style house was perfectly designed for a hurricane. The shutters, the set-back porches and verandas, the three stories, and the direct stair access to the roof were all helpful safety features. Not to worry.

At some point on Friday the children actually seemed to get excited. By then, Home Depot had closed its doors, Jon had completed his hammering, and we were all locked down and glued to the TV news in our bedroom.

Other than the 6-year-old impatiently asking -- "Is it time to play with the board games yet?" -- everyone was calm and comforted. And I must admit, I was once again in love with and in awe of Jon for his steady decisiveness, devotion and, shall I say it again, brilliance!

As the wind began to pick up, we all fell asleep that way, in front of the TV all huddled together on the bed. When hurricane landfall time came and went, we continued to sleep. And other than the annoying ghost-like sound of wind gusting through the bedroom shutters, we slept well.

The TV continued to drone on and the air conditioner continued to crank out cool air. We never lost power. We never lost the phones. And we never made it to the pantry.

By the time the 6-year-old woke up and sleepily asked again -- "Is it time to play the board games yet?" -- the worst of the hurricane was past us. Fortunately for us and all of Houston, we missed the brunt of the storm as it veered to the Northeast.

Jon and I stepped out on the veranda and saw that some of our trees had lost large branches. But our storm-ready house remained unchallenged. And though we should have been ecstatic (intellectually we were, I guess), what I mostly felt was let-down -- sort of how you feel when you are all geared up for a speech or a tennis match that is cancelled at the last minute. We were ready, perhaps too ready.

Despite my hurricane disappointment, I recognize that these feelings of let-down are a luxury -- the luxury of a sturdy home and the means to protect it; the luxury of the option to stay or drive away; and the luxury of an intact family and other places to go.

I am reminded that so many folks in New Orleans did not have such luxuries. No luxuries, no options, no chance of escape. This is a humbling reminder, and the most profound hurricane disappointment of all.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gina Carroll, her husband Jon, and their five children -- Jason, Jonathan, Jillian, Jennifer and Jessica -- moved to Woodside from Houston in 1997. Jackson was born two years later. All the children attended Woodside Elementary except high schooler Jason, who commuted to Bellarmine Prep in San Jose. Jon and Gina are graduates of Stanford, where Jon played football and Gina was a Stanford Dolly. The family returned to Houston in 2002 but continues to maintain the Woodside residence.

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