A night of disaster

Tuesday and almost 5 o'clock in the afternoon.
The hurricane is coming now in a serious way.
Wind picking up.
More rain falling.
It's climax will be tonight and therefore it may become a restless night.
The barometer is slowly descending and is now on 1000 mb.
The unpaved terrain of the trailer park is a field of mud meanwhile.
There are two other RV's.
A large motor home with an elderly couple.
They are near a wall and many large trees.
A small awning is still down and their TV satellite disk out.
They may get trouble when the wind increases.
The other RV is a trailer with a pick up truck.
They are also next to trees and the hurricane wind blows to the side of their trailer.
That may become shaky in there.

Meanwhile it is contemplated that the hurricane attacking in the night will make it much more scary.
If it really gets serious and roofs are blown off the buildings standing here at the trailer park and trees will fall over, it is only the sound that will be noticed.
And when there is no visual confirmation of what exactly happened it always seems very bad as if it is the end of the world.

The first leaks in the Fuso Szulc have been found.
The dome above the shower is leaking.
No problem.
The water drips into the shower basin.
And after the storm the silicone sealing on the roof around the dome will be renewed.

But the radio antenna has been leaking too.
Making water go into the Sony radio.
That has stopped working.
The leak has been plugged this morning.
During a moment that the rain stopped, quickly on the roof silicone was applied around the antenna base.
Looks like that leak is gone now.
But the radio is too.
It is drying now in front of the ventilator.
Maybe it heals itself.

Nearby the Fuso Szulc in a small house Josef is living who runs the coffee shop next to the main road half a mile away.
He has internet in his home and he has been politely asked if it could be shared.
Because it is too windy to put up the Datastorm satellite disk.
Of course he was prepared to share and although the signal is weak and waving in and out, fortunately the hurricane can be followed through the National Hurricane Centre website.

The wind is picking up at 7.00 pm
The trees at a safe distance from the Fuso Szulc are moving wildly.
No shaking or swinging of the expedition vehicle though because levelers were put underneath the sides.
The Sony radio has been dried in front of the ventilator and put back.
It is working again.
But now the signal of XM satellite radio has gone down from two bars to hardly one.
Impossible to listen.
So it is local radio where Mexicans are talking with excitement about their heavenly visitor.

7.40 pm
No more power.
City electricity interrupted.

8.10 pm
Suddenly it is dark outside.
Light in the Fuso Szulc is from its batteries.

The branches and the leaves of the trees around the Fuso Szulc were singing in the wind.
But now that the wind is increasing more and more, they are protesting.
They know they might get damaged and realize they have been too ambitious growing big to become the victim now of a hurricane.

The Fuso Szulc is an island of light.
It is surrounded by total darkness.
Blacker than black and that is very black.
Barometer down to 998 mb.

2.13 am
The wind is now seriously trying to knock down trees and turn over campers.
It is an experience of extreme violence and it feels very threatening.
Impossible to sleep.
In spite of the levelers underneath the Fuso Szulc, the rig is shaking anyway.
How serious is it going to be?
Will damage occur?
Will the covers of the Seiki Hetz roof windows be blown off back to Germany?
Followed by more imaginations of possible disaster.
To realize that to pray is a very effective method.
Talking to God and putting in there requests for safety stops the person in drama of fantasizing all these terrible things the imagination is able to put in the head.
The mind is occupied with praying not allowing other thoughts to negatively influence the morale.
And besides, praying has as a side effect that even if it is not beneficial, like in case God happens not to be on duty, it won't hurt either.

3.21 am
Sleeping is on and off.
The gusts are the worst.
Like an extra punishment besides the constant strong wind.
But it is not raining.
Not for hours.
The predicted 15 inch will not be matched for sure.

4.45 am
Waiting is for the daylight to come.
To see how is the situation.
If trees fell down.
Roofs blown off.
Cars turned over.
So far all seems well with the Fuso Szulc.