St. John: Hurricane Gabrielle

In the St. John regions of SL, there is a Hurricane event every August. I usually do a fiction post about it, more info on  Gabrielle Riel's Songs of the Nightingale blog.

Thank the Goddess and Powers that Be that I don't drink, not that it would affect me because of my {REDACTED BY ORDER OF MAMMA GKIKA, EUROPA WULFENBACH} nature.

But DAMN did I want to start.

First it was St. John Beach destroyed by EROSION of all things, sure the tides were high and the water warmer than usual and there was that big summer storm that I though might turn into a Hurricane but I thought the beach would survive...but it didn't.  Residents fled to other realms or the rest of St. John...it was gone in almost an instant.

Then there was...The Breakup.  I swear I am going to vet any prospective innamorata for Gabi from now on....Kitty will help, he's been working on a Questionaire for them.  It did not end well, it involved much Demon Alcohol, though strangely no Absinthe or Whisky.  Must remember to actually HAVE Absinthe and some good Single-malt Glenlivet on hand next time.  I may be a teetotaler of the St John and Steamlands Temperance in Moderation League, but if one is going to drink Demon Rum one should drink the Good Stuff.  And I had to have a "Talk" with the fellow, this would be much easier if I had remembered to have the "Talk" with him at the beginning...especially if I'd morphed into {REDACTED BY ORDER OF MAMMA GKIKA, EUROPA WULFENBACH. BAD GURLIE, HYU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE ONDERCOVER, REMEMBER} form.  That ALWAYS got attention, especially with the 54 caliber revolver.

Then came the NEWS from the Weather Bureau, which was not good.

Luckily, I did have that newfangled orangeade, which Gabi preferred as her hangover remedy. Selena, Emma and Pru had brought her home, and Kitty was resting with them after he brought me,  they were sleeping while I made up tea, and the orangeade.  I had been planning on bringing the news when Kitty mentioned her incapacitation.

She asked for the VERY BAD NEWS first which meant the Hurricane.

Hurricane Gabrielle!

Now when I told Gabi about it, I smirked since that was one of Gabi's nicknames.  In fact when the Weather Bureau contacted me:

Weather Bureau:  Ah Miss CC of St. John?

Moi:  that's Ms.!  I'm too old to be a Miss!

Weather Bureau: Ah yes, that's right, I'm sorry, I forgot, won't happen again, just don't come into the office again... one of our Meterologists still has nightmares about what you did when one of our people called you "Girl"

Moi: Continue

Weather Bureau: Ah yes, I hate to be the bearer of bad knews but there's a Hurricane heading your way.

Moi: Gabi hasn't mentioned any vibes, that's unusual, she's a better forecaster than YOU are about Hurricanes.

Weather Bureau: Ah yes, we do try and we are improving our technology.

Moi:  My Apologies, you do your best, no offense intended.

Weather Bureau: None Taken, the name of the Hurricane this year is Gabrielle

Moi: WHAAAAT?  No {REDACTED ON ORDER OF DECENCY BUREAU} way! HY KAN'T BELIEFF IT!

Weather Bureau: Yes, it is, we believed you'd have this reaction but we didn't expect you to blow out our Eardrums with profanity.  Your voice is very...strong. And what kind of funny phonetic accent was that last sentence?

Moi: Hy don' hef an accent schmot guy!  I mean, I don't have an accent, what do you mean by that?

Weather Bureau: What ever you say Ms. CC. Be safe and be careful

Moi: Will do, and I really do thank you deeply.  I'll be sending messages out to our friends elsewhere.

I passed the info on to Gabi, surprised she didn't ask the name at first.  When she did, she laughed and obviously her hangover caused her to OW

"Well isn't that just...", she said.

"Indeed." I replied.

 At that moment Amelia came in to take over care duties, so I could send out messages, which Gabi does have to authorize first.  She brought Muffins, of which I grabbed one and stuck it in my bag.  I don't always eat Genuine Europan {REDACTED BY ORDER OF MAMMA GKIKA, EUROPA WULFENBACH.  NO MENTIONINK DE BOG EATINK!}

She made a few changes to the form and handed it back to me.

“Thank you CC,” she said. “For everything. Now let’s get that out to the Steamlands immediately.”

“Yes Your Grace,” I replied, automatically reverting to her original style of address.

I headed back home to send the messages via telegraph, wireless and telephone...while the phone lasted.  I swear the St. John Telephone service needs tech upgrades!  In times like these the Telegraph and wireless have actually been more reliable!

STEAMLANDS UNION TELEGRAM

CALLIDUS WEYDELICH MARIKESH MONDRAGO

DESMOND SHANG CALEDON

FUZZBALL ORTEGA STEELHEAD BAY

KLAUS WULFENBACH EUROPA WULFENBACH

MOSSEVENO TENK NEW BABBAGE

SELENA ANANSI ROSEHAVEN

HURRICANE GABRIELLE APPROACHING ST JOHN LANDFALL DUE FRIDAY AUGUST 18 STORM TO CONTINUE SATURDAY AUGUST 19 AND INTO SUNDAY AUGUST 20 REQUEST ASSISTANCE ADVISE HEAVY CAUTION

GABRIELLE RIEL

As I finished the messages, I had one thought on my mind and headed to the closest warehouse:

Sandbags, MORE SANDBAGS

 That sky did not look good...at all.

 There's one good thing about being a {REDACTED BY ORDER OF MAMMA GKIKA, EUROPA WULFENBACH}, I'm damn strong.  Lifting these sandbags was like picking up flowers, and I could quickly throw them into place with just one hand.

 Didn't even break a sweat.

 Did get sand on the hands and would have to redo my manicure.

 But I was satisfied at a job well done.

 Though maybe I should add another row on top?

 Still enough light to cast a shadow...but the clouds would be coming tonight.

 Sandbagged up the other entrance as well.  My Poor Calla Lilies will be ruined.

 The Wireless set was fully operational and working perfectly at full transmit power.

 The telegraph was also adjusted and working within parameters

Poor Gabi the KittyCat, the Hurricane Gabrielle is going to scare her tremendously.  I'll have to pen her upstairs with her food and litterbox, or up in the attic.


(look over at the tags for outfit details)

Preparedness, a phone call and a warning to look to the skies. Hurricane Éric approaches.

After last year's hurricane hit St. John, I had sworn that  I'd be prepared for the next hurricane season.  I had put off the upgrades to the Wireless transmitter and generator and we had paid for my laxity with much damage.

 Not this year.  I looked over my new equipment in the attic with much joy.  It had been late to arrive, some of the components being shipped from far away Caledon with some additional apparatus that was originally of Seraph City origin. I only had just finished the final installations, though it had been ready at half power (still more than last year) last week.  But it was worth the expense and time.  This hybridized transmitter ought to be able to reach such far away lands as Cala Mondrago, Babbage, Caledon, Europa Wulfenbach, Winterfell, perhaps even Bay City, the Blake Sea, or Neufreistadt.

I decided to temporarily put the operator station near my desk with the telegraph key.

That should work well enough, for the time being. As I walked past the clock and barometer, which showed a "change" reading, the telephone rang.

Allo?

Ah, yes, Miss Creeggan of St. John?  Weather Bureau here, we've received some reports of heavy tropical storm activity reported via Mondrago, and vessels under way to the south of St. John. So do keep an eye on the sky, that's a good girl. 

"Merci, M'sieu, will do." I replied to the obvious dolt who didn't know better than to condescend to me.

As I hung up the phone, the telegraph began chattering away feeding the paper tape and radio began squawking on the St. John Corsairs frequency.

Allo St. John, This is Corsair Capitaine , reporting a très mal storm 'eading Nord.  Navigateur thinks landfall will be . S'il vous plaît préparer, repeating land fall in 4 days estimate.  If my eyes are right, it looks like a ouragan. if you can hear this, but avec la grâce de Dieu, you will.

I rushed to the transmitter and replied:

"Ms. CC at St John here, transmission recieved, bless you Corsair!  4 days warning! Mon DIEU, 4 Days!  Get your ship to safety Capitaine, make port at Cala Mondrago or Half Hitch dock on the Blake."

The Capitaine replied:  Je obéis mon châtelaine

 I headed outside to look at the sky.  It was beautiful, but soon wouldn't be.  4 Days, Blessed Be.

 I headed back inside to the desk to check the list of this years Hurricane names, ah, this one would be "Éric", with the accent mark. Time to send some messages out, THIS time it would do some REAL good... 4 DAYS warning, thank the Goddess.

STEAMLANDS UNION TELEGRAM
SELENA ANANSI WINTERFELL
MOSSEVENO TENK NEW BABBAGE
TOTALLUNAR ECLIPSE STEELHEAD
DESMOND SHANG CALEDON
LUCIEN BRENTANO MARIKESH MONDRAGO
KLAUS WULFENBACH EUROPA WULFENBACH
HURRICANE ERIC APPROACHING ST JOHN LANDFALL IN 4 DAYS REQUEST ASSISTANCE ADVISE HEAVY CAUTION
MS. CC CREEGGAN FOR GABRIELLE RIEL 

I then realized that I might make good use of that air raid Siren I picked up on the Iron Cloud.  Sandbags, I'm going to need more sandbags.  I returned to the Telephone and key and spread the word to the good people of St. John.  We'll see how tough that Hurricane will be when we can prepare.

Dance in Defiance of Hurricane Diane in St John

The rain kept a comin down, and the reports said it would keep coming.  The water level was over a half meter higher than it was when it started raining.  But St John remained defiant in the face of Hurricane Diane.

It had become a tradition, for Holocluck Henly to host a rooftop dance.  He'd bring out his victrola and play songs of Rain and storms for us.  That tradition continued in St John:

From left to right, Miss Jilly-Moon, (in background) Aoife and Moon Reverie, (in foreground) Myself and Gabrielle Riel, Kelcyeva, Mr. Henly and Tindalla Soothsayer, and Neville Braveheart.

St John: The Witchy One's protected house.

The water was rising, about 10cm per hour.   I had received a report that one of the witches in St John Woods had the brilliant idea to lift her house in the above any flooding and protect it from any damage with a barrier of wind.  Such a witch must be very skilled.  I knew I should have taken magical studies more seriously, but no, I needed to go shopping.

There I encountered said, witch, Miss Jilly-Moon, her cat Truffle and St John Resident Mr. Grendel, purveyor of goods.  Said house was most well protected from the elements and whatever Hurricane Diane could dish out.  I commended Miss Jilly-Moon on her skill, and wished that she could have protected the entire area, but sadly she could not.

Stormy Weather in St. John (in character)

I awoke to a pounding on my door and the sound of light sprinkling rain.

Rain?  The last weather report didn't mention any rain.

I leaped out of bed and saw how gloomy it looked outside my window.  I rushed downstairs to the front shutter doors and opened it up to see slightly wet Gabi.

"Gabi...what on earth...?, I said.

Gabi interrupted me. "CC, I need you to check your weather instruments *now*! I need you to send a telegram to the U.S. Weather Bureau *now*!"

I looked at Gabi, alarmed. "You don't think....? But it's only sprinkling!"

"No, I don't think, I *know*. I can feel it.", said Gabi.

That was not a good sign, I had learned to trust Gabi's vibes over the  years.  I quickly glanced over at the barometer beside the telephone.  Mon Dieu, that was a very low reading for a light summer storm.

I actually went to the telephone first, but couldn't reach a long distance operator, though local service was still operational.  I had a small experimental Marconi wireless transmitter in the attic, but the range in bad weather for such a low powered transmitter wasn't very good.  I should have installed that transmitter power upgrade I had thought about last month, but I had to have those additional formal gowns.  In situations like this, telegraph tended to be more reliable, trust Gabi to know this instinctively, so I got on the key and we soon had an answer.

"You are right Gabi. It's a tropical storm that is turning in to a hurricane."

"CC, please watch this. Also, ", she said.

She handed me a stack of old telegrams.

"I need you to send these. Some of the addresses have changed but I know you know all the current ones. I have to go. I have to go get Emma.", she said, very quickly.

"I'm on it." said I, as I returned to the key, but before I could send any messages it started clacking away.  New report....the storm had a name...Diane and it was heading our way.

I shouted to Gabi through the window, "Gabi! It's Hurricane Diane. That's what's coming. Diane!"

I started my own keying and heard the rain pick up.  Not good at all.

STEAMLANDS UNION TELEGRAM

SELENA ANANSI WINTERFELL
MOSSEVENO TENK NEW BABBAGE
TOTALLUNAR ECLIPSE STEELHEAD
DESMOND SHANG CALEDON
LUCIEN BRENTANO MARIKESH MONDRAGO
KLAUS WULFENBACH EUROPA WULFENBACH

HURRICANE DIANE APPROACHING ST JOHN LANDFALL IN NEXT 24 HOURS REQUEST ASSISTANCE ADVISE HEAVY CAUTION

GABRIELLE RIEL

Once I was finished sending the message, I went out on the bedroom balcony and watched the sky, with an ear towards the telegraph and telephone.

Sandbags, I'm going to need them.

A few hours later, I had finagled some sandbags, and with the help of a few stout young parish-folk had a low barrier around my entrances.  My house was on somewhat higher ground and I hoped it would be enough...but the rain kept falling, harder and harder with time....depending on Diane's landfall point and strength when she landed...it might not be enough.