Hurricane Guillermo!

Let me see if I can describe storm coverage for you here in Hawaii. Have you ever had someone describe the most amazing pizza to you? Promising that you've never experienced pizza until you've tried [insert name of not so popular local pizza joint]. You arrive, sit down and someone serves you what is basically just a saltine cracker with ketchup on it? So far, that is exactly what hurricane coverage is like here in Hawaii. Granted, I've only been here a year and we have only had to deal with a few warnings, but that seems to be the general attitude of locals. A storm starts brewing somewhere in the pacific and all of the sudden there is a mad rush for water, rice and spam. The storm passes and now you have a closet full of snacks that your wife wont let you eat "Just in case".

Its actually kind of a joke here. Correction: The weather guy is kind of a joke here. Just do a quick google image search for Guy Hagi memes and you'll see what I'm talking about (apologies for all the pidgin you'll be forced to read) Guy gets no respect. And really it isn't his fault, because what if it actually does hit? Last year the entire island was on alert for Hurricane Iselle, school was cancelled for a day, announcements where made about emergency shelters and all along South Kihei road businesses were boarding up their windows. I was legitimately concerned. Well the big storm finally arrived and to be honest? It was probably one of my most relaxing days in Hawaii up to that point. I made some coffee, pulled up a new book on my iPad and just relaxed. It even sort of almost rained. I believe we actually had less rain during the storm then we did the week before.  I remember all of the texts I was getting from concerned friends in the mid-west, wanting to make sure that we survived. Then Julio came. Again promises of destruction then... nothing

Now, I should probably mention that the Island of Hawaii (Big Island for those of you who don't know better) did get hit with Iselle and over 25,000 people lost power along with some structural damage. So for a few residents, the promises of destruction did ring true. Thanks to the topography of the island, the storm broke apart and was downgraded to a tropical storm. The rest of the islands dealt with a bit of rain, some wind and tourists disappointed that they would have to stay out of the water for a few days.

I may joke that I would love to live through a real deal hurricane, but I probably shouldn't. In 1992 Hurricane Iniki hit Hawaii (Kauai getting the worst of it) and caused over a billion dollars in damage. So to all our friends and family whose ears perked up when they heard about a hurricane in the Pacific, rest easy. The only casualty is that bag of Cheetos in the emergency stash. It didn't stand a chance...