It was the year of
Hurricane Dora
the only hurricane this century to make a direct hit on the northeast coast of Florida!

Hurricane Cleo
had hit the southeastern coast, that is the Miami area, just shortly before; and from there had swept up the eastern Florida coast. We got some rain in the Jacksonville area; but, had been expecting a lot more than we got.

I remember that our local weatherman, George Winterling, made something of a reputation for himself when he was able to find the eye of Cleo, still offshore, as it swept up the state coast. The weather bureau thought the eye had already come ashore!

Then when Dora appeared, Winterling said "This one's for Jacksonville."
When that turned out to be so, it got him a lot of publicity, some of it national.

It was the height of "Beatlemania" and the group was supposed to play Jacksonville that week. They cancelled and there were a lot of jokes, in Jacksonville, about their being cowards!

Of course, hurricanes being what they are and Jacksonville's long history of being spared at the last minute, none of us were really sure that it was actually going to hit!

I went to work that morning. It was a part time job. By the time I got back home that afternoon, the weather was definitely not good! It was beginning to rain and the winds were picking up.

Even by this time, neither one of my parents was really young; and, they both had some physical problems. So most of the more difficult physical labor in preparing for the hurricane fell to me. I taped the windows and removed whatever I could find on the outside that might become dangerous in high winds. My mother, an avid gardener, had quite a few plants and shrubs in big cans and tubs, so this was quite an arduous task.
By the time I finished, the wind was getting to such a point it was
all I could do to stay on my feet!

We listened to television reports of the impending storm until the electricity went off. Unlike when Hurricane Donna had paid us a visit four years earlier, this time we had a battery operated radio with plenty of batteries. We listened to it a while, then went to bed.

I slept in my room; but, with my bed pulled out as far away from the window as I could get it; and, I slept well, at least for a while. Outside the winds were howling, making quite a noise but a rather steady almost monotonous noise. As the power of the storm forced the air in and out of our house, the small building heaved heavily like something alive. The attic door kept going up and down with a loud thump! It made no difference! I was dead tired.

I woke up. It was pitch black. Normally I have very good night vision; but, this time, I could not see a thing. I remember feeling for the battery operated radio which I had with me. I managed to turn it on. The voice at the other end said as far as they could determine, they were the only station in Jacksonville still in operation. They were in contact with St. Augustine some thirty miles to the south. I don't recall if this contact was with another radio station or some individual. I do recall that the eye had just come ashore at St. Augustine. They said something about hoards of fireflies being in the eye and what a sight it was.

Then, over the roar of the storm, came an even loader noise followed by an almost ear deafening bambam bam bambam vaaa-rooom bam bam bambam... you get the idea!

I ran out my room. Both my parents were in the living room, my father went to open the door. My mother said "Arthur don't you..." but you couldn't tell him anything; and, this time, it did not hurt. He managed to look out; and, I will never forget the look on his face as he told us the entire front porch was gone. He was so surprised!

I lay down on the living room couch. Next thing I remember, it was broad daylight and very quite except for my mother talking to our next door neighbor at the door. He had come to borrow some water. Garden City did not have city water at the time and most private pumps would not work without electricity; but, we had an artesian well. We supplied a good part of the area with water until electricity was restored
the next day.