Heartfelt Prayers for the Gulf Coast: Reflecting on Hurricane Helene from WA

They say a Category 5 hurricane is touching down on Florida and Georgia, and for the first time in a long time, I'm scared for the people living on the Gulf Coast.

The last biggest hurricane that gave me true fear was Hurricane Katrina. It happened on my birthday, so I can never forget it.

Everything on the news was about evacuation efforts and all I could think about was, why didn’t those people leave?

One insight to this burning question I've maintained over the years came to me tonight in the form of a comment on a thread in a private Facebook group I'm in.

A woman who lives in Florida had written that she and her family members were not able to evacuate away from Hurricane Helene because their elderly grandmother is wheelchair bound and difficult to move out of their home. They decided the whole family would stick together and ride out the storm together as one.

She mentioned that they were warned today by local authorities that if they weren't fleeing to safety then they needed to write down their names and social security numbers on their legs and arms.

LEGS AND ARMS?!

When other commenters asked the woman why they were being asked to do that, she replied that it is because there would be no search and rescue efforts tonight.

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Those who stay behind tonight are on their own. This thought makes me hug my pillow a little bit tighter as I go to bed tonight, counting my blessings that we dont have to deal with this sort of horrifying natural disaster doesnt happen on the West Coast.

I am keeping those who are stuck in the pathway of Hurricane Helene who cannot flee in my heart tonight. May they their lives be spared and may they have food, shelter, and clean water to drink!