Today is Wednesday, September 28, 2022. The biggest news story throwing Dumpf off the airwaves, mercifully, for a while, is the catastrophic effects of Hurricane Ian that has made landfall in Florida, making its destructive way through Southwest and Central Florida, becoming one of southwest Florida’s most intense hurricanes on record. It is expected to produce catastrophic storm surge, destructive winds, and flooding rainfall. The catastrophic effects produced by this new threat to the population of Florida is covered in an online article for The Weather Channel entitled “Hurricane Ian Continues to Bring Catastrophic Surge, Winds, Flooding to Southwest Florida.”

Ian is a Category 3 – downgraded from a Category 4 – hurricane packing maximum sustained winds of 115 miles per hour. The storm’s surge has arrived along parts of the southwest Florida coast.

In Fort Myers proper, storm surge is now over 7 feet. Previously, the highest storm surge was 3.36 feet Mean Higher High Water (MHHW) during Hurricane Gabrielle in 2001.

Other areas expected to be affected by this monstrous storm include Orlando, Tampa-St. Petersburg, Fort Myers, and Daytona Beach. The highest wind gust recorded so far is 140 mph in Cape Coral, Florida. Sustained winds have been reported as high as 92 mph, also in Cape Coral. The highest sustained winds reported were 115 mph at a private weather station near Port Charlotte, Florida. That station also recorded a wind gust of 132 mph.

All in all, this threat to the Sunshine State just shows the enormity of climate change for everyone on the planet. No one is immune to the ravages of Mother Nature and the effects of climate change.

Flooding is definitely a big problem for much of the state. Water levels are reaching the top of the first floor of homes in Fort Myers Beach during the eye of Hurricane Ian.

Storm surge flooded many cities in Southwest Florida, including in Naples, Florida, where over 6 feet of storm surge inundation has been measured, more than any other storm at that gauge location in at least 50 years.

The hurricane is now tied for the 4th strongest landfall for a hurricane in Florida, according to Dr. Phil Klotzbach, meteorologist at Colorado State University (CSU) specializing in Atlantic basin seasonal hurricane forecasts.

All I can say about this current storm is that I’m happy that my son is no longer a resident of Florida since he left the state over a year ago in July. He was living in Sarasota, Florida, before he made his exit, which would have been one of the areas affected by the hurricane at the moment.

So far, I’ve heard that about 2 million people are without power throughout the state. There have been no reports of fatalities thus far.

Anyway, our thoughts and prayers go out to the hapless residents of Florida tonight. No one can fathom the structural damage created by this fierce storm.

Because of the hurricane, the House committee investigating the January 6 attack announced that it has delayed its planned hearing for today, which was expected to be its last. No new date was immediately set. This last meeting might have had its own “flood” of explosive news delivered to the American public as it wound down its series of hearings to eventually produce a full report of what it discovered in its comprehensive probe of the January 6 insurrection.

So for the last two days, I was observing the Jewish New Year with my longterm friend in Cherry Hill who was honored with a Haftarah reading on the second day of the holiday. “Harold” had been practicing this passage for many months and was probably happy that the momentous day had finally arrived. I was intent upon offering my support on the day of his chanting debut.

Elliot had decided to stay home with Jocelyn, our cat, even though he requested our new cat sitter, “Cynthia,” to come on Monday just to try out her new gig with a new client. And she did! She came right after I left the borough, which was about 10:45 a.m. So I drove to Cherry Hill via the Verrazano Bridge and the New Jersey Turnpike.

Instead of staying with our friends, I had decided to lodge at a Hampton Inn about 15 minutes away in Mount Laurel. Thus when I got to Harold’s house about 1:30 p.m., and discovered he and his wife weren’t home, I drove to the hotel in order to check in. I’m glad I did this during the daytime, since I was going there at night after the holiday meal.

I was expected between 2:30 and 4:30, so that we could all go to the synagogue to participate in Tashlich, which is the symbolic ceremony of throwing your sins away into a body of water. But I left early, not knowing what kind of traffic I would experience. I was fortunate this time since the traffic was lighter than expected. I made only one stop at the Molly Pitcher Service Area on the Turnpike. The service station is in Cranbury, New Jersey. I just got a cup of Starbucks coffee and a piece of banana bread.

When I checked into the hotel, I hung up my suit in the closet and dropped off my suitcase and hastened to the car to drive back to my friend’s house. It was after 2, so I assumed he would be home. Now, he and his wife were home: to explain where they were, they were still attending services when I first knocked on their door.

At around 5, the three of us went back to the temple to engage in the Tashlich observance. We met some of other congregants who live in the area as we walked to the designated body of water. The crowd this time was larger than usual, I thought. When we gathered at the grassy site, we were all given a pamphlet with the prayers designated for reading during the ceremony. We all had slices of bread ready to be used in the water.

After Tashlich, we drove home to have the holiday meal. Harold’s daughter now joined us and we sat in the dining room and recited the requisite prayers.

I went back to the hotel at 9 or so, and I was struck at how dimly lit the roads were. This is the country, after all. Thank God I had GPS on my phone.

In the hotel room, I stayed up until 12:30 or so. I half-watched an episode of House of the Dragons on HBO and had no idea what I was viewing. There was really nothing else on, so I tried to read my new book, Hunger, by Roxane Gay.

The next day, I woke up at 7:10, even before my alarm, which was set at 7:30. I didn’t want to arrive late at my friend’s house of worship, even though the synagogue was maybe 15 minutes away. I was told to arrive between 9:30 and 10 a.m. I went downstairs to have breakfast in the hotel, which, in my opinion, was less than stellar. There were some hot items available like pork and sausages, which I usually avoid. The egg-like concoction and small potatoes served were tasteless. Other than that, there were cold cereals and small containers of yogurt available. The coffee was not too good, either. Anyway, I ate what I could.

I then got into the car to drive to Temple Beth Shalom, the conservative synagogue located on Kresson Road. I put on my tallit (traditional prayer shawl) and yarmulke (head covering) and walked into the sanctuary, where I met my friend and his wife “Rachel.” We all sat in the better seats to wait for Harold’s call to the bimah. I could see he was somewhat tense. I wanted his reading to go extremely well. Several parties were called to the altar before him, and he was the sixth person to be called, I believe, along with his wife.

When it was time for him to read his portion, I was able to easily follow along in Hebrew. I have to say he did very well considering his uneasiness with the language. I was quite proud of him as he chanted the Haftarah. But I knew he must have felt a sense of relief when it was over.

Now we could all sit back and relax and listen to the service. The auxiliary rabbi, whom I’d call Rabbi “Weiner,” gave a powerful sermon during the service which covered the zeitgeist of how most people have felt during the last two years or more. The refrain he repeated throughout his homily was that “we are enough!” This sentiment was offered in contradiction to what society expects all of us to be, which is perfect. We all strive to be the perfect parent, the perfect worker, the perfect friend, the perfect teacher, the perfect professional, etc. Rabbi Weiner urged us to accept us as we are, as imperfect human beings, who should be content with who we are at the moment. He went on to stress that is not to say that we shouldn’t strive to be better persons, but it’s more important to accept ourselves as we are. For some reason, I thought the sermon’s message resonated strongly with me.

At about 12, Rachel and I asked Harold to go home to have lunch. He demurred since he wanted to stay until the bitter end. So we took our leave at that time and I drove both of us back to the house where we schmoozed until Harold came home a little over an hour later.

I stayed a little past lunch and began my journey back home. Here the traffic was heavier in the city, not on the Turnpike. So it took me about 3 hours to get home this time. I stopped only once like before, at another service station, the Grover Cleveland Service Area, for coffee and a candy bar. I was getting a little drowsy on the road.

Boy, was I glad to be home. I was even lucky to find a spot on the street. I rushed upstairs to see how Jocelyn was and to greet Elliot. Elliot had good news about Jocelyn’s interaction with her new cat sitter and the extent of her resurgence. It seems as if she appears to be rallying, even though there are still some behavioral changes noticed in her. The good thing is that she still has an appetite. Maybe she is on her ninth life already!

To celebrate my safe arrival home, we went out to dinner. I drove – yech! – again to the restaurant in Woodside. I would have preferred that Elliot would have driven, but he objected. So I was pressed into chauffeuring service once more. So that is the reason why I decided not to write my blog last night. I was weary over all of that driving. I was never a good long-distance driver, I must say. I much prefer shorter distances to drive, especially given how horrible the traffic situation has become in this city since the pandemic has ebbed. Everyone is in such a hurry to get where they want to go that they become reckless and careless.

Now I hear that Hurricane Ian is one of the most powerful storms ever to slam into the United States. The storm originally made landfill near Cayo Costa, Florida, as a Category 4 storm this afternoon with maximum sustained winds measured at a stunning 150 mph – only 7 mph slower than a Category 5, the highest status on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale of Hurricane Intensity. It slowed as it lashed the state and was downgraded to a Category 3 storm Wednesday night, the National Hurricane Center reported.

Stay safe and be well.