THOMPSON: Hurricanes teach discretion and resilience

Walking along streets in towns devastated by hurricanes is not new to me. I was in Biloxi, MS just after Hurricane Camille in 1969…in Homestead, FL just after Hurricane Andrew in 1992…in New Orleans just after Hurricane Katrina in 2005…each one among the strongest storms to ever touch land in North America.

Hurricanes are as much a part of growing up in Florida as long, hot summers. I remember a half dozen other hurricanes as a kid. I’ve even been in the eye of some storms – an eerie experience – like Hurricane Donna when I was 10 years old. The storm’s eye was perfectly quiet…not a breath of air stirring…not a single bird singing…just the absence of sound.

In mid-October, I’ll return to Florida for the Winter…and walk the streets of another town that was devastated by hurricanes in 2023 and 2024…Cedar Key, one of my favourite places…not only in Florida…but anywhere. I’ve been going to Cedar Key since 1958…my first time for a day of fishing with my brother and father.

My wife, Bonnie, and I drive 45 minutes from our horse farm to Cedar Key almost weekly to have a drink, watch the sunset and eat in a favourite restaurant.

Hurricane Idalia hit land in 2023 about 60 miles north of Cedar Key on the Gulf of Mexico…but the strongest winds and storm surge – the rising wall of water that accompanies hurricanes – always falls on the Southeast quadrant of a hurricane…and so the storm hit squarely this special little town. 

Category 3 winds – 178 to 207 kilometres per hour – and a storm surge just over 9 feet struck this quaint little village of 800 people who live on a scattering of islands connected by bridges some fives miles out into the Gulf. Almost everyone had left earlier that day or the day before…a no-doubt tough decision for many…it is, after all, home. Hurricanes teach discretion.

Cedar Key’s charms are obvious…even to a first-time visitor. I wrote about Cedar Key here in one of my columns eight years ago. It remains one of the best-read, most liked columns I ever wrote…it is old Florida…or as I wrote then:

“It is more of a destination than most places in Florida…quite literally, it is not on the way to anywhere. State Road 24 – the only road in and out of Cedar Key – enters the east end of this chain-of-islands town and dead ends at the Gulf of Mexico in the far west. It is more than a half hour’s drive to any other civilization…which is why no one shows up in Cedar Key by accident.”

Surprisingly, Cedar Key hasn’t been hit by many hurricanes…but when they hit…almost every structure in the town suffers. There was the 1896 storm…before they even named hurricanes…with winds estimated at 200 kilometres per hour and a 10.5-foot storm surge. It pretty much wiped out the area.

In 1935, the Labor Day Hurricane damaged most buildings on Cedar Key. The year I was born – 1950 – another storm, with the unlikely name Hurricane Easy, pelted the town with more than two feet of rain…flooding everything. Then, in 1985, Hurricane Elena, with 165 kilometres per hour winds and a 9.2-foot storm surge levelled the town.

And then, Hurricane Idalia once again wreaked havoc on Cedar Key. I was 3,000 miles away…but a part of me was there…thinking about the folks who call it home. I wondered whether one of our favourite informal bar-restaurants, The Big Deck, survived. Bonnie emailed the owners…it did not. 

The Big Deck, long one of the cultural anchors and gathering places for thirsty and hungry folks and their dogs, raised $5,000 on a Go Fund Me site organized by a loyal patron. Patrons are willing to help, but each business owner also realizes there’s a lot to rebuild to make the community whole again…and people only have so much money. Indeed, few buildings were left unscathed…some were simply gone…blown and washed away.

Most places in Florida – especially in coastal areas –  cannot even get insurance.

Humans can be a stubborn lot…we see just how much after every kind of natural and man-made disaster…floods, wildfires, tsunamis, wars…whatever. We resist the overwhelming grief…those brief moments of powerlessness…and rebuild. It is this triumph of human spirit…a characteristic that separates us from other living creatures…that helps define us.

The photos taken of Cedar Key three years ago show flooding, downed trees, homes and businesses…some without roofs and walls and some with no floors. Others…mere foundations. The photos also show people clearing debris…and starting to rebuild.

When we arrive back in Florida in mid-October…we’ll go to Cedar Key. The owners of The Big Deck have rebuilt…and it will open about the time we arrive in Florida. Where there once was a rickety deck and building with a tin roof…there is a restaurant built on pilings that will be there after the next hurricane. In a stroke of genius and practicality, the cooking portion of the restaurant and the coolers for food and drink are in drive-off vehicles integrated into the building.

I tell my Canadian friends to visit Cedar Key when they visit Florida…and quite frankly I hope most will go when the U.S. government is once again run by those who are somewhat sane.

Of all the places you might see in Florida…none is more special than spending a few days in Cedar Key…not Disney World, not Miami’s South Beach, not Tampa. The Big Deck will be there…serving up what might be the best seafood in Florida at reasonable prices…you’ll like the drinks…and the people. Go there and you’ll understand…and you can thank me later.

— Don Thompson lives in Vernon and in Florida. Don has been a working journalist, a speechwriter and the CEO of an advertising and public relations firm. His essays – a blend of news reporting and opinion – appear weekly.