Boom! Crash! Shake!

A few nights ago, the booming thunder and crashing lightning right above my head made me feel like Chicken Little believing “the sky is falling,” like the song "It's the End of the World as We Know It . In my near eight decades on this earth, I never felt anything like it. The sound of the pounding rain on my Fort Lauderdale home was intense. Visibility was nil.

The torrential rains seem stronger and seem to drop huge amounts of water harder and faster than our fragile earth can absorb it. I had to drive mid morning after and on some of the roads, the water still came up to the bottom of my car door. When people ridiculously sped by, the waves blocked out any ability to see.

All my friends and I are talking about it incessantly. These South Florida climate bursts we call them, seem worse now. This specific torrential rainstorm burst dropped so much rain in such a short amount of time, with intense booms and crashes, that it clearly was the worst all of us remembered experiencing before.

Then, I picked up The New York Times on Sunday, September 20, 2026, and read this “Fact of Interest”:

“In the last 20 years, at least 200 of New York City’s 472 subway stations have been affected by one or more torrential rainfall events, according to the M.T.A.”

So, that is what I experienced in Fort Lauderdale, now has a name, “torrential rainfall event.” I immediately intended to go to the article, in The New York Times Magazine, page 34.

When I picked up The New York Times Magazine section, the cover was completely bright red, and in 2 inch black letters, (I actually took a ruler and measured them):

DISASTER.

REBUILD.

REPEAT.

The blurb accompanying the title: “How should we recover from devastating storms, and wildfires when they never stop coming?”

The red cover with huge black lettering grabbed me.  Exactly what I hope to learn about.

What I didn’t expect was that the table of contents included not one but five articles on the issue of what climate experiences are happening around us affecting our lives tremendously, significantly, with greater frequency and with greater intensity.

Then, I got to page 21 where the full white page is blank except for black lettering now 2 1/2 inches tall

THE

CLIMATE

ISSUE

The word climate is circled 3 inches tall.  

Page 22 and 23 have in 4 inch bolded black letters covering both white pages

THE

ETERNAL

AFTERMATH

There are three pictures, a tornado, a fire, and a flood. There is a small print quote, “In an age when we are hit by one disaster after another, there’s a better way to rebuild.”

The last paragraph makes a statement, but no solution: “It’s beautiful—the government helps you after a disaster.  But we should be thinking about the money that we spend on disaster recovery in terms of what we could get for it.  Not just in rebuilding what was there before, but preparing for the next disaster, too.”

I must admit, I’m getting jaded. I didn’t read this several page article on the flooding in the New York subways and quickly went to the last paragraph, expecting a solution. Instead, I got another statement, “we’re just going to be working on now and forever.”

What?

The next article, now in 4 inch bolded black letters on white page

LONG

WAY

HOME

It is about the families displaced by the Maui wildfire fighting to restore what they lost. Again, skipping to the end, about something called the “Maui Wildfire Exposure Study,” the author quoted the head of it: “rebuilding houses, restore structures, but housing stability restores, health, dignity, and the ability to basically create your own future.“

For how long? What about the next wildfire?

By the time I got to the last article of the series, again on two pages with 3 inch circles on white pages. I just sighed.

SIX

STRANGERS

LINKED

BY

DISASTER

This subheading says “[t]heir lives were upended by wildfires, heat, waves and floods, but members of the “Extreme Weather Survivors Network” have come to rely on one another.”

A study on the past, now a club on the past.

I went to the last paragraph of the article. So, the members learned they’re not alone. One is putting together an exhibition of writing and artwork from flood survivors so others will see what happened to these people.

These named “torrential rainfall events” are frequently happening to me now and all we hear about in South Florida are King Tides expected this year, when the Earth, moon, and sun align during a new or full moon, and to prepare to experience exceptionally high, predictable NATURAL high tides and intense flooding with a map of probable flooding locations. (emphasis of bolded NATURAL mine)

I am glad I am old. Just like this New York Times edition, we can just describe what is happening. I am glad I read the headings and last paragraphs only.  Rereading them, they say it all.  Denial.  Isn’t that the first stage of grief?

Other than living with it and through it, does anyone really know what to do about it?

HELP!

I hope that some experts who know what to do are working on climate, preparing for the next disaster instead of a bandaid after it happens, whether they consider it NATURAL or not. I guess more important is that the AI experts are now concerned humankind may end in four years!  A little more imperative always takes center stage.

I feel like that emoji that looks like a deer in headlights.  Our world and world leaders thinking in terms of short term survival, with my beloved and dear six grandchildren, makes me have

little joy,

Mema