I remember Hazel

The year was 1954, I was just a little tyke (actually, I was 10) and we were living on top of a hill in Cresskill, New Jersey, having moved the year before from Bergenfield.

I can remember sitting during a terrible storm, with brutal winds, but they were hitting the back of our house, and we actually had the front door open and just a screen door protecting us from the elements. Suddenly, a small tree blew by, sideways, past the front of the house, and I realized how powerful this storm was.

It was named Hurricane Hazel.

I also learned about changes in wind direction and how a strong wind from one direction, east, to the back of our house, meant that the front door could be open without any problem.

Now here we are, watching Hurricane Irene move up the East Coast, taking dead aim on the New York area, including my old home of Bergen County. And I heard an announcer say Thursday evening that the last storm this powerful to hit the area was Hazel in 1954.

So I definitely know what those people are facing. Even in the northeast, a hurricane is something you have to prepare for, the same as we do here in Florida. The problem is that those folks don't get that many tropical cyclones, so things we take for granted down here are foreign to them.

I'll be thinking about those people this weekend and praying for their safety. I survived Hazel without any damage, and I hope that 57 years from now someone can write about surviving Irene.