Our hopes and prayers go out to everyone in America at this terrifying time!

We had been told the storm would hit us by Friday. Nature’s evil hand was coming.

We had food enough for two weeks and plenty of bottled water. Jim, my husband had covered the windows with the planking set aside for such times. The fire was lit and we were warm.

The wind outside was up to 70 miles an hour now, pounding our house, trying to take it away. I missed the sound of the rain on the glass but this was no time for thinking about that. I wondered how our neighbours were coping. Jim had his old radio working, the wind we were told, had reached more than 90 miles an hour now.

We didn’t need telling, our ears let us know how bad it was out there. I was afraid we wouldn’t hear a knock on the door should someone need help.

There were a dozen knocks on the door that day. Our house was stronger than most, and each of our neighbours brought their own food. We ate together, somehow managing to laugh and it was like being around a campfire. The women cooked and cleaned while the men kept the children entertained.

The storm had turned us into one large family…

Anita Dawes