It had been raining on and off all day when I got the call:
Go find out what people were thinking about Cristobal finally getting here.
So I donned my yellow rain slicker and made for the door.
After 24-hours of of-and-on showers and some heavy wind gusts, what did the locals have to say about the vaunted Cristobal?
So while my favorite supermarket was already closed for the evening, my next best shot is the convenience store just off the Veteran’s Boulevard exit.
That place is always busy.
When I arrived I met Bernard, who had just gotten off work. Not having to flood proof his home or evacuate suited him, “Actually, I thought it was going to be a lot stronger, but it’s cool with me,” he said.
For Latonya, who was staying at the hotel next door, she found she’d packed up and evacuated her family for no reason:
“We thought everything was going to flood out, too,” Latonya says. “It was no flood, not too much damage, just rain. Just rain and wind, no water, just little puddles in the road but that’s about it, nothing else.”
An older woman who is an Uber driver arrived and informs me that other people got hit much harder than we did.
“Well in some sections it’s pretty bad,” She began. “Like Mississippi, my son lives over there, they had to evacuate. So, I think we’re lucky.”
Then there’s was a man who says he was expecting a real storm, with lots of lightning and thunder, wind and flooding, “It doesn’t seem more than rainy day. Nothing else to be honest.”
I asked if he thought the National Weather Service over played their hand when reporting on the storms severity?
“In my opinion, yeah," he replied.
And finally, Terrance, who thoughts are with everyone in the rain, “It’s just a lot of rain and wind,” Terrance says. “It’s what people make it out to be. I hope everybody’s safe, everybody’s staying safe and I wish everybody love.”