Hurricane
I remember the boarded-up windows rattling as Hurricane Hugo pounded the Lowcountry. It was my senior year in high school and though we experienced hurricanes before, this was the worse in my lifetime. One of the things that I remembered most was the sound of “trains” that seemed to be riding through the storm.
I grew up next to railroad tracks. Trains passed through in the middle of the night and throughout the day. We became so accustomed to their loud horns, that we never thought much of hearing them. But during those hours of Hugo’s wrath, I distinctly remember those “horns.” I wondered why would they be traveling during the storm.
The truth is they weren’t.
The next morning, as we all filed out of our respective homes in our neighborhood, the post-apocalyptic scenes of Hugo’s aftermath greeted us. Trees blocked our road, but already family members with chainsaws were cutting through the tall pine trees and old Oaks. Water was everywhere, but fortunately, nothing was flooded. Thankfully the torrential rain that had pelted the houses all night, was now just a drizzle.
As my Brother and I walked down the street, dodging debris and taking in the destruction of the storm, we both noticed that rows and rows of tall trees were all missing their tops. It would take some time before we learned that this was the case because tornadoes that hadn’t touched the ground, tore off the tops. Those “trains” I heard were tornadoes. Imagine had they touched down.
The destruction and devastation would have been much worse, and it was already horrible.
Years later when I played in my band MAYA (I used “band” very loosely), this experience inspired me to write a hard-hitting rock song called “HURRICANE.” It was simple, but funky and hard at the same time.
As I sit here in this “tropical storm” in LA (think rain shower for my Southern folks), I couldn’t help but recall the song.
Hurricane
I think I hear
Another train
No passengers
Just wind-aided
Strongest of them all
Strongest of them al…
The report says we’ll know in a day…
Come let’s go ride
We still got time
The winds’ too high
leave that bag behind
Strongest of them all
Strongest of them al…
The report says we’ll know in a day…