Those of us who have lived in the Fayetteville area for any length of time know that September, in addition to being the official beginning of fall, is also the month when we are most likely to have hurricanes.

For those of you who have not been through a hurricane, I offer you a preview of what you may experience if one occurs. For those of you who are veterans of the hurricane season, I offer you a chance to travel down memory lane with me.

If you have been through just one hurricane, you know the answer to the following question: What is the best time to buy the supplies you need to get through a storm? The best time to buy these necessities is long before a storm is predicted.

Something strange happens when people hear that a hurricane is coming their way. They rush to the nearest grocery store or Lowe’s only to find that nothing they need is in stock. There is no bread or bottled water; there are no bags of ice, no flashlights, and no batteries. The reason these things are not available is that the weather veterans bought them before the rookies had a chance to.

After years of surviving September weather and all the surprises that can pop up, these battle-tested consumers develop a sixth sense about the best time to stock up. They are the ones with countless jugs of water in their basements and generators in their garages.

At the top of my list of essentials is a manual can opener. What is the point of having dozens of cans of non-perishables and an electric can opener in a house without electricity? It is not unusual to lose power during these storms, and at the very moment the power goes out, you will be standing in front of your electric can opener trying to open a can of tuna for lunch. Take it from a veteran of the weather wars — this kind of thing will happen if you don’t plan ahead.

Another essential is a portable radio. I bought one in 1999 in anticipation of a possible catastrophe — a computer programming glitch that was expected to create havoc when 1999 became 2000. While that event never happened, decades later, my Y2K radio has seen me through many storms. Just make sure the batteries are working. Otherwise, your radio will be no more useful than a paperweight.

Family entertainment is another essential that many of us tend to overlook in our haste to find bottled water and batteries. If the power goes out and is not restored within a short time, leaving people without access to a television or a computer, a happy home can become a grumpy home.

As an avid book reader, I have never had a problem if the power goes out. In fact, it has always been a welcome change to have a quiet house filled with people who are either reading or playing a board game.

The secret to having a quiet house during a hurricane is to make sure there are enough flashlights and batteries for everyone to entertain themselves in a dark house. It is especially important to keep flashlights handy when everyone goes to bed. If someone stumbles into an unlit bathroom in the middle of the night and either falls down or stubs a toe, your family may be treated to a new kind of vocal entertainment.

Nothing is more entertaining than the interviews reporters have with surfers determined to stay in the ocean because the waves that form ahead of a hurricane are too high and powerful for them to pass up. Their enthusiasm usually disappears when local officials give them Sharpies and tell them to write their Social Security numbers on their bodies in case they drown and their next of kin needs to be notified.

Something we hurricane veterans know for certain is that these storms always offer us a chance to discover new things about ourselves. We may, for instance, think these storms are going to afford us the rare opportunity to spend quality time with our families, only to discover by day three that there is such a thing as too much quality time. We may find out it is possible to eat too many peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. But above all, we may discover that people who are deprived of fresh, hot coffee often turn into frightening creatures.

Mary Zahran, the proud owner of a manual can opener, can be reached at maryzahran@gmail.com.

Read CityView Magazine’s “Fall in Fayetteville” September 2024 e-edition here.