First, it was Charley. Then came Frances, followed by Ivan and and Jeanne. This wicked succession of storms has left Florida and other locations reeling. Death, destruction, outages, and major losses were the unfortunate results of these power punches that just wouldn't take a dive. Cachers from Florida to Pennsylvania lost caches in the torrential rains and wind attributed to the series of storms.
It seems that many caches have disappeared forever, while others have landed in private yards, become wedged in trees, or have been utterly ruined by submersion. Many travel bugs are missing, as well, logging mileage of their own that can't be tracked on GC.com.
Jeff Cole, aka JT & PJ Cole, lost one cache, Johnson Rocks!, not once, but three times. He reports, "After the first one came up missing, I replaced it. After the second one came up missing, I changed the container and tied it to a rock. Frances took this one and left no trace. I have a new one ready to put back out this week now that things seem to have gotten back to normal."
ZackJones archived Five Card Stud after it washed away in the hurricane-related flooding. "I'm glad I archived it when I did because if I hadn't it would have gotten washed away by Frances and then Ivan when they came through central GA," Zack said. Unaware that it had been archived, Bushbob attempted to log the cache, only to find parts of the cache in the area.
Farther north, the remnants of three of the hurricanes took their toll on caches, as well, according to Spike440. "A bunch of caches along the Mighty Ohio ended up under water, or taken away by the high water. Both Marietta, Ohio and Wheeling, West Virginia got hammered. Neither city is even close to normal yet."
Marianne Revie, aka AtlantaGal added, "With Ivan, several of my ammocan cache placements near rivers/in low-lying areas had to be checked on. Two were indeed flooded and the ammocans were carried a good bit of distance away. Luckily, they were able to be found. Both caches were 100% dry inside. I ended up moving both. One was placed 20 feet away in a tree rather than on the ground. The other was moved about 80 feet up a hill to be out of the direct floodline completely. Sure glad I made these changes before Jeanne hit!"
When a local community is hit with natural disasters, FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) steps in. When the caching community was literally swamped by the storms, GEMA (Geocachers Emergency Management Agency) came to the rescue, led by Kathi Burgess, aka Yuzawa Kat. She prayed for an avenue to help those cachers who had lost caches, or whose cache containers were left in ill repair. Kathi explained, "The Lord answered me with the concept for 1-800-555-GEMA, the first GeoEvent scheduled...when the Hurricane Circus Train thought it was invited, Frances came-a gate-crashing (and lots more), so we cancelled that one."
Spurred on by the generous contribution of cache supplies made by roving2sum, Kathi was determined to aid cachers in replacing that which had been lost. As a result, she hosted the MoLaNaPa GeoEvent #2.1 - GEMA Collect & Distribute event on October 2, 2004. In addition to the BBQ grills, caches, and numerous GPS receivers frequently seen at an event, Kathi set up color-coded tables to separate such cache components as containers, swag, log books, writing implements, stash notes, and camoflaging materials. "As people arrived, all were carrying things. [They] would work at the table/station they felt most skilled at, or wanted to know more about, so it even became a GXing 101 classroom", Kathi said. Dean Traiger, aka Doc-Dean, added, "I have to say this was the most impressive cache-production factory I've ever seen!"
Over 36 cachers took home fully-stocked, ready to place caches to replace those that had been lost, and there were "leftovers" that will be distributed at events to come. Kathi remarked, "It just means more caches for us to chase after! Who needs to wait for a "Survivor" GeoEvent, when each and every one we attend is a "Survivor" GeoCelebration?" GoofyButterfly summed up her appreciation for Kathi's efforts and cacher's donations of materials and time by saying, "Not only is this sport taking us to places that we never would have gone but the real bonus is meeting the people that are so kind. It means so much to us that the community jumped in to help all the others effected by the hurricanes. Such a kind and caring bunch of people."
