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Phantom in the Wind

“September 10, 2017 was when Hurricane Irma came ashore in Southwest Florida. My cousin Kimberly wanted to do a little storm chasing. I’m Matthew Philips.”

Matthew Philips
Kim records the wind speed in the eye wall of the hurricane
Kim records the wind speed in the eye wall of Hurricane Irma.

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Writing About Hurricanes

I will never write another storm story. The first time I wrote about a hurricane was for my novel Wind Scarred. This was back in 2004. Yeah, you can probably predict where this is going. The fictitious storm took a very similar path to Hurricane Donna (1960). Donna blew up before making landfall on Florida’s Southwest coast, coming ashore near Marco Island. Then it went across the state, exiting over Ormond Beach.

So I’m editing scenes from Wind Scarred on August 13th, while monitoring an approaching hurricane called Charley. I followed satellite images online as Charley intensified, as it moved over the Florida Straits during the heat of the day. I watched as it grew from a cat. 2 storm, rapidly intensifying into a category 4 monster. After making landfall over Punta Gorda it continued on a path over the state that looked very similar to Donna, and to the fictional storm in my story.

Now let’s come forward twenty years to 2024. “Phantom in the Wind” was the final story that I wrote for this collection. I started drafting it in early September, and then almost discarded the work after Hurricane Helene swept through. Because the story ends as Hurricane Debby approaches the Big Bend area, I had been watching YouTube videos about Steinhatchee. I had never visited the fishing village, but few communities have ever drawn me in so completely. Okay, I am always drawn to the communities that reassure me that something of Old Florida still exists.

The storm surge from Idalia (2023) inflicted a considerable amount of damage to Steinhatchee, only to be followed by Debby in August 2024. Then less than two months later a 10-ft surge from Helene seemed determined to wipe out what was left. Helene was heartbreaking, not just for the people in the Big Bend area, but for so many others who lost homes and businesses to storm surge farther south along the Gulf Coast. My warmest thoughts go out to all who endured Debby, Helene and Milton.