A Balcony View:

For the last few days, I had optimistically hoped the TV weather reports and Doppler radar were going to be wrong. I had turned a blind eye toward my leaky roof. I was even willing to pretend the mud sliding down the street wasn’t foreshadowing more ominous things on the horizon.

But on Tuesday morning, when Al Roker showed up to do the “Today Show” weather report from our neighborhood, I came to terms with reality.

Last week, he was covering the horrific events in Haiti. This morning, as I was getting ready to go to work, I saw Roker delivering the morning weather from just down the street. It seemed that even though I wanted to hope for the best, NBC had a different point of view.

The thought of Roker hanging around weighed on my mind. As I left for work, things weren’t yet catastrophic for me. Of course, many have already been affected, some worse than others. But to categorize our rain damage as anything near what is occurring simultaneously in Haiti would be a gross misrepresentation. I would hope that even those who have suffered most around here could agree.

As of this writing, I know the worst is yet to come — with another 7 inches of rain predicted in the next 48 hours and even more coming in the next few days. As my deadline to deliver this column approaches, it’s hard to think about, and harder still to write about, what could happen to our community in the coming days. Roker probably wishes he didn’t have to be covering it either.

It’s a strange feeling, knowing that something bad is on the horizon. That said, we ought to take some relative solace knowing that, unlike the victims in Haiti, we’ve had some time to prepare. We’ve been able to put up barricades and fill sand bags. We’ve been given a generous window of several hours to evacuate and find a place to literally ride out the storm.

That said, while all the preparation in the world won’t prevent some destruction and loss, it does make me wonder what the people of Haiti would have given to have even 20 minutes to prepare for the hand they were dealt.

Why do I write about Haiti at a time when we have our own problems to worry about? Maybe because of the difference I noticed in Roker’s demeanor during his reports here and in Haiti. Make no mistake, he did his report from our neighborhood with a proper amount of duty and seriousness. He was not his usual jovial self. But missing was the complete look of shock, dread and horror that was so obvious during his reports from Haiti.

The fears and apprehensions this community is experiencing are very real indeed. For many, being evacuated will be more than an inconvenience. It’s almost a certainty (although I pray I will be proven wrong) that reporters gathered here will get their story. The hills above us are saturated. There will be flooding. It’s just a matter of how much and how well we’ve prepared.

Again, my mind wanders back to the millions of people in Haiti, whose lives will remain torn apart long after we’ve recovered from whatever lies ahead. For as bad as it may get, we get the opportunity to evacuate. We get a chance to side step Mother Nature with our valuables, our pets and our loved ones relatively intact. When the last storm departs, our schools will most likely be standing, our hospitals functioning, the shelves of our stores stocked.

Sooner rather than later, we’ll return to our favorite coffee shops for a leisurely breakfast. Roker will go back to his New York studio. The skies will be blue. The sun will be warm.

I’m reminded of something my mother said to me every time I was faced with adversity.

“This too shall pass.”

It may take some time, but it is inevitable. We will literally weather these storms and keep going forward. Because that is just how life works.

Get in touch GARY HUERTA is a Crescenta Valley resident and author. He is Senior Manager of Communications for DIRECTV and a copywriting professor at Pasadena Art Center College of Design. Gary may be reached at garyrhuerta@gmail.com.