You have to wonder if we are being punished for our sins.
Did we do something bad enough to deserve all this wind and rain?
Is it the Republicans? Did we elect too many of them?
Are the Democrats causing it? Are they getting even?
Whatever the reason, we are once again looking toward the sky to see what a hurricane named Jeanne will bring our way.
So far Charley, Frances and Ivan have brought trouble to thousands of Floridians.
But they have brought far more than that into our lives: thousands of volunteers from every state in the union who have come to our rescue.
They are picking up limbs, chain sawing trees, restoring electricity, distributing water and serving hot meals to storm victims.
On Friday, Lt. Gov. Toni Jennings honored those volunteers in Tallahassee.
It's not just the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army that have come to our rescue.
Southern Baptists and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are here too. And dozens of other organizations and citizens who have stepped in to lend a hand.
More than 85,000 people have spent more than 1.5-million hours helping meet our needs.
"In times of crisis we are never alone," Jennings said. "Thank you. It doesn't seem like enough, but we will say it again and again and again. Florida owes a huge debt of gratitude to people of all ages."
Some of the volunteers have been Floridians.
Jennings highlighted the work of Dale Bass, a South Florida citrus grower who watched Hurricane Frances strip the fruit from his trees. Instead of basking in his own despair, Bass took his refrigerated trucks, forklifts and flatbed trucks and set out to help distribute food, ice and water in Fort Pierce.
"And once he got going, he couldn't stop," Jennings noted. After Ivan came ashore, Bass headed to the Panhandle and helped set up distribution centers there.
The acts of aid have been both big and small. One 13-year-old girl in Titusville used her trumpet to help entertain disaster victims seeking aid at a Salvation Army comfort station. Volunteers served more than 9.2-million meals during Charley and Frances and finally stopped counting during Ivan.
A relief fund established for Charley victims and expanded to include the victims of all of the storms has collected more than $12-million to meet needs not covered by state and federal relief funds.
Steve Uhlfelder, the Tallahassee lawyer appointed to oversee the fund, got two checks for it Thursday: one for $2-million from United Healthcare and another for $36 from children in Dallas who walked their neighborhood collecting donations for Florida's hurricane victims.
"The response is nothing short of miraculous," says Wendy Spencer, head of Volunteer Florida, the agency coordinating relief efforts.
Mike Brown, Federal Emergency Management Agency secretary, says Florida's handling of the storm will serve as a model for other states faced with similar crises. So far FEMA has registered 538,000 Floridians who have suffered so much damage they need federal help.
The end is not in sight. Many victims of Ivan have yet to report in, having no telephones and no electricity. It appears that the Pensacola area suffered the most damage. Houses that once sat on pristine beaches simply disappeared. Roads and bridges were washed out, leaving Escambia County isolated from a world trying to get help to them.
And now Jeanne threatens the state.
As Dr. John Agwunobi, secretary of the state health department said last week: "Unfortunately we are getting good at this."
