Fires vs floods

You know, it would be REALLY nice if Mother Nature could even things out a little bit. Mothers aren't supposed to have favorites, right?!

Yet The West is experiencing abnormally high temperatures for this time of year, and very little to no rain - following years of drought.

The South is getting dumped on with crazy amounts of rain. 

I would gladly take some of their rain! (Just not all of it....)

The national news had a story about the weird weather. They showed Houston and surrounding areas covered in water and then a map of The West with  27 forest fires burning. 

I talked to a family member and friend that live on the West Coast, and they both have asthma and are struggling to breathe. Ash is falling around them, and the air is thick with smoke. They have had a horrible heat wave and are not used to high temperatures. So, they don't have swap coolers or central air to cool down, and can't open their windows at night to get fresh air - because there is no fresh air! It is full of smoke.

So, no matter where you live, you may be having problems with asthma. The floods lead to mold problems that affect asthma. 

The wild fires and smoke also affect asthma (in fact, I had a son who almost died due to smoke from a forest fire....so we are a VERY careful at our house when it comes to forest fires and smoke.)  

On my last post, I wrote about flooding, mold and asthma. 

Now it's time to talk about wildfires and smoke. 

How do you protect yourself? Well, the Centers for Disease Control has information about Protecting Yourself from Wildfire

There are things you can do such as checking the local air quality, avoiding spending time outdoors if possible, and making sure you are taking your asthma medicine, etc. All of that is listed in the "Protecting Yourself from Wildfire" website listed above.

I am changing plans to avoid time outside, am taking my controller inhaler and am also using my rescue inhaler when I feel like I need it.

Don't be afraid to call your doctor if your asthma flares up and if they ask you to evacuate, that may be the safest thing when you have asthma! 

Good luck to those affected by the wild fires and those dealing with the flood :(