This post will be a little different than usual. I do
still want to share a few pictures from last week, but Hurricane Helene
derailed our lives a little bit this past weekend. We are fine and our families
are fine. We lost power Friday morning and they don't expect to get it restored
until this coming Friday - but we have running water and that's huge to us.
Although I had a VERY brisk shower this morning - brrr! Also, we were really
excited to finally get a smidge of cell service at our house last night. Being
completely cut off is unnerving.
Also, what we're experiencing is a tiny fragment of
the hell that folks in the mountains are experiencing. Whole communities washed
away. No way in or out. No water, power, cell service. Dr. M & I drove
through Chimney Rock on our way home from our vacation. It's just gone now.
Devastating.
And still we live our silly lives in the hopes that
the next disaster won't be us. I'm not sure we can count on that anymore.
Sunday, September 22nd
I went to my nephew's wife's birthday party and got to hang out with the great-nephews. They're a mess, and much much loved.
Thursday, September 26th
I pulled a pack of peanut butter Nekots out of the jar yesterday & thought, “Huh. These don’t taste very peanut buttery.” Tonight I decided to finish eating the pack & thought, “Huh. These REALLY don’t seem very peanut buttery.” Reader, they were fudge.
Friday, September 27th
Apparently I went to work during a full on hurricane? As in, later that morning Dr. M tried to go the same way and there was a tree across the road. Yikes. He was seemingly foiled at every turn trying to get to his dad's house, if it wasn't a tree, it was flooding. He did finally find a way to get there & his dad still had power - yay! My dad and Sue have power too - and last night they got their internet back.
I left Dr. M at home and went to the office to charge All The Things. I also wanted to work - I had optimistically taken my laptop home with me on Friday. Hahahaha!
When your post didn't occur at its usual time, I wondered if you'd been a little optimistic about the possibility of Helene giving you a whack. I'm glad it wasn't worse for you. I followed a lot of the events this weekend through Twitter, since many of the storm chasers I follow & etc. were posting photos as they became available. Poor Tampa fell off the front pages once the mountain flooding began; I have a friend who works down near the docks in Tarpon Springs that I haven't been able to get in touch with.
ReplyDeleteA lot of people are learning the hard lesson that their homeowners insurance doesn't cover flooding. We're so aware of that here, and everyone I know carries flood insurance, even if they aren't close to the water. That said, who could have imagined flooding like that in Chimney Rock, and purchased flood insurance to help mitigate damage. Answer: no one.
I did notice that the Cajun Navy is there already, with their helicopter, bringing in supplies. They're one of the few utterly trustworthy organizations I know, and I've already made a contribution to them. They rescued a whole lot of Houstonians during Harvey. Those boys from the swamp have some skills.
I know - as I was posting I realized that I don't really know what happened in Florida. And before the storm hit we were REALLY worried about them! I'm glad that folks are helping. I just got a text from my friend in Burnsville who I was really worried about. It's as bad as you can imagine. She & her daughter were about to get out & go stay with her other daughter near Raleigh - but her her husband & the Raleigh daughter's husband stayed behind to help.
Delete*able to get out... (not about)
Deletehurricanes re just getting stronger and more devastating. re the cat 1 that landed here and spawned so many tornados and took out so many mature trees just uprooting them, not to mention the damage to my two. and cat 1! and the damage to NC, whole little towns swept away. glad you were safe though. no electricity is a big inconvenience in comparison.
ReplyDeleteYes - it's scary how much these storms have escalated!
DeleteLess eventful would be good! I'm so glad you weren't affected more directly by the storm, but yeah, those poor people in the mountains really got hammered. It's scary.
ReplyDelete(Well, I guess having no power for a week is pretty directly affected, but you know what I mean!)
DeleteI do know what you mean - we definitely got off light!
DeleteOh, Dana. I was wondering about you. Poor, poor western NC. I saw what was left of Chimney Rock and felt just horrible. I visited there some time ago and was charmed by the area. Now it's simply gone.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you and your family are okay and hanging in there.
Thank you - it's really hard to see all of those images.
DeleteLike Nance said, keep hanging in there, you guys.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteBut hey, we got the chest freezer defrosted. It is so hard seeing the images of destruction from so many places we've visited and even lived and worked. Just too much to process.
ReplyDelete