Thursday, October 13, 2016

Hurricane Matthew Update

Preparing to evacuate (before the storm)
This past week has been crazy.  Last Thursday afternoon, after working with my staff to secure the office computers (my manager took the server with him and I took the backup for it with me) and securing what I could around home, we all headed to safer locations inland.


Georgia Central Engine in Dublin, GA
I went to Dublin, unfortunately not the one in Ireland but in south-central Georgia.  There I hung out for two and a half-days as we watched Hurricane Matthew chew its way up the eastern seaboard.  With fears of tide surges as high as eleven feet and wind and waves on top of that (my house is at 14 feet above sea level), I was a little nervous as to what I might come back to find.  In all, it wasn't too bad except for the 1000s of trees down or leaning precariously.  The survey of the golf courses on the island (there are six) indicate that the courses themselves have 1500 trees down.  We didn't lose any trees at home, but one huge pine is leaning over and will have to be cut down.  If it falls, it won't damage any houses, but will block our road.


Our community is known for funny street names.
This street names seems prophetic




The storm hit our area around 2 AM on Saturday morning.  From those who stayed, 4 AM was the witching hour when the winds were at the peak and trees could be heard falling all around.  Being a volunteer firefighter, I was allowed back on the island early and arrived back Saturday afternoon around 4 PM.  I had to go through several checkpoints (showing my ID badge) to get back into the county.  There was no power and thankfully little traffic, so it wasn't too hard to make it through Savannah and out to Skidaway.  Crews were already hard at work and the main roads were passable.  I spent Sunday and Monday with a crew opening roads and checking on those who rode out the storm (some had to have trees cut to get out of their garages) along with homes of friends.



Power came back on Tuesday and Wednesday, depending on where you lived.  I cleaned out the refrigerator and freezer.  That was our biggest loss.  Thankfully, few people on the island  had water damage (unlike what's happened in North Carolina and in Haiti).  On Tuesday, we set the office back up and on Wednesday, we were back at work...  Like I said, it's been a crazy week.  Here are a few photos:

back deck after the storm

House after the storm (the leaning tree is not in the photo)
If you compare it to the photo above,
you'll see how trees behind the house were "thinned out"

Fixing coffee first morning back

Fixing lots of coffee on the second morning back!
Notice the "tree" on the propane bottle with a light on top

28 comments:

  1. "it's been a crazy week" ... it sure was!

    Thank you for sharing your news and photo's, I'm pleased that there were no loss of life, but a lot of clearing up to be done.

    Yes, I did have to laugh at that street name.

    Take care

    All the best Jan

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  2. Glad you are 'back in business!' I've weathered a few ice storms that have left our yards looking like that. Good luck with the clean up. Your home is beautiful, storm or no storm.

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  3. Good to see you are back up and running. I wondered quite a bit about you as you were probably closest to the action of anyone I know. I'm always amazed at the people who choose to stay behind and ride it out. Last I heard over three dozen folks paid the ultimate price for that decision.

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  4. So glad to get this update and to hear that you had very little damage! You (and all the coast) were in my thoughts and prayers. A friend's daughter is in Wilmington NC and, thankfully, she had very little trouble, too.

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  5. Glad to hear things weren't too bad at your house. We had a lot of wind and some rain inland, but nothing like what you had.

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  6. Wow, 1500 trees down--that's hard to imagine. I'm glad to hear you made it through safely and with minimal damage to your home. As bad as this storm was, it could have been so much worse. The flooding in the Carolinas is still giving some people troubles, from what I hear.

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  7. Glad to hear that you didn't have a lot of damage. 1500 tree's down, wow. That's a lot.

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  8. Oh goodness, I thought about you, and a few other blogger friends in these surrounding areas and I have family in Florida too. I actually flew out of Huntsville, Alabama on that Friday and luckily I switched planes to go through Chicago instead of Washington (apparently they closed Reagan airport that night) we all watched the reports of the hurricane praying it would end quickly! Thank goodness you and family and your house are all fine! Such a scary thing to live through.

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  9. OMY GOD ! Im happy to heard youy are ok . This hurricane was awful, Is nice to know you are Ok . !

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  10. Good report -- glad all is well. Interesting to see the pictures. Thanks for sharing. You coffee drinkers will always find a way!😀

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  11. My first question was "I wonder if he went to the washroom (as such) or get the coffee going first?" either way I am glad you made it through in decent shape, that was the one lesson I learned living in the foot hills of the Blue Ridge--look for higher ground, even a trickle of a stream becomes a torrent with all the water that comes off the mountains.

    I can't imagine why the possibly last two storms picked up such strength on what should have been a cooler ocean. Man Jeff is it beyond fixing now?

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  12. Glad everything was okay, we lost some trees ourselves. Nothing disastrous, except for the money will have to spend to have them removed.

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  13. You kept me watching that storm hoping it wasn't going to strim you too, for it looked for all the world like one of those strimming weed eaters. I was also looking at it with quite a gimlet eye though, for had the thing not went for Hatteras it was coming across the ocean down out throats here.
    Back in the day, 1930/40s. There was a yearly storm that really tipped it down in bucket fulls here. Now we rarely get a bad one until late Oct early Nov.
    Delighted you and yours are OK, and that your home is too.

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  14. All in all, sounds like most folks were fairly lucky.

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  15. Wow! That is one amazingly prophetic street sign. Phenomenal, actually, and good thing the tree didn't bend a tad closer - sign is still standing.

    Stay safe and properly sated with warm coffee, Sage.

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  16. Experienced campers are always the best prepared for natural disasters. Looks like you had quite an adventure.

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  17. Glad to know you're safe. Camping experience comes in handy sometimes.

    Greetings from London.

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  18. With comparatively minimal damage to your home, I'm satisfied it gave you a hero's welcome --one well-deserved too. Hang onto that house.

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  19. Glad you didn't have too much damage and most importantly are safe!

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  20. That was a major storm. Poor Haiti. They always bear the brunt of Mother Nature's hurricanes. Fortunately, your place didn't have major damage. Glad you're back and up and running again.

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  21. What a devastating storm, glad you're safe

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  22. That's a big tree that fell over, but it sure does match the street name. I'm glad you had no damage!

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  23. So glad it turned out as well as it did. Love that bent tree photo. :) And very ingenious - that coffee making!

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  24. Good on you for being a volunteer firefighter! I really admire people that are courageous enough to do that. I love your coffee making set-up. I was worried I would lose power as result of Matthew and be without coffee for a while.

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  25. Glad you made it through with minimal damage. Looks like you were mostly fortunate. Here, we mostly (try to) dodge tornadoes rather than hurricanes.

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  26. I wish I lived in that area so I could have helped with the cleanup! Thank goodness that you are ok :)

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  27. Glad you went inland to safety. I am sure it was extremely stressful wondering what was happening at home and with your friends. So wonderful that the damage was mostly small and your house is still standing. :)
    ~Jess
    ~Jess

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  28. Wow! That is scary... It can get a little boring (weather wise) where I live, but after seeing this, I'll take the boring...

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