For the second time this decade a named “storm” starting with “I” has visited us. It’s hard to remain objective, and of course it’s all a scientific matter of winds, fronts, water temperatures and other natural forces, but damn it, here it is.
In a way, there’s a lot to say, and in a way, there’s not much to say. But, as alert readers will remember I usually take the former option, and so with electricity returned to the digs, internet connection secured, I can give some accounting our experiences. Quick read is that aside from no electricity, we fared pretty well. A neighbor “lent” us a tree but not of considerable size, and it has been taken care of. Our waterfront was pretty much unscathed, and due to previous storms of one sort or another, we have just a few trees remaining on the property. Funny, while Isabel was mainly a water event, Irene brought winds. Sailor friends tell me that whether the “eye” passes east or west would be the difference.
So, all last week as she inched across the Atlantic, I checked the forecast track of Irene (I hate using that word!) every time it was updated. By Thursday it seemed to settle back out into the Atlantic somewhat east of Ocean City, and Washington was pretty much out of the cone. It was predicted to be a hundred miles or so east of us sometime Sunday afternoon, so I was feeling pretty cavalier at that point. Some annoyance, but certainly not head for the hills. I did take the precaution of covering the gray lagoon to prevent it filling with leaves, and generally we went to “Storm Condition One” the one with least effort. Patio stuff to the side, but things like the grills remained near the screened in porch, some lumber still stored near the woodpile, and so forth. Friday, as a precaution, I thought maybe I would stop by Lowe’s and pick up a couple of flashlights, and some more “D” cell batteries. They weren’t crowded but when I asked, they just laughed. Gone for days.
So, despite the dire warnings of “chicken little” Weather Channel, we went to bed Friday night expecting to do yard work in the morning, and then maybe hunker in the afternoon and watch the storm pass by.
The first indication that something was amiss was when we woke up fairly early Saturday morning to the sound of rain on the windows. Hey, what’s this? And then I went out in the back yard, and there were those dull gray clouds, steady winds with light rain that flashed memories of “I” storm number one in 2003. Sooo, just to err on the side of extra caution we elevated our condition to “Three”, just to be safe. Anything that could potentially blow was moved to the side yard, the gas grill laid down on its side, all lumber removed, the cover on the woodpile taken off, props put on the fence gate, okay, pretty secure.
Feeling pretty confident, I went out to get coffee, and was humorously surprised at measures taken by a few of the store owners..silly people..
By the time I got back, the wind had picked up a bit, and my anxiety began to rise (aided by the caffeine no doubt), and is my practice when faced with adversity, I just wanted it to go away. My “Coping strategy” is to just lie on the couch in an extended fetal position and mutter “please be over”. MFO, on the other hand busied herself with cooking food for a dinner party that evening. By mid afternoon, it was obvious that things were deteriorating rapidly, with the storm still in the Carolinas. Rain pounding on the windows, substantial gusts, and those tell tale little bits of leaves began to stick to the glass. The only variation was increasing intensity of everything. Steady.
I won’t go through the rest of the night, but it was one I don’t want to re-live. Ever. Power quit about eight o’clock. A retrospective check with the NOAA’s Solomons weather site (the little white house across from us), showed steady winds of about 40 knots, and continuous gusts in the fifties with one peak around 60 (just about midnite). No thank you
Sunday morning, things seemed to be calming a bit, so we went out to survey any damage. Only physical damage (mental was irreparable) was one of our neighbor’s tree flattening a panel of our new fence, and the kayaks re-arranged.
We then held our breath and peeked over the hill and mercifully no damage to the waterfront. I think the fact that (passing to the east) there was always a northerly component to the wind, kind of “blew out” the bay.
Well, that wasn’t so bad we thought, and then went to the street side of the house. A short trip up the road revealed an appalling amount of damage. Neighbor's driveways unpassable, houses up the street with colossal trees down, some on houses, trees across roads, we could hardly believe our eyes..(and this is just a sampling)
And it became evident why there was no power at the digs.
This was the low point, and tomorrow....
To be continued!!
we'll suspend DFD for a day or so..
MFO and I are going out tonight for the first "real food" dinner in days in honor of our anniversary....
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