Hurricane Isabel is coming our way. We
are taking our RV 4 hours inland to stay in our
daughter's yard and wait out the category 5 hurricane with 150
mile an hour wind. It is only Tuesday, but we are leaving a
little early to avoid the long traffic lines of people getting out
of the hurricane's way.
This is Cape Lookout in normal times (above). I
hope somebody takes the wild ponies off the island.
We live at the star below. The
power company will probably turn off the power some time
Wednesday. And who knows when they will be able to get
everybody back on. Some times it is as long as 5 days. It is
86 degrees now. And for some unknown reason, the storms
always hit at night so you can't see what's going on.
They have already issued a mandatory evacuation
for Ocracoke Island. (Monday noon)
We live very close to the blue star below.
Saturday September 20, 2003
We were lucky. We were on the left side
of the hurricane as it made landfall. The right side is
where the most damage is done. It was a category 2 when it came
ashore with winds of 105. The only damage in our yard is
branches and leaves. The house did not get hurt at all. One
of Jim's ham radio antennas is a little bent but still standing.
Hurricane Isabel killed 24. One was a local
electrician who lost his balance and got electrocuted.
The storm hit our area during the afternoon daylight hours this
time. The storm surge did not get to us.
There are over 1 million homes and businesses in
North Carolina still without electricity on Monday Sept 22. Ours was off for
only 5 hours.
We rode around this afternoon to see what
damage was done. Morehead City looked pretty good.
Beaufort had a service station with the roof on the ground.
Everybody was out cleaning up their yards and burning trash.
Harkers Island and Marshallberg had alot of
tree damage but we did not see any structures damaged. The
water did get up to several houses. We did not see alot of
evidence of water getting into the houses. These places are
within site of the Cape Lookout Lighthouse but evidently they were
on the left side too. Marshallberg is where my parents and
Aunt Julia had houses on Goose Pond Rd. No electricity yet.
On further "downeast" at the
communities of South River, Davis, Stacy, Williston, Sea Level, Atlantic, and
Cedar Island, they did get the water surge that entered
homes and businesses. We saw several churches with the pews
sitting outside drying. Many, many houses had all their
carpets, and most of their furniture outside. Many trees
fell. The Driftwood Motel at the cedar island ferry evidently got
water in it too as they had all their room furniture outside. I
understand there was from 4 to 14 feet of water inside the homes and
businesses.
Their electricity is not yet on. The Red Cross and Salvation
Army had trucks with food and clothing, etc. in all places. It
was very, very sad. It sure made our messed up yard
look good when we got back home.
Above this shows the hurricane at the Oceanna
Fishing Pier,
Atlantic Beach, North Carolina, the day before hurricane
hit.
This is a fire station from the Downeast
community. It's doors were all bent out of shape and could not
be opened or closed. The fire trucks were destroyed. I
understand the building had 4 feet of water in it.
I took some pictures of houses and trees
"Downeast" but they did not turn out as good as I had hoped.
Our Cousin Cynthia lives up near the Cape
Hatteras Lighthouse. She stayed with her house. She said "No
way have I worked all my life to leave now". They have major, major damage there. Her
house is ok, but she lost 5 trees. She said there are motels and
houses in the middle of the road in Hatteras Village. The one road
(Hwy 12) that runs the length of the banks has huge chucks cut out
of it from the sand, wind and water. It will be months before
it will be fixed. The storm cut
a new inlet there and nobody can get to these people. They
brought supplies in by helicopter.
My son-in-law is the manager of an insurance
agency here in Morehead City. They have their work cut out for
them. They have the entire coast of North Carolina for the
claims.
I got the note below from one of our friends who
was hit harder than us. They live in South River.
We had some damage and loss but
feel very fortunate and blessed. Almost everyone within a nine
mile radius of us had water inside their homes and we didn't. Our
floor is 12 ft above mean high tide and the water came underneath
the house!! Can you imagine? Who would have ever thought the
water would get that high? Thank God it didn't come inside the
house! It did get into our out buildings. One of them (the pump
house on stilts) has a floor level higher than my head and it had
about 3 inches of water in it. Our big shed behind the pond which
has a floor level about neck high to me had about 12 inches of
water in it. The foundation on James' new "rabbit shed" was
damaged when two 4x4 posts broke which made everything that was
stored in the top of it fall to the ground. Some of it we found,
some of it floated away including a picnic table that was upside
down on the dock and 10 telephone poles that were behind the
pond. He is at the shop now trying to see if he can salvage the
tiller, pressure washer, water pump, lawn mower, and weed-eater.
I think some water may have gotten inside the little pickup, but
it's so nasty that a little water wouldn't have hurt it! The
motor still runs so that says a lot for an old Toyota with almost
200,000 miles on it. Our well was flooded so we can't drink the
water and I have to check with the health department tomorrow
about having it tested. Good thing I stocked up on bottled
water. I found out Friday that our flood insurance doesn't cover
anything but the house and it's contents. This week I intend
to add an amendment to it to include the out buildings if that's
possible and I would encourage those of you that have flood
insurance to check your policies!
I would like to
ask that you say a prayer for the people in this community. Most
of them will have to relocate because their homes and contents
were ruined by the flooding and the majority didn't have flood
insurance. The Salvation Army and Red Cross are down here with
food and essentials including bug spray. (There are millions of
mosquitoes and I'm worried about somebody else contracting West
Nile Virus) In the past FEMA has come in, took a look around and
never to be seen again. Hopefully, they will come in and actually
help this time.
Also on your prayer list, add our
friends, Paul and Ann , who had catastrophic damage to their
home. They actually had waves breaking against their house and
they were in it! Ann said the next time someone mentions a
storm, she's outta there! Also, J. C. and Elaine. They were
remodeling and living part time in a very old house and the water
got about knee deep in it. All their work was for nothing.
10-9-03 North Carolina had 22,383 people ask for help
in rebuilding their homes. FEMA is using
motorhomes as temporary homes also.
This picture shows just how big Hurricane
Isabel was. Big, Big, BIG
Some one sent the above picture to me.
