Friday, August 26, 2011

Hurricane Irene.

Looks like the beast is hitting the Outer Banks tomorrow. The latest update at 2PM showed it passing to the west of us. That's the worst possible scenario for flooding. And that's why we build on pilings. When hurricanes pass us on the west, we get a double-whammy since the rotation pushes the water our direction. It's that damn pesky storm surge. Not good. But that's why I'm staying. I've been through a Category 3. Wouldn't stay for a 4 or a 5. This is a 2. I stay in case it floods. Even though we're on pilings, we still have stuff under the house and in the utility room that would need to be moved to higher ground. I remember a few years ago, we had a hurricane come through directly over us. When the eye passed, it sucked all the water out of the canals. I've never seen the sandy/muddy bottom of the canals before or since. Then I noticed my boys were gone. I ran outside to get them back in. Remember, this is during the eye. It's calm. So NO, I do not let my children run outside and play in hurricane force winds. Except for that one time the boys got away, and started leaning 45 degrees into the wind with arms spread wide, yelling, "I'm the king of the world." Well, to make a short story long, I went over to the bulkhead, looking down at the barren bottom. Every second, I'm expecting a roaring tidal wave of water to come rushing back in, filling the canals. And I see 3 sets of foot prints running smack dab through the middle of the canal. One large boy, one smaller boy, and one dog. I followed the footprints and finally found them. They were finding all sorts of treasures on the bottom. Dixie was having a wonderful time too. I got everyone back inside; we had more rain; and the water slowly returned.

2 comments:

Marion said...

Well, Rosie, I'm glad you have your limits. I remember when you left with Daughter Hawthorne (maybe a year old at the time) and said "never again."

Dogmama13 said...

That makes my heart race. I would have had a heart attack being in the eye of a storm much less with kids scampering out of the house. Egads! Barbara (in SD)