Wrapping Up Irene…

All is well at the Garner’s! 

We woke up Sunday morning to find the water completely receded from the yard, and our little dock nestled up against the bulkhead, secured by only one pole, but floating within the other two poles, perfectly corralled.  We just don’t see this as a coincidence, it was too perfectly placed!  

The winds which never reached anything close to hurricane level, still managed to bring down a lot of smaller branches and so there was some sawing and chopping and raking that had to be done.  We never lost power, so we never had to delve into our emergency stock of dried lentils, dried fruit, peanut butter, tuna and water!  I suppose I know what Grace and I will be eating for lunch the next few weeks! 

Our church had cancelled Sunday worship earlier in the week, so we did some mild straightening up.  The front porch furniture was stacked in the foyer, so we put the porch back together, moved the potted plants back to their spots, swept, sawed, and raked some. We checked on our neighbors and they checked on us.  Then we spent the afternoon taking it easy, enjoying the sun, the blue sky, the water (staying nicely within its assigned boundaries!) thanking God, and reflecting on our many blessings!

We are back to school and really enjoying learning more about the Pacific Islands.  Grace’s favorite book is “Torches of Joy,”  a book about John and Helen Dekker, missionaries to the stone-age Toli tribe in Irian Jaya in the 1960′s.  I pre-read everything in her reading list before it’s assigned, and I enjoyed it very much, but I didn’t think she would.  I’m delighted to be wrong!  

 

Goodnight Irene…

Aw come on!  You knew I was going to say that! 

Irene is not quite finished with us, the outer edge is passing over and the wind has really picked up.  Our little floating dock was lifted completely off all but one piling and is hanging on by a rope. We are praying that in the great scheme of things, our little dock will stay put, or at least not damage someone else’s property.  The wind has shifted strong and the water in our little inlet is blowing back up our yard and across the road, the bigger gusts (49 mph) forming waves with whitecaps.  Despite this the overall amount of the water in the yard is slowly going down. 

WVEC skies clearing over Norfolk...

Everyone is tired, and yet no one can quite decide to sleep.  The rain has pretty much stopped for now, so the leaks have slowed down.  The sump pump has finally started running.  Only occasionally.  It will be running for the next week or so once all of this water soaks in.  We lost power a few times, I could see the sky turn a glowing green when the transformers blew, but the power came back on again each time.  An absolute blessing that we thank God for, because many other areas of the city are out. 

We have been on the back porch quite a bit, just watching…praying…praising…thanking God.

Goodnight Irene…

Waiting for Irene: Early Afternoon on Saturday

It’s noon on Saturday, and Grace, so far, is very unimpressed.  “This is just a rain storm…” she stated with disgust.  This is my “extreme weather” daughter who has watched all of the weather-related videos available on NetFlix several times, and loves to check Weather.com first thing every morning.  Greatly anticipating her weather.com debut, her plan is to record our extreme hurricane experience to post on weather.com.  Alas, nothing we are experiencing so far is worthy. 

The wind is picking up – the internet has gone out once, but came back up.  A smallish branch has fallen from our neighbor’s pecan tree (loaded with pecans), and our oak has dropped a small branch as well.  The news is telling us that we are having 65 mph gusts.  I’m not sure we’re quite there yet. 

The tide is going out, so while the water will not completely recede, it does go down a bit, which is just a tad reassuring.  High tide is tonight a little after nine p.m.  Might be a little tricky getting a photo…;)

We have a leak in the Living Room.  Every storm brings us a new adventure in caulking, and the leak shifts to a new hiding place each time.  It’s a game of cat and mouse, and you know how that goes!  The mouse usually wins!  The other typical places aren’t leaking yet…

Tracking Irene

The National Hurricane Center’s 2 pm report and the newest track of the storm seems to indicate that Irene is not taking the Northeasterly turn we were counting on.  For the last three hours, it has moved North, but not east.  Norfolk is directly north of Irene’s current eye location.  This is not good news because it will push more water up into the bay which equates to worse flooding, we’ll have more rain and the worst winds.  Our hope is that the eye will turn easterly and actually be off coast when she moves past our area.   

We take comfort in the knowledge that our house has been here since 1919, and weathered worse storms than this!  Our generator will keep our sump pump going, although, so far, the basement is still quite dry even after several inches of rain in the last few hours.  This is very different from previous storms. 

For some pictures of what downtown Norfolk looks like, you can check www.wtkr.com.   Remember that the media thrives on drama and will show only the most extreme situations.  Downtown Norfolk, is very low, in some cases lower than sea level, so it is a little worse than where we are, see below.

Waiting for Irene…

The last few days of homeschooling have been a tad less productive due to the impending arrival of the first big Hurricane of the 2011 Season, Irene.  Our last big Hurricane was Isabel in 2003 which took out huge established trees, closed schools, knocked out power for some for weeks, and flooded Hampton Roads.  

The first decision is whether to go or stay.  It’s a decision that if made early, is made without all the information.  Hurricanes at sea are quite powerful, stirring and stewing over the open sea, and media hype often plays up the danger, particularly in our post-Katrina world.   Hurricanes may start out at Category 4 or 5, but almost always reduce in strength after hitting the barrier islands of North Carolina.  If one chooses to evacuate, it would be if the hurricane is not expected to weaken. In that case, one needs to pack for an undetermined length of time, because in the aftermath, one is not able to return for an undetermined length of time.  Additionally,  The Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel, and the Mid-town and Downtown Tunnels (the most efficient routes out-of-town) will close at some point, so one’s departure must be prior to their closing.  Our family has a safe destination, but many people do not, so evacuation is not as simple as it may seem.

We’ve lived here for 12 years, and stayed through each of the storm systems that have come through.  Our home is in a historic neighborhood located on a small finger of the Lafayette River, which is fed by the Chesapeake Bay.  Wind pushing water up into the Bay is our issue, and we’ve actually experienced worse flooding with a Nor’easter than any of our hurricanes to date.  Our neighbors have lived in their home since just after WWII, and have stayed through all the storms, including the really big one, Hurricane Camille .   Our first experience with hurricanes in our home, the ”twin storms” Hurricanes Dennis and Floyd ,  was a baptism by drenching!  The water table was so high after Dennis, that during Floyd, our basement wall literally spurted holes and water flowed in as if a faucet had been turned on.  As soon as Ralph would plug one with marine cement, another would start. 

Hurricane Isabel blew through in September, and it never occurred to us to leave.  For one thing we were in the middle of our kitchen renovation – our cabinets were delivered in the rain just as Isabel was making her way through North Carolina.  She started out a Category 4 but was a Category 2 when Isabel finally hit our area.  Our yard flooded, and Ian was out of school for a week.  The two big oak trees at his school (that were part of the school logo) were completely uprooted.  Our basement flooded when the power went out, but our neighbor armed with a Y2K  (remember that?) generator went up and down the street pumping out basements.  We lost tree branches, we had leaks in our (new) roof, and our sump pump was running off and on for weeks afterward.  We were lucky.  Due to a city pumping station at the end of our street, our little neighborhood is rarely without power for long.  Still, we learned that a Category 2 is our limit. 

The lawn pulled up like a carpet over the immense roots of the oak trees at a local church school.

So, when the hurricane reports start coming in, we are watching closely to see how much the hurricane is going to weaken, when is the eye supposed to be closest to us and what will the tides be like.  Often this information is not available until the storm is closer, and even now, if I chose to leave – the tunnel just closed at 10 a.m.  After studying hurricane center maps, looking at tide tables, calculating risks and consulting “He who fixes the weight of the wind and limits the water by measure,“ we felt at peace deciding Friday morning to sit tight despite our city’s call for a mandatory evacuation for low-lying areas.  It sounds dire, but official announcement is a classic CYA move, again post Katrina.  We spent Friday checking gutters, doing laundry (sewer system will be compromised afterwards…), cooking up items in the freezer, doing a little baking, filling up containers with water, making a few last-minute purchases at crowded stores, checking batteries, moving potted plants to a spot out of the wind, putting away lawn furniture, porch furniture, etc. 

Grace did do some school work, and we’ve printed out a hurricane tracking map for her to complete!

This morning we are watching the news, and sitting by the window watching the yard fill up with rain water! Irene has reduced to a Category 1, but we will be watching for falling limbs, and tonight high tide will occur just after the eye passes unless she speeds up some – praying for that!  In any case we are here, and as always in the palm of God’s hand.

*Job 28:25

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