Storm Update

We survived a rather wild day and night here in Southeast Virginia on Thursday…..some a little dryer than others.  There is massive flooding in my region and it is still raining, though not quite as hard as it was yesterday.  I have an unconfirmed total of 5.17 inches thus far in my city.  The winds have calmed down to 25mph sustained winds with only 35 to 40mph gusts.  I say only because some gusts last night were reaching 75mph.  I can’t remember when I have heard my windows rattle like they did yesterday.   After the sun went down, I actually got quite worried ~ I think as long as you can see what is going on, it isn’t quite as bad as when you can’t.  In the dark, I suppose your hearing is intensified….. the winds seemed to be howling louder, the rain was pelting the windows like small pebbles and the house was creaking.  I could hear several loud bangs last night…..as if something had come crashing down.  It is amazing all the scenarios you can envision when it is dark and storming.

I did go out and check the water level out back before the sun went down.  I knew it would be too difficult to keep up with it in the dark.  It was creeping closer and closer to my back fence with the rain still pouring down.  This morning as I said, the rain is not quite as intense as yesterday and this slow down in rain seems to have slowed the crawl of water to my house.  I’m not sure what I was hearing last night because I didn’t see any chimneys lost or trees down in the immediate area.  There was a large wooden “for sale” sign typically used by real estate companies blown about.  I took a walk out this morning to take a look at my chimney…..I tried several times yesterday but the wind and rain was too intense.  It appears to be alright, but I do have a leak somewhere in that vicinity…..my several small spots have gotten a bit larger in the living room ceiling…..and I can hear a drip.  This may require a trip to the attic this morning to see if I can discover where it is coming from and at least place a bucket under it.   The wind combined with the rain is still making it difficult to venture much further than my front porch area….comfortably anyway.  🙂   

They have cancelled school for my youngest daughter and I am working from home again today.  Although she is old enough to stay home by herself, I wasn’t comfortable leaving her here to contend with the remnants of this unnamed storm and what could possibly happen.  Over 150,000 people are without power in the area, fortunately we never lost ours.  It did flicker a couple of times last night, but not for more than a second or two.

As I said, the wind continues to blow continuously.  Last night I decided I could never live in a windy area…..listening to the winds howl has gotten very old.  🙂  I shudder to think what the beach I visited earlier last month must look like now after the wind driven 16 to 18 foot waves has chewed away at the sand for the past two days…and continues to do so today.  To my friends who live north of me…..stay safe, stay dry.  I will leave with an image of the Chesapeake Bay during a much calmer morning…….