Typically, notes on this blog range from the ridiculous to the
sublime. I’ve used it as a place to empty my head of the chaos that often
dwells there, and to record a little family history. My musings are typically light
hearted. The bottom line is that it’s my blog and I love being able to use it as I wish at any given time.
But the events of the last week left so many of us in the southeast totally
overwhelmed as Hurricane Helene picked us up, put us in a
blender and drown us in water. In the aftermath, we were left without power, without needed services, and an unimaginable clean up. Worse than that has been the
loss of life that is still being tallied, the loss of homes, and whole towns that
have literally washed away.
Many have asked why we
weren’t better prepared to deal with the Cat 1 hurricane. Well, it dumped 10 or more
inches of rain, and brought 75+ miles per hour winds with it when it blew through. This was after
days of “regular” rain that left things already saturated. Why weren’t we
better prepared? Um, that would be because storms like that don’t happen here.
They just don’t happen… until they do.
This was our state of preparedness. 2 empty oil lamps and a
glade candle.
What you’ve seen in the news about the condition of
Ashville, NC is widespread, damaging Tennessee, Virginia, Florida, Georgia and
South Carolina as well.
Hurricane Helene
I decided to take a walk around my corner of the world to
see how the neighbors were faring. A lot of clean-up has been done, and after a
week with no power, it’s back on in some areas of the neighborhood. I’ll admit to doing a happy dance when the
house “turned on”. Then I just stood still and quiet in the kitchen, not really
trusting that it would continue. Like if I moved I would jinx it! Be glad you didn’t see it. It wasn’t pretty.
What really struck me on our streets was the contrast.
Enormous piles of debris and heavily damaged homes sitting right next to
perfectly manicured places, with nothing more than a small pile of grass
clippings at the curb.
I saw collections of detritus, large and small, waiting for pickup. Every street was the same and several piles stood taller than I am. A stately 5'2".
Some houses took a direct hit with the trees still resting
on the roof, while others had huge trees laying between their house and their neighbors.
Almost as if the massive trees had been gently placed there. One of our
neighbors lost all of the trees in her backyard. Looking at the front, you’d
never know.
We live in a mid-century subdivision with many of the original trees. I was prepared to lose some big ones on our property, but the big ones stood firm. It's was the smaller, newer ones that twisted and split.
The first thing of note when I stepped out of our front door was the overwhelming smell of rotting food. Long powerless refrigerators had been cleaned out and a lot of good steaks oviously met their end on the pavement instead of the grill.
Thanks to a big hail storm about a year ago, many of us had new roofs. We do get those, but can't really prepare for them. Most of the mark left by Helene was on the vegetationn and the aftermanth of flooding.
We still have standing water on our streets, but the work of restoring our town goes on.
We are thoroughly blessed to have men and women from all over the country working with our local talent to bring us back online.
I picked up a few treasures from the curbs in the neighborhood. What started as destruction from Hurricane Helene will now become driftwood, (after a season in the elements, you'll never know it isn't legitimate) and archetectural salveage.
And now that Amazon is back in the neighborhood, we're prepared for what might come next! The process continues...
Candles and oil for the lamps
'Ah Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You.
Jeremiah 32:17
