Dealing With a Very Stormy Season
Greetings from the island to everyone. I hope that all of you are doing well and enjoying these beautiful weather days we have been having lately.
Well,the hurricanes and tropical storms simply will not leave us alone his year! First there was Hurricane Hannah that went in south of us and raised the tide just over four feet, enough to bring two inches of water flowing into my downstairs kitchen. And then a month later, powerful Hurricane Laura made landfall north of us into Louisiana, and the tide came up to the threshold of my kitchen door, but did not make it inside.
And as if those two storms were not stressful enough living on a barrier island, it was lower end Tropical Storm Beta, with 45 mph winds, making landfall straight down the Big Jetties, that caused the most problems and damage, pushing a 6 foot tidal surge up onto the island. This surge brought 16 inches of water into my downstairs kitchen, creating a yucky and muddy mess. The surge also damaged my pier and porch deck, uplifting several sections of it, making it look like a roller coaster, another repair project to be tackled. Thank goodness I had lifted my propane fridge up on top of my Yeti cooler 18 inches off the floor, so the fridge was spared by a mere two inches! Yay! At the urging of friends and family, I did not stay on the island for Beta’s landfall, but went into Seadrift for a few days. I left the pen gate open for the chickens, ducks and guineas, and they were just fine when I returned.
And as if Mother Nature wasn’t quite finished, she felt the need to bring Hurricane Delta rolling through the Gulf, but it made a northward turn and went into Louisiana, a state that suffered through four storms and hurricanes this season. . . prayers for the folks in Louisiana. Delta pushed the tide up just over 3 feet on the island, so I was spared any house damage with this one. I have just been mentally exhausted the entire hurricane season this year. Enough of these storms already!
I would certainly like to believe that any storms impacting us are over for the year, as normally once we enter into October we are safe. I’m thinking that for this season though, I’ll just remain vigilant and keep an eye on anything going on in the Gulf.
On a brighter note, all of the storms and high tides have really cleaned the beach and pushed all the debris up into the dunes. The beach is like a smooth and uncluttered canvas right now, with a four mile stretch of clean hard-packed sand. Of course it won’t stay that way for long, as different types of debris and seashells and beach treasures are constantly washing in from the Gulf with the waves and currents.
Well, that’s it from the island for now. Everyone please take care and have a wonderful day.
