This little light of mine

Nothing like moving into a house that needs remodeling, in July, and testing out that house in a hurricane in August.  Hurricane Irene was our first hurricane and, while we knew how to prepare for it, we weren't sure how the house would do.  We have an older roof and the house still needs lots of repairs.  For that reason, and because predictions were for a category 2/3 storm to make landfall very near Morehead City, we decided to board up the house and ride out the storm at the college where I work in the next county.

As far as we know the highest recorded wind gusts were 115mph and Irene made landfall a couple  of miles from here as a category 1.  The worst part was the storm got worse after it went through and we were battered by hurricane force winds all day and into the evening.  The house held up well though, not even a shingle came loose.  Our neighbors however, did say the roof over the attached workshop was breathing up and down.  Part of the fence next to us blew over and a limb from the tulip tree wedged itself between the front porch railing spindles.  (Good example of why you board windows)

                                                                 Projectile limb

Other than lots of limbs down in the yard our most serious damage was a loss of the pecan crop.  Pecans are everywhere and the tree looks very ragged, but it is still there, so we'll hope for a crop next year.  The fence smashed my basil, but I had saved lots of leaves to mix with olive oil and freeze for use in the winter.  All in all, we were very fortunate.  Even our sailboat did fine.  It was out of the water at a marina a little ways inland, but still three boats tipped over there.

The county where we sheltered did not fare as well.  They had major flooding and lots of huge trees down.  My closest friend at school lost everything under her house and her decks were ripped off the house and floated down the creek.  Lots of others were flooded and those trapped in their attics were being rescued by the National Guard and brought into the shelter all night.  Which brings us to the title of this post - This little light of mine.  When the power went out the generator kicked on, but soon we lost that and had sporadic lights every now and then.  So we wandered around the halls and bathrooms with our little flashlights all day and into the next night.  Hurricane force winds stayed with us for hours after the storm went through, but fortunately we had met some other sailors to while away the time with.  They suggested the title.

Below are a couple of pictures of the flooding in Pamlico County, where we took shelter:

                                              Oriental Marina docks and Seafood shop

The college is on a high spot so we had no flooding.  The flooding in Morehead City was mostly on the sound and to waterfront restaurants.  By the time we returned there were mostly just trees and limbs down.  We raked and put up the fence, unpacked and are now back to normal.  Hopefully this house isn't tested out again anytime soon.

                                                                Back yard clean up