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A Florence Story

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A Florence Story

Postby Bobby » Wed Oct 03, 2018 6:24 am

HI all! I got a PM from Dave McElderry asking about how we made out in the storm, so here is my story.

We live on Oak Island, a barrier island (read: glorified sand bar) off the NC coast. We are separated only by the Intracoastal Waterway, but are a true island. The mainland to the north of the island is part of what is called the Low Country, with good reason.

I was very concerned about Florence coming, as she was making her way directly NW towards us rather than the usual path of coming up the coast from Florida, etc. This means that the storm was always over warm water and had no land mass to minimize her force. For a while it was Cat 4 although she was only a 2 when she struck.

We were planning not to evacuate. Having been through storms before (20 years here) we knew that the island itself doesn't flood (the water runs off into the ocean) but that the mainland floods heavily. Based on prior storms we knew that if we left it might be two weeks or more until we could return due to major flooding on the mainland cutting all the roads.

Storm surge (ocean waves driven by wind and tide) could be an issue, but in this case it looks like the storm was going to hit to the NE of us, meaning that the counter-clockwise cyclonic motion would brings winds from the North over land, not from the South facing ocean.

But on Wednesday morning, I consulted with friends on the street and we decided to in fact evacuate, and we all left. Only one persons stayed on our street although there were quite a few on the island who stayed.

My wife and I evacuated to friends in Raleigh and stayed there for four nights through the storm. What is cool is that we have underground utilities and we never lost power or Internet throughout the entire time! Were able to monitor the house through my cameras and smart home system all during the storm. We lost water and sewer only briefly.

But as predicted, the county flooded and all roads were blocked. Knowing that we weren't going to get home any time soon, we decided to drive up to PA and NJ and visit relatives, returning later. We were up there for a week or so and then tried to return on Sunday the 23rd. Route 95 was still closed in spots so we took a western route around the flood damage and spent a night north of Charlotte NC. We then went to my daughter's house in Mt. Pleasant SC and finally returned home the next day.

Damage on the island was mostly due to high winds. Many trees, some sizeable, were downed and of course a lot of wind-blown debris. We had some roof damage but neighbors who returned before us alerted us to the problem and my handyman actually had the roof patched before we got back.

But there are lots of people on the mainland who had major damage from flooding and wind. A dam broke on a local lake and the discharge took out a road and bridge. I believe there are still people in one of the county shelters, and FEMA and church groups continue to give out food and supplies.

So in the end we made out really well and are very concerned for those less fortunate here. That is my story!
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Re: A Florence Story

Postby Steve Grisetti » Wed Oct 03, 2018 6:50 am

Glad to hear you fared well, Bobby. Evacuating is NEVER something to apologize for! Weather is powerful, unpredictable stuff.

So, better safe than sorry.

But I can't imagine the stress of leaving your home and everything in it behind, wondering if you'll ever see it again.

It must have been such a relief to see most of your community undamaged and your home safe. God bless, and thanks for the report!
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Re: A Florence Story

Postby Bobby » Wed Oct 03, 2018 9:27 am

HI Steve. Thanks for the comments and support.

Yes, it was difficult. Our only ray of hope was that we have never had flooding in any of the bad storms since we have been here. But there are many homes here in Brunswick County that are still underwater and probably totally damaged.

BTYW, the beachfront didn't suffer much damage at all. Even Matthew two years ago which was a lesser storm did more damage to the beach via overwash. We had no overwash due to Florence; we lost a bit of sand but the water never went over the dunes. On the other hand, all of the rivers and creeks that drain into the ocean here are polluted now, with dense black water pouring out. The beaches have not yet been declared safe to go in the water, and nobody is eating local fish or shellfish. Not a good time...
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Re: A Florence Story

Postby Dave McElderry » Wed Oct 03, 2018 9:32 am

Thanks for posting this Bob! Incredible that you never lost power and was able to monitor your home all the way through. Only a CAT 2 - I've seen 80 mph winds and hurricane force just almost seems incomprehensible to me. I know it was a tough decision to make to leave your home. Again, so glad you're okay and such minimal damage. Sounds like your decision to live on the island was a good one!
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Re: A Florence Story

Postby Peru » Wed Oct 03, 2018 1:23 pm

Hi Bobby,

It's good to hear that you and your family are safe. I suppose it will be a while until all is back to normal, but you seem to have a good handle on things.
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Re: A Florence Story

Postby Bob » Wed Oct 03, 2018 3:38 pm

Hi Bobby,

I was definitely concerned for you too and I'm glad that you and your family are safe.
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Re: A Florence Story

Postby Paz_Pazzaz » Thu Oct 04, 2018 12:46 am

Bobby,

Good to hear that you are back at the beach, safe and pretty sound. Thanks for confirming what I'd read about the surge going around, not over islands, usually. Cool to have been able to keep up with things while you were away. My next door neighbor is often away from home for long periods. He has a remarkable security camera system. He once showed me footage of himself coming in his back door on a previous date, on his cell phone, while talking to me in my driveway. He says he checks all the time while he's traveling. It must be HD. There was no doubt about who it was.

So sorry to hear about how bad it has been for others on the mainland. We've lived in places that got lots of storm damage and I thought people would leave. Nope. With the old buildings gone they built brand new, much nicer ones and everything grew. Not necessarily progress, from my perspective. Not fond of traffic.

Oak Island? Maybe the one I'm thinking of is in Nova Scotia.

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Re: A Florence Story

Postby sidd finch » Thu Oct 04, 2018 10:36 am

Bobby great to hear you "weathered-the-storm"

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Re: A Florence Story

Postby Chuck Engels » Thu Oct 04, 2018 4:54 pm

Thanks for keeping in touch Bobby, glad you are all well and no serious damage or problems :TU:
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Re: A Florence Story

Postby Bobby » Fri Oct 05, 2018 6:31 am

Thanks all for your kind words. We have spent the last few days picking up small debris and restoring our bird feeder/bath environment and now all pretty much back to normal. They have opened the beaches again. But lots of people still displaced and suffering in the county.

Yes, that Oak Island from the TV show is in Nova Scotia and not us!
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Re: A Florence Story

Postby momoffduty » Fri Oct 05, 2018 3:08 pm

Glad you and wife are safe from the storm Bobby! Living on a barrier island would add to the danger.
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Re: A Florence Story

Postby Paz_Pazzaz » Fri Oct 05, 2018 6:07 pm

We have spent the last few days picking up small debris and restoring our bird feeder/bath environment and now all pretty much back to normal


Very good! I'm so happy your damage wasn't worse!

I've spent most of the past week clearing more of the debris from a straight line wind storm that hit about 9 months ago. Big trees down, squashed two cars, one of them was my baby, my Miata, tore apart my garden tool storage place, crunched the rose arbor, took the roofs off two of my neighbors houses.

I want to plant bulbs where one of the fire piles has been. Moved the remains of the last front yard fire today and if the wind is low, will burn again tomorrow and will be able to till the area where I want the bulbs to go. It's always something.

I first learned about Oak Island over 50 years ago. In fact, probably close to 60 years ago now. The place has an amazing history and has attracted some pretty famous people. It's one of those things I wonder if I will live long enough to learn the answer to. Right up there with 'who killed President Kennedy.'

Anyway, I don't need to ramble on. Happy for you, Bobby, much sorrow for those who are still suffering from Florence and those in Indonesia too. Tsunami, earthquake, volcano. Talk about bad luck... enough already!
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Re: A Florence Story

Postby Bobby » Sat Oct 06, 2018 2:49 pm

HI Paz and momoffduty!

PaZ, I think you have the wrong island. The "famous" Oak Island, subject of the TV series, is in Nova Scotia. Our little (12x1) island has no celebrities and no notoriety. We are in NC. But its a great place to live!

The odd thing about this storm was that this was the first time in 20 years of living here that we evacuated. Usually we fare very well in wind and the rain just runs off into the ocean. Oh, we have some local street flooding, but not very bad. The major issue is that the roads on the mainland all flood badly and it can literally take weeks until they open up. So if you evacuate, prepare to be away for a long time. That happened to us this time, but the impact was lessened by the fact that we just made a semi-planned trip to visit relatives anyhow.

The decision making process (for evacuation) is to look at the project storm impact point and the severity. Usually we won't leave for anything less than a Sev 3. Flo was, of course, a Sev 4 for a long time, although she struck as a 2. If we are on the North-West side of the storm on land impact that is good and will not cause too much storm surge. On the NE is another story. Flo was projected to hit NE of us and so we would be on the good side. Other beach areas to our NE who were on the wrong side of the storm got hit much worse.

Things are getting pretty much back to normal. All of the restaurants and businesses are open now and most people seem to have their homes and yards settled now. Huge piles of trees and brush in the streets but they are working hard at removing that. Some people have had to seek alternate housing (mostly on the mainland) but that process is going well.
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