The Aftermath

I am sitting safe and dry in my hotel room on Sunday after Irene blew through the area.  She has flooded many areas of my county.  They have only just removed the order for everyone to stay off the roads.  OEM still doesn't want you to be on the roads but if you must, you can be.

We left the house yesterday at 3 pm.  Jakes, Jaxon, Kathy and her dogs, Dad and EMS and myself all gathered our important stuff and headed for higher ground.  Our newest neighbors, Melanie and John stayed behind.  Not 20 minutes after we left than Mel messaged me that the electric was out.  We had good timing for leaving!  The electric was off and on all night long, more off than on.  Its off right now.

At the hotel, we all got settled and then gathered in Dad and ESM's room for dinner.  I had cooked a chicken, ESM brought hot dogs and mac N cheese.  Kathy brought chocolate stuff for desert.  Our three dogs actually got along very well, which doesn't happen at home.  We had a great time listening to Dad's fire police radio at the chaos happening in the county.  And the storm wasn't even really here by then!

After dinner, Jakes, Jaxon and I went back to our room to relax for the evening.  By 10:30 the storm was raging outside and the bathroom was leaking.  YIKES!  The front desk brought rags and buckets to catch the water.  There are no open rooms to switch us to because everyone evacuated.  We met our neighbors here at breakfast!

I was checking the weather channel and facebook to see what was left.  Irene hit for the second time in Little Egg Inlet, NJ.  This is a little town 90 miles almost directly EAST of my town.  We were SO close to the center of the storm!  That's a bit scary and I'm glad I didn't know it before it happened.  I think if I realized how close the eye of the storm was going to be, I would have paniced.

I imagine we were fortunate that the storm had decreased in strength so much more than when it hit NC earlier.  We are waiting for the next high tide, which will be even higher after the storm, with all the run-off.  We are waiting for power to come back on so that we have drinking water at home.  I have to go back and get clothes for work on Monday.

All in all, I know I made the right decision to leave.  I was torn on whether to leave or not.  Part of me was scared to be there during the storm and part of me wanted to be there to see the excitement.  But I had to think of my child and animals.  I did the smart thing.