B&S's Babyblog

The storm has come and gone, everything is Ok. Fortunately we were on the West side of the eye wall, so the winds were blowing off-to-shore for most of the time. We lost power for about seven hours, and only until right before the hurricane's landfall.

We did have a few mildly worrisome minutes, when the wind was blowing directly from the west, and a small tree right outside was hitting our building repeatedly. It broke the shutters and windows on the apartment upstairs from us before finally giving up the fight. It was a tree that Benjamin used to say good morning and good night to every day from the window by our dining table.

Around 5 pm. we ventured outside to survey the damages. The wind was still pretty strong. We found many people on the streets and saw a few trees and branches down, minor damage to a couple of homes, some flooding, and the water was right up to the seawall-level four hours after the high tide. A gas service station about five blocks from us lost its roof.

I did take several pictures that I will be posting here (I hope) soon, after I collect a few more for before-and-after comparisons.

Finally, I found a link to NOAA'a hurricane website on Anil Dash's weblog side-links with the following comment: don't bother with your local weather reporter. I couldn't disagree more. Our local guy (Skip Waters from channel 12) had the insight and specific details for the effects of the storm for every little community in eastern North Carolina. He knew all the rivers and low lying areas and how they would be affected for each phase of the storm as it progressed through the state, he was very informative and responsive to viewers calls and emails (including one from us). And that's immeasurably better than bare NOAA reports or the sensasionalist National news. That's not to say that those reports aren't worth our time, they very much are, but don't underestimate the importance of your local weather man.