Well, that was interesting. Hurricane Helene ended up hitting the Augusta area head on as a Category 1 hurricane. So much for the spaghetti models! That wasn't supposed to happen! We woke up around 5am as the power went out. Half asleep, I wandered downstairs in the dark and opened the back door. My eyes still dry and feeling wonky but I sobered up quick as the winds were blowing at least 50mph. I shined my phone's flash light into the dark and really could only see our little potted Palm tree that I moved close to the door a few hours before. It's palm leaves flowing in the wind in a very cliched fashion. I went back up stairs and spent the next couple hours staring out the window off and on with Tricia and Katie. Megan hid in her room and Evan slept through the whole thing!
As the morning arrived, the winds died down but you could smell fresh pine in the air very clearly. Around 10am, I ventured out in the car with Katie. There was a couple trees and fences down in our neighborhood but overall it wasn't too bad. I was surprised how quickly that changed once we got out onto the main roads. There were trees and powerlines down all over Columbia County. It was very sureal, like something out of a movie or news reels you've seen many times in your life but never in person.
We spent the next 6 days without power which was not fun. We had very little gas and so I didn't go anywhere. Tricia only used her car to get to work and back. We we're worried she would have to stay at the hospital due to lack of gas but luckily they gave her some gas at the hospital. After 4 days, the gas lines shortened and I was able to get some gas which was freeing. It's easy to forget how much we depend on things like electricity, gas and internet and how small your world gets when they're taken away. Keeping phones charged was a challenge. The weed wacker battery can also be used to run a lantern and I found a USB port on the latern. That lasted a few days for charging. Tricia was taking the kids phones to work with her to charge and after I got gas I was able to charge phones in my car as we took several trips out to Evans to get internet access (and to cure boredom).
When the power kicked back on, it was almost a moment of shock. We couldn't believe it but quickly rejoiced! The power kicked off and on several times over the next couple hours but that was just a minor inconvenience. At that point the lack of internet became quite incovenient but it was good to have the fridge back. Trying to get ice was also a challenge to that point.
I could probably go on and on about this but you get the drift. We're back up and running now both here at home and in the CSRA. It's been nice to see everyone working hard to help clean things up and get things fixed.
However, now Hurricane Milton is a category 5 storm. Luckily, staying South of Georgia but headed straight for my Aunt Diane! She and Jamie are evacuating inland from Siesta Key but are still in for a crazy storm. Hopefully they stay safe.
Local reator's documentation of impact of Hurricane Helene on Richmond and Columbia counties: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3tuP7-6wJU
Off work today but it's already been a long morning. Had to fish an earing out of Evan's sink drain, then had to go to Megan's bus stop and hunt for her Flute mouth piece in the dark and rain, because she dropped it and couldn't find it. I also did the dishes. I'm tired already and now Katie is texting Tricia saying she's cold and wet and wants to come home from school. It's raining pretty good out there. Hurricane Helene is headed toward Atlanta but we're supposed to still get Tropical Storm force windows tomorrow morning. Should be interesting.
Picked up Megan from school around 3:30pm because she stayed after for Math tutoring. We went and snuck some slushies from Circle K before going home. Tricia made dinner tonight for the kids and we had some Factor meals which have been better than expected. After dinner me and Katie went to Spirit Halloween which was a good time. We bought a mechanical spider thing that jumps up at you. We're looking forward to Halloween. We also picked up a new ladder from Lowes and some diced tomatoes from Publix. Exciting stuff right there.
Tropical Storm Helene is getting bigger and looks like it might be headed straight for us. It shouldn't be too bad though but we might end up getting some 50mph wind gusts. We'll see.
Decided to add the thoughts page. We got a hurricane forming out in the Gulf and it's headed our way. However, it'll only be a Tropical Storm at most by the time it gets to Augusta.