Hurricane Florence

This is one of the hardest things I've ever written about. You all know what you've seen on the news about Eastern North Carolina and Hurricane Florence, so I won't bore you with details on categories, and wind strength, etc. But this might be my longest post!

Elaina and I didn't leave for Hurricane Matthew, two years ago.  It wasn't much of a threat in our own area and there was no damage very locally to us (Our Lt Governor's home was destroyed by Matthew).  However, when we heard Florence was coming,  we paid attention.  Elaina sat in on meetings with her CO and a Marine meteorologist and got the "official" story on Florence.  She was told that Onslow County, where both Camp Lejeune and MCAS New River are located, will be an island.  That's when she decided for us, that we would leave.  (This was before the mandatory order for evacuation.)

We got a reservation at Twin Mountain Inn in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee for 3 nights.  Pigeon Forge is not my favorite place.  It's like mountain/country version of Disneyland, with lots of traffic.  It's the city Dolly Parton built.  Literally, I think.  We did drive through Smoky Mountain National Park, which is a beautiful place and I would like to go back to someday. 

Smokey Mountain Nat. Park

Smokey Mountain National Park

We watched the weather channel constantly and saw what Florence was doing to our home state.  We sat and cried and prayed.  When it was obvious we weren't going home anytime soon, Elaina searched for another hotel.  She found a Hampton Inn in Virginia that was offering a discount to evacuees, so we drove another two hours into Abingdon,Virginia.  At the hotel there were several other North Carolina license plates in the parking lot.  Elaina met a few fellow ENC's at breakfast each morning, where they talked about what was happening back home, and their plans for returning.

Because we had a very rambunctious 7 year old with us, Elaina took him to Just Jump, a trampoline park in nearby Bristol, a couple of times.  Whoever thought up those places is a genius.  Your kid sitting in front of the tv or video games all day?  Take them to a trampoline park!  It will be hard getting them to leave.

We stayed in Virginia until Tuesday morning.  Because of all the road and highway closures, it was not a simple task figuring out how to go home.  But Elaina trusted what she heard from the base about how to get home.  A 7 hour trip took  about 10 or 11 hours to get home due to traffic and changes in roads.  The last highway we were on, highway 70 in NC, was starting to flood, but we were fine.  The bridge hadn't closed at the time we came through.  It has since flooded (The Neuse River) and the road was closed.  I read today it will continue to be closed for a while longer.

The bridge crossing the Neuse on our way home.
 You can see the water level
reaching almost to the bridge

One of hundreds of lineman come to help;
many from out of state

Highway 70 flooding beginning.
This is a mail box for a business
along side the road

This is how ENC's think of Lineman

The hard part now, is seeing all the devastation here that Florence brought.  Trees down in yards and in the woods everywhere. People's homes destroyed either by flood or downed trees. People clearing out their homes and putting their belongings out in front waiting for trash pick up.  Sometimes whole streets are lined with home "debris."  In Elaina's neighborhood there is a trailer park where one huge tree fell across two trailers and split them both in half.  (We're assuming no one was home, but?)

This scene can be seen all over

I can't express how hard this has been to watch happening.  We were fine and were inconvenienced for a while, but some people have lost everything they had.  There's no words for how we hurt for our Eastern North Carolina neighbors.

This is an upscale neighborhood but can you imagine what
the poor neighborhoods look like?

Once we got home we found that gas is not available everywhere, grocery stores only have minimal items, many, many people still don't have power.  ( With road closures, trucks can't get in to deliver.)  Stores like Walmart were letting people in 5-10 at a time to shop.  Meat and milk was scarce.  (Neither of us had any damage to our homes, and even though power was lost during the storm, we both had power when we got home. So, contents of refrigerator?  Out to the trash bin.)

One tree fell on my building

Minor damage to my building

Authorities had warned evacuees to come back with cash, groceries bought elsewhere, and a full tank of gas.  (My car was left here at home and I was very low on gas.  I haven't been able to fill up yet)

Now, the clean up has begun, and the handing out of supplies for those who have lost everything.  Our church, Catalyst, is hosting the Kentucky Baptist Disaster Relief team, where they are feeding thousands of people each day, and also providing supplies like toiletries, cleaning supplies, diapers, etc.   Many many churches are doing the same and many businesses are also opening their doors to hand out free items that people need.  Some Walmarts are giving out free water and ice in the parking lot.  Just come and get what you need!  Restaurants are feeding residents and lineman and first responders for free.  It's amazing to see people stepping up to help their fellow Eastern Carolinians.

By the way, school has been out since the 11th, and still out another week.  So many schools were damaged, and staff have their own homes to deal with.  Elaina's 7 yr old's day care was damaged, but they will be open by Monday, thank goodness.

Yes, I love Eastern North Carolina, and maybe even more so now.  Thanks for reading.  I'm going to try and add some photos.  

Pray for Eastern North Carolina!

Catalyst Church Sunday the 23rd

This will be on-going probably for weeks.