It's been a while since I posted...It's amazing that when you're LIVING a hurricane and its aftermath, you have less desire to post on the bulletin board!
My house survived...but is bruised and battered...waiting on a new roof...and hoping this tar paper lasts a few more days...
Current conditions (7am Friday Oct 8)--the winds are HOWLING...25 knots steady from the east...
http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=dpia1
I walked out on the deck (or what is left of it) to warm up (my wife loves an icebox house at night) and the winds are swirling the piles of sands that line both sides of the road...I'm VERY concerned that the debris from Ivan will be tossed around and become airborn should Matthew-to-be head this way....As I write this, a huge piece of vinyl siding has "awakened" from the neighbor's trash pile and is on the verge of flying.
Power has been restored to most of the Island, though the westernmost couple of miles are still without electricity, water, or telephone...of course, since many of the homes there have "disappeared," there are not too many people to notice...At last count, the "disappeared without a trace" houses number around 50...with another 110 or so ready for demolition....There continue to be 2 houses in the road...very sad...when you drive past, you can see little bottles of perfume stilll arranged on the vanity of one bathroom...and dishes still on the shelves in the kitchen...almost like a doll house with a wall removed to see inside
On the East End...an area usually protected from hurricanes, many houses went underwater (especially those built on the ground in "non flood zones" and those built during the '50s and '60s)...piles of mattresses, refrigerators, and furniture line the roads on the "protected East end"
All in all, Dauphin Island has been battered...but almost everyone I talk with says it "could have been worse"...As we patch our roofs and mend our decks, we are all praying for and thinking about our friends across the Bay and in Pensacola...We had Frederic here...which remains our benchmark...and we hope it forevers remains our darkest moment.
