Everything came out good. We were around 15 miles away from its eye when the storm hit.
This time, however, it went in a different route for us than for Helene. It came across the back of the house rather than the front. It rained heavily, with strong gusts. I guess we touched 100 mph a few times, but there were no problems.
When the city’s grid went down, solar power kicked in, and we’re still using it now. It charges during the day and then powers us all night. During the day, they encourage you to switch off anything that isn’t necessary, such as the water heater and microwaves, and keep the lights to a minimum. You do not want to drain the battery too quickly.
We still have everything stowed on the second floor, but I’ll wait till the electricity is restored and the elevator is operational.
It will be a time before the electricity is restored. They are working on it. It’s really awful without air conditioning, but the weather hasn’t been too horrible – in the 70s and 80s with a light wind.
The car I parked in Bradenton, on higher ground, worked out nicely. My brother-in-law drove me out the next day to get it. However, we received no storm surge at all.
They were forecasting a 10-foot storm surge. That would certainly have been higher than Helene, but nothing arrived. It never even crossed the bulkhead.
We cleaned out the garage on our ground floor. Now I’m restructuring it, but that was never an issue.
My wife was nervous, but she always is during these storms. The home never trembled. The windows did not rattle. It’s exciting for me to see what Mother Nature can do. You remain anxious; you cannot be overconfident. There is a small amount of uncertainty.
But that’s why I prefer to stay. If something happens, I can handle it. One thing that happened was that our sliding doors in the back started to open. I believe the wind rocked them. I went downstairs, took a piece of wood, cut it to the appropriate length, and inserted it in there. If I hadn’t been here, the wind might have blown the doors right off and ruined our living room.
However, the countryside surrounding us has been devastated. Right across the street, there is a little trailer park on soil that is lower than us. Two-thirds of those roofs are gone. We traveled through Bradenton yesterday, and there was no power for the entire ten miles. There are no working stoplights, and electrical lines are all over the road.
It all comes down to a personal preference. I’d rather be here and know what’s going on in my house than somewhere far away.
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