Luna 0 #1 September 22, 2003 My husband knows the editor of our daily paper and thoughtfully submitted my story to him. He said he is going to pitch it to the local section editor to publish in Thursday's paper and he wants more info for a byline. He said that while he's seen a lot of stories like mine, that I said it "especially well." I can't believe I might be published! And this story is not of the quality that I would consider submitting for publication, it was just something I wrote up for friends & family...here's to people who believe in you when you don't believe in yourself! http://www.cdwall.com/isabel/index.htm (Click on the link to get the pics with the story) Hurricane Isabel Sept. 19, 2003 By Heather S. Moon As I sit down to write this account (longhand, to be transcribed later), my husband and I are going into our 44th hour with no power. Some have over 47 hours behind them. A very few blessed ones never lost it, or already have it back. How thankful they must be. But thankful I am, as well. This is my story of Isabel, the worst storm that Virginia has seen in at least a generation. I'm not from Virginia. I grew up on the Gulf Coast of Texas. My, how this storm has humbled me! I've been through some very powerful storms during my time in Texas, but I personally have never been through this amount of destruction. I thought that we were prepared, but some things you just can't prepare for. We got our batteries and bottled water early, before the local panic set in. This area is not used to direct hits, because with the shape of the coastline, they just don't get them here. So while Floridians were bemoaning another storm headed right for them and Virginians were certain that it would, of course, turn before hitting them, there were still plenty of propane tanks for our grill and tape for our windows to be had. We filled our tubs with water, brought in everything from outside, and waited. Isabel made landfall southest of us around 9am on Thursday. Things in Williamsburg didn't start getting bad for a while. We held onto our power until 1:30pm, long enough to use the oven for lunch. Once the power was gone, I knew the adventure had really begun. With no electricity, there was little to do but watch the storm and wait. When we moved to Williamsburg 2 ½ years ago, we were enchanted by all of the trees, and we specifically bought a wooded lot. On Thursday, as the storm raged on in growing intensity, we were watching those trees with a nervous eye. Among the first of the damage that we witnessed was a branch off a tree breaking out the back window of a car across the street. We wondered why they hadn't thought to prepare, as we had, by moving the cars that wouldn't fit in the garage down to the grocery store parking lot that is not so immediately close to the trees as our driveways are. Poor souls they were, running out in the wind and rain, trying to get tape to stick to a wet car to hold the plastic in the hole that used to be their back window. Next was the 80+ foot tall pine tree that fell between some houses in the back. What a relief that it fell in so fortuitous a position. Around 4pm was when our disaster struck. We both heard the huge crash and wondered what had happened. My husband was out the back door to investigate the huge tree laying on our house. I glanced out the window to see where it was laying, then, certain that it was just laying in the attic, I entered our bedroom to see what the damage would be. Of course, knowing it was in the attic, I didn't expect to see pink insulation, like cotton candy, all over my bedroom, ceiling tiles hanging down, and water pouring onto my bed. I screamed for my husband. What happened next was a blur as adrenaline kicked in. I remember immediately getting the mattresses out of the room, cussing as I never have before as we did so. I remember going to the garage with a flashlight and the dog for a bucket, and leaving the dog in a chair in the dark garage, where he pitifully (and blessedly) stayed put for about 5 minutes. The next period of time was a blur of buckets, cutting up plastic trash bags, putting down moving blankets, anything to try to keep the carpet dry. We bailed out buckets until around 10pm, when it finally stopped raining. The tree had stopped in the attic, thankfully, with two outer first floor walls supporting it because it had come down on the back corner of the house. It was sometime after 10pm that we noticed another very large tree had fallen and was being held up by "our" tree. This didn't bode well for our tree, but there was nothing to be done. We finally fell asleep, only to be awakened at 1:30am to some creaking noises, which shortly culminated in a large branch breaking off of our tree to allow the other tree immediate access to the ground. Further catastrophe had been averted. I guess it's cool to hear about how our bedroom is destroyed, and you can look at the neat pictures I've included, but our damage pales in comparison to what others have endured, and that's not what I'm really writing about anyway. What I really wanted to write about is what came after. It started, actually, just minutes after the tree hit us. As I was in the front rooms of the house, moving something out of the bedroom, I noticed our next-door neighbor on our porch (doorbell won't work with no electricity, and adrenaline kept us from hearing the knocking). He and his wife had just wanted to make sure we were okay, and after showing him the damage, he expressed his greatest sympathies, and said if we needed anything tonight, to come on over. From there, it just got so much bigger. We knew those neighbors pretty well already. The rest of our neighbors, we really don't know. We are gone most weekends, and work late, so we just don't get out in time to see them. But all of a sudden, the next day (under indescribably blue skies, calm winds and clean, crisp air…like you only see after such a massive storm), all of these neighbors we'd never met were coming over and saying how sorry they were for us. They offered us everything from plywood to coffee (some had generators) to their spare room, and several have helped us nail a tarp over the gaping expanse that was our roof and clean up the yard from the rest of the mess (total of about 11 trees down with a 3 house distance). These wonderful people who we really don't even know us were offering us their hot dogs and ice, and just being so warm and wonderful! In our short outings to try to find ice (yes, there really were lines for ice that spanned 4+ hours) and tarps and other supplies, we also found other people to be most friendly and sympathetic, to us, as well as to everyone around them. It seems like Americans really do come together in a crisis, and it's such a warm feeling. What I have enjoyed most is sitting out in front of our house grilling our food, eating out there, soaking up the beautiful weather, while our neighbors all around us do the same, and the real feeling of community that it has brought. As I was in the middle of writing this, our power came back on. We got in just under 48 hours. Not bad at all, considering some people will be over a week without it, and how thankful I do feel for that (we had just come home with 4 hard won bags of ice only to find our power back, so we have given them to friends still without). We are coping, getting through the mess and coming out the other side. I know that things could have been so very much worse, and I feel so very blessed, not just because of the relatively minimal damage we endured, but for what I have gained from this storm: a real sense of what a neighbor is, and a real feeling of being part of something bigger. Insurance will eventually re-build the structure of our house that was damaged, but Isabel re-built my faith in community. Thanks, Isabel, I think it was worth it. I'm walking a marathon to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Click Here for more information! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Luv2Fall 0 #2 September 23, 2003 Hi Heather - Sorry you were hit so bad..............we were too. It still maybe another week before we have power.........I'm here at a public library typing this. Trees and lines are everywhere and I have property damage.........we're fine though. Hopefully, regardless of our situation (I know I will) we can jump this weekend to "forget" about it.............. Robert Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
