Waiting for Hurricane Mathew 10/7/2016

Meteorologist Jim Cantore is in rain soaked Florida at 5 o'clock this Friday morning and I'm watching The Weather Channel. He says he knows there is tree damage, even in the dark because he can smell it. The smell of fresh cut wood. Only it is the broken limbs and uprooted trees torn apart from 100 to 120 mile an hour winds. They say the impending storm surge, the water rises will be significant there, six feet or 7 and the water will rise inland, going up rivers with the potential to have record flooding. Again they are urging hard headed people who think they are safely cocooned inside their communities to evacuate. The eye wall's edge is nearing Cape Canaveral. Disney World is closed! 😭

Here in The Charleston, SC area, we have been as busy as ants. Worried about swirling ditches damming up during the impending storm, Tim climbed down the deep ditch next to our house yesterday and threw swollen logs, dead branches and armloads of leaves and pine straw up and over the edge of the bank where I stood ready with rake and hoe to pull the debris away. Half way through the work, a small swarm of bees came up from the ground, buzzing around my head and neck. As I swatted and ran, one found it's way down my rubber boot and stung me through my jeans. Checking my battle wound and finding no stinger, I went back to work.

 Tim brought in the deck chairs and I helped with the the high rise table. He raked burnt umber pine straw into short,  long rows meant to channel the small streams that will soon be running through our property.We talk about going out to the Whitesville Fire Department where rumor has it, they are doling out some free sand bags. Our concern is keeping the rainwater out of the garage. I shove bottles of cold water into my stuffed freezers anticipating lost power. I decide to make shrimp and grits to use up some of the meat.

I talk with my sister April who lives in Panama City, Florida. She is saying that they aren't expecting much of a storm there so their hotels are packed with evacuees. My daughter calls from St. Louis to check on us. She has me on speaker phone and I hear the voice of my ten year old grandson expressing concern for us as we ride out the storm. I tell Easton that we are okay and we will keep him posted through Facebook.

Later I run to Walmart to pick up a few things like dish soap and snacks and I think about my cousins in Boca Raton, knowing the hurricane will be upon them soon.  My Aunt Paula is three miles from me and her youngest son Johnny Wray and his partner Jessica have come in from West Ashley in Charleston. Once you leave, they won't let you come back until after the storm  so they hunker down together and we decide to go for a visit. Their sheep dog Fluffy has his new bed and blanket set up next to Jessica and he is settling in for an exciting adventure at Grandma's, barking every once in a while at the doorbell sound from the game show on TV. We have arrived just in time to interrupt their spaghetti dinner. We drink a couple of  Sweetwater 420's and hang out for a few hours, then head home in a drizzle.

This morning, I switch to watch our local weather man Josh Marther tell me that Mathew is expected to bring storm surges as large as Hurricane Hugo. The  police and National Guard have been supervising the mass evacuation going west. Once on 26, there's no getting off until you hit Columbia. Now the camera pans police lights flashing in the dark predawn hours on an almost deserted highway. The law officials will all be gone by 10 am he says. The two side which both run west now will return to normal operation. Josh says we will have rain and the majority of the storm will hit us Saturday morning. We are still hoping the airport will reopen by Sunday so we  can go on vacation. Most flights out will end by 2 pm today.

But for now, there are buses picking up stragglers. There are about 60 shelters open.  We will clean and finish up our preparation and wait. We will listen to our governor, Nikki Haley tell us to leave once again. She will tell us about OPCON 1  and our declared state of emergency.  She will tell us that once Mathew comes, there will be no one to call for help. My neighbor Susanne says we will stay and watch out for each other. And we do.