Sunday, October 09, 2016

Hurricane Matthew, how we fared

We had relentless rain (at least 6 inches) from early Saturday morning all day long and into the evening, gusting wind, and flickering power, but we didn't lose any trees, nor did we lose power, so we're far more fortunate than many people in this hurricane's path.

This was the view from the front porch at the peak of the water flowing:


A little more than 24 hours later, here we are today:


I feel very fortunate that the woman who picked the sites for our barn and house knew what she was doing. The barn is on the highest point of the property, and then the house. She put in French drains at each end of the barn which help a lot too. 

Starting last Wednesday we stocked up on groceries, hay, feed for the animals, and shavings. I cleaned and filled my water storage tank in the barn, cleaned and filled all the troughs and buckets, and by Friday at bedtime the stalls had been cleaned and set up for the duration. We made a wise decision to move the square bales we had on hand into a stall so we didn't have to make trips back and forth from the hay tent during the rainy, windy Saturday.

I'm glad it's over and there's nothing but sunshine (and a few nights with lows in the 40s!) on the weather docket for awhile.

This morning the donkeys were running and playing all over the front field, and Cody was running and tossing his head, which means he's ready to ride. All is well on November Hill. 

I hope all are safe and sound. Many folks have weeks of clean up ahead and I send my best thoughts their way. 

4 comments:

Grey Horse Matters said...

Glad to hear you came out of everything with no major damage. I was wondering about you all. Hope CFS is okay too. We just had rain all day today which is fine with us we need it. I'm glad we weren't in it's path. I'm hoping this is the only hurricane this year, sometimes we get hit and sometimes not. Sounds like Cody is ready to go whenever you are.

billie said...

Thanks!!! She is okay but was dealing with waist-deep tidal surge - I hope it has receded some by now and that things are getting back to normal. It's a big mess for a lot of people - even a half hour from us barns were dealing with horses in stalls knee-deep in water due to flooding. And right next to us a neighbor lost a huge and beautiful 100+ year old oak tree that thankfully fell the opposite way from his house. There are trees down all over and many folks east of us still have rivers cresting to deal with. It's rough and I hope no one else loses a life. I just read we have 8 deaths and 5 people missing in NC. :/

Calm, Forward, Straight said...

Quick break to touch base now that power and technology have returned.

We had a 100 year storm with the highest tides anyone living can remember. Winds sustained 80's and gusted to 100. The damage and losses are staggering. Counting myself lucky to still have the roof over my head and to have saved my truck at the very last minute. The eye and eyewalls went directly over us - experience I do not want to repeat - ever.

Animals all fine and accounted for. Both hay barns and tack room took tide. Just finished pulling 65 bales of hay out of the wetter barn and separating what was totally soaked. The wet hay was almost too hot to touch already. Several houses have burned down from shorts caused by the flooding so I was paranoid about the barn burning.

Taking things day by day and very thankful that none of my community on the island died. Things are bound to look up from here lol. ♥︎♥︎♥︎

billie said...

Wow - I have read a lot on the news about southeastern NC (Fayetteville, Lumberton, etc.) but nothing about Hatteras. I'm really happy that no one you know was hurt or killed, that you and your animals are all okay, and send all the best thoughts for clean up and a return to normal as soon as humanly possible!

The updated count is 11 dead in NC due to hurricane and 5 missing. It was devastating for many folks. I spoke with a student on campus this evening who said many students are w/o power and have been told it will be 7 days before it is restored. The libraries on campus are allowing students to sleep there in order to have Internet access (needed for many classes), bathrooms, lights, etc.

Take care and please keep us updated!!