Monday, August 29, 2011

here is our Hurricane Irene story from 4.5 feet above sea level...

last wednesday the prediction was for Irene to take a path well off the coast, so we left for the Hamburg, NY rubber stamp show on schedule - 7am.
my daughter called @ 11am to say that the predicted path had changed to be a direct hit to ocean city.  we continued driving and got between binghamton, ny  and syracuse when kelly called us again.  this time they were evacuating all foreign exchange students to baltimore and there would be a mandatory evacuation for the whole town by 5pm the next day. so now we have to turn around and drive back home and get into town before the midnight deadline, when the island was supposed to be shut down for entry.  so now the dilemna is how do we evacuate not only humans but 7 cats, 4 dogs and 5 birds too.  we would only be able to make one trip because re-entry was prohibited on Friday. once we were out, we were out. so rounded up the kitties - they hated it. next the birds - they hated it.  then the dogs - they loved it!  headed to the animal hospital where the cats and small birds would spend the duration.  kelly took the 2 little dogs with her to a friend in berlin, md - some 18 miles away.  kathy took the 2 big birds and i took the cages and the big dogs to our daughters house in secretary, md - some 65 miles away. she has 3 dogs and a cat already, so we created a total disruption to her lifestyle. oh what fun...  glued to television friday night and saturday until the power went out at her house 6:30pm saturday. still had cell phones that worked and were in contact with kelly in berlin and getting updates from her.  kathy's sister lives about 2 miles form danielle and called to say that press conference would be @9am to say when we could return.  mayor announced some power had been lost, sewer system was shut down from 5pm sat until 5am sunday, but that residents and business owners - (state police roadblocks required proof of residence for island entry) - could return immediately and that OC would be open for everyone by noon.  so we loaded up and headed for home.  kelly grabbed the first round of cats form the animal hospital and got home way before us - lots of was debris, tree limbs, leaves and junk that was not secure was everywhere, but our microwave oven still had the correct time - so we amazingly never lost power.

i got the sickest feeling in my stomach when we left town on friday as i passed the roadblocks.  i knew that i could not return, so everything (including lots of memories that remained) was totally out of my control and i had no idea what i would return to...  this has to be one of at least, the top 5 to 10 worst feelings possible.

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