Tropical Storm Irma – September 11, 2017

Tropical Storm Irma started in the Atlantic Ocean on August 30, 2017 in the mid-Atlantic Ocean close to the Cape Verde islands?  By September 5, 2017 it had grown into a Category 5 hurricane. Over the next several days it began touching land along several islands (Barbuda, St. Maarten, & Tortola) before making landfall in Cuba.  It then turned slightly north/northwest and hit the United States in the Florida Keys, crossing these islands at Cudjoe Key while continuing north to make landfall at Marco island as a Category 4 storm driving inland northward to Naples up to the east of Tampa roughly following interstate highway 75 through southern Georgia decreasing   strength to a Tropical Storm with sustained winds just below hurricane strength.

Part of my family lives in Jacksonville Beach Florida and having evacuated last year when another hurricane hit their area and St. Augustine decided to once again heed the State’s warnings and comply with the mandatory evacuations.  My brother and his family along with my mama decided to come north this time to my sister’s lake house just north of Atlanta where it looked to be a safe haven to escape the winds, rain, and power outages associated with hurricane season.  My mama is eighty eight years old and does not like or desire to travel much anymore and has made the Jacksonville to Atlanta trip several times in the past year with deaths in our family so another trip north did not appeal to her but was prodded by all of the family to come along once again.

Traffic coming north along almost any road was packed with the over five and a half million people exiting Florida for safer areas of the country.  My brother travels the back roads going through all the small towns and communities usually with much less traffic but this time even those roads were crowded with everyone having the same idea to stay off the interstate highways.  The normal five and a half hour trip took them almost 12 hours leaving their house early Friday morning around 4:30 am to head north.  They arrived at my sister’s house in Duluth just after five pm exhausted and not ready for the additional 1.5 hour drive to the lake house so decided to sleep there for the night and continue in the morning.  Every one settled into the lake house including my sister who wanted to spend time with everyone.  Atlanta issued its first ever tropical storm warning as coastal areas were issued evacuation orders. 

My brother brought along a cooler of frozen food which they cooked so it didn’t go to waste over the weekend.  Saturday was spent resting for my mama and some shopping for items they did not have a chance to bring during the evacuation?  I was going to go down to see everyone but was told to wait until Sunday to give everyone a day to rest.  I invited everyone to come for a cookout in Helen Georgia on Sunday and that is what was planned.  The morning was a little breezy; I set up the tables under the porch to block the wind and started the grill.  Everyone arrived around one thirty that afternoon and lunch was ready to be served shortly after they arrived.

Mama was a little chilled so we moved everything inside having great meal, lively conversation, and what was the latest news about Hurricane Irma’s position.  It had veered more northerly not along the original projected path closer to Jacksonville.  It appeared to be moving toward Tampa and up the center of Georgia where it would downgrade to a Tropical storm once again.  We laughed they had evacuated from their home in Jacksonville Beach to now be in the path of the storm several hundred miles north.  Who knew that it was going to do that and bring the winds and rains with it this far north?

Lunch was great, my brother Ron and I put out the field corn for the deer which come nightly to forage the food.  There are anywhere from three to as many as ten deer that come every night around the same time give or take thirty minutes but usually in that time period just before dusk and nightfall.  Not long after they loaded the car and headed back to the lake house to settle in for the night and get some much needed rest after their long drive from Florida with all the extra traffic.

Sunday night the wind started followed by bands of rain.  Some was steady rainfall then there were periods of heavy downpours lasting about an hour each cycle.  The winds intensified during the night the subsided early Monday morning which was the proverbial “calm before the storm”.  

Monday brought with it strong winds, torrential rain and trees falling everywhere, across roads, in yards, on top of vehicles, and on power lines cutting off power in large areas across Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, as well as Alabama.  Many power companies sent line crews to south Florida to help out there leaving themselves vulnerable to the damage and power outages in their home area.  Electrical and cell phone service was out in many places and remained out for several days in many areas here in north Georgia.

I wanted to go down and see my family again before they returned to Florida and attempted to drive the 40 miles to the lake house to see everyone.  It was not too bad in my area but as I drove south it worsened along the way.  By the time Dawsonville was reached all the stores, restaurants and gas stations were closed due to the storm.  My sister said power was out there so it was not possible to gain access into the boat club’s electrical gate so it was time to head back to Helen.

During the drive back there were trees down across the roads in four places causing detours to get around the downed trees and power lines.  At one several locals quickly took chain saws and cut a path through the blockage in the roadway.  By the time I drove up the driveway the storm was in full force with high gusty winds, rains, and sounds of trees cracking, breaking and falling all around.

Mama and my brother’s family got the word that power was back on so they headed out along with thousands of others for the trek back to Jacksonville Beach.  My sister heard from them in Waycross ten hours later and they were still slowly making their way home.  They found downed fences, broken tree limbs and other debris but came through it again mostly unscathed.   

My friend Jim’s farm had many trees fall across two different hillsides.  The hill between the properties had five large trees come down being pushed over roots and all.  Limbs and debris were all over the yard, decks, and driveway.  The power and cell service went out and in many areas around me I am sure candlelight was the norm during this time.  Flashlights were used; those that had generators probably cranked them up to keep freezers going and food not to spoil.  I had ice cream in the freezer and had to eat several large bowls over the two days without power to keep it from going to waste.

The next morning driving around the area to see how bad the damage was and see if there were any work crews out making repairs I was shocked in what I found.  Several miles down the road I found what the problem was probably as trees were down, power lines across the roadway, power poles snapped into and not a line crew in sight.  I drove into Helen Georgia and was surprised to find that much of the town still had power and people (tourist) were walking around like a normal day.  There was cell service in this area but as quickly as I left town and headed over toward the Richard B. Russell Parkway to see if the road was closed I made my way into Cleveland.  Ingles grocery store was packed and the gas station full but only premium gas was available.  As you drove through town (White County) most of the power was still on.  Driving over to Cornelia and into Habersham County the power was out.  No street signals were working and all the houses had no lights on.

As I approached the main intersection on Hwy 441 nothing was on and everything in the area was closed except the Waffle House which was packed with people eating.  An emergency generator kept them open and seemed to be a welcome sight for those inside.  The communities of Cornelia, Demorest, and Clarkesville were totally without power. Everything closed, very few people milling about and oddly no work crews on any of the downed power lines I saw.

The first crew seen was in Clarkesville close to the hospital working on downed lines there.  Two HEMC crews and two private company crews were working.  That was it.  I had covered over 30 miles and this was the only crew seen.  Maybe they were all sent to Florida leaving this area lacking in working crews.

All the areas driven through looked tattered, limbs down everywhere and people out in their yards with chainsaws, rakes and other items cleaning up the mess.  There was neighbor helping neighbor, no looting or bad behavior just everyone working together to make things better.  

Power was off about 36 hours, AT&T cell service about 48 hours so it was a good time to brew coffee, read a book, and start the cleanup.  Once power came on there was the additional power blowing the leaves, picking up all the fallen limbs, but I still haven’t gotten out the chain saw but my neighbor Jim spent all day yesterday making firewood out of his mess.  I will probably do the same shortly but I’m not in a hurry today for that new project.

Today Thursday, September 14, 2017 there are still many areas around here without power.  Hurricane and Tropical Storm Irma over its several week lifespan caused much heartache, damage, deaths, and property damage across thousands of miles and in several countries.  So far there have been reported 81 deaths and an estimated 62 billion dollars of damage done in this one storm.

And this is just one storm in this hurricane season, something to think about.

Ice