After the Storm...

Literally. Thank you for all the well-wishes and prayers I know y'all sent East Coast's way.

Hurricane Hanna's enterouge arrived around 4:30 on Saturday afternoon with lots of rain. The rain continued, heavy or heavier, until 10:30 that night. Lo Gung was out of town for the majority of this week, recruiting for his company back at his Alma Mater (who beat my Alma Mater 27, 26 during Saturday's football game, BTW. Grrrr!). His car arrived just a few minutes after 4:30. We checked to make sure the windows were closed and settled down for dinner and a long night in.

Around 7:30, we noticed that a few leaks had started around the main floor. I'm not complaining! The house is 30 years old and had already held steady through three hours of POUNDING rain. There was a leak or two along a window that has always leaked with enough rain and wind, since we moved in. There was also a leak from the corner of a skylight. (Again, with enough wind and rain nearly any seal can be permeated! Check your floors next time you get your roof power-washed - you'll see what I mean.) The most surprising, and entertaining, was the slow drip-drip-drip...coming down the chimney!

I talked to my father today, to let him know we were still here and standing. Since he is Amazingly Talented at finding Absolute Facts, I set him about researching the facts of our storm last night. Here's what he found:

My town had a reported 5.36 inches of rain in a 12-hour period. (Since it rained steadily for 6 hours, that's nearly 2 inches an hour!) There were reports of a tornado touchdown sighted around our neck of the woods, but this was never confirmed by the weather service. There were numerous flooded roadways, stranded cars and downed powerlines. There were an estimated 1,500 people without power this morning.

When we woke up to get ready for church this morning, I looked out the window. This morning was such a breath of fresh air - literally! The past two days have been inhumanely humid and still. This morning brought bright blue skies and cool, moisture-free breezes. I noticed something else when I looked out the window - something blue. I looked closer, trying to figure out what was so different about my yard. (The view from our house of the bottom of our yard, next to the lake, is mostly obscured by two large pine trees.) Was it the lily pads? Yes! Ooh...the rain must have killed off all the lily pads!

No...that wasn't it...there were the lily pads...under...water?!

There is usually about a foot between the top of the water and the top of this retaining wall.

By the time we got home from church, the water had receeded back to a few inches below the retaining wall. Even so, Lo Gung too advantage of this unique situation...to kayak. He couldn't resist the lure of launching from the lawn instead of jumping onto the kayak from the dock!

Our prayers are with those people who were hit harder by the storm. While we enjoyed a fantastic water-works show, others did not fare so well. Here's to you, and your tenacity!