Hurricane Irene

Well, it's been an interesting week.  First an earthquake, then a hurricane!  Hurricanes aren't too rare here, but this was the most direct hit I've experienced as an adult (and the eye was still 80 miles east).  But it was clear there was going to be major rain and wind.

So I was prepared the evening before.  Aside from the usual emergency supplies (flashlights, crank radio, batteries, water, food, etc), I made sure to have a good supply of comfort foods...

Before I went to bed that evening, I noticed my 5" rain gauge was at 4.75", so I went out and emptied it.  I took a quick look around the yard for any tree damage and found none.  But the most intense part of the storm hadn't arrived yet.  The lights dimmed a couple of times, but I never lost power.  I'm very glad all the electric and cable lines are underground here!

This morning I found another 2.5" of rain in the gauge, for a total of 7.25".

There was some tree damage, but nothing serious.  I haven't driven out yet, but I did hear a chain saw in the neighborhood, so someone had some larger damage.

I found some medium branches fallen.

And a few smaller ones, but those were from my favorite saucer magnolia tree.

I have some repair work to do in that tree!  There are a couple of breaks like this.

Two of my tomato cages blew over in spite of being staked.  One stake was bent over at ground level, the other was simply pushed over in the soaked garden soil.  I was able to raise the cages without any apparent damage to the plants.  I put 2 stakes on each cage for better protection.

So I came through the hurricane in good shape.