Florence Aftermath

The roads are finally all passable a few weeks after Hurricane Florence hit the North Carolina shore. I knew our boat had survived because I had gotten pictures from Russ the owner of the slip. However, I needed to look in the boat and make sure that it had not taken on too much water and that the bilge pumps continued to perform. As I headed out I realized that there were many who experienced quite a bit of loss.

Don, a friend of ours, has a home right in Oriental that was built out of the old fire house and jail. It is a beautiful home that is a haven of hospitality. Unfortunately, because of the age of the building it wasn't built with storm surges in mind. You can see in the pictures Don pointing out how high the water was in the house. So Don being a self-taught engineer has decided to pour a concrete floor and raise all the utilities so that the next time the building is flooded it won't take that much work to clean up and move on.

Others, lost boats as they broke loose and washed up on pilings or holed. Also, towns will have to begin to reconstruct roads that have been washed out. However, the one impression I walked away with was how upbeat many of the people I talked to were. Many came to terms with the situation and were already focused on what they need to do next.