Hurricane Fury

black mamba

Had hurricane Irma come up Florida's east coast, I would have repeated my past escapes and headed to a mountain sanctuary. Seeing it was coming up the west coast, my wife and I decided to stay put. With winds howling, sleep was hard to come by. I got up at 2:00 AM and was sitting at the kitchen bar. My wife also arose soon thereafter and joined me there. There were sounds all over the place....typical of small limbs hitting the roof in any high wind. At 3:00 AM, a sound of unholy proportions washed over us. What you will see here is the reason for the sound.

This garage and two of our cars were totally destroyed. Darlene's white car was obviously pounded beyond repair. My VW Golf R, upon detailed exam, was also deemed as a total loss. That one really hurts as it was my current hot rod project car. I had just completed an extensive program to boost performance and was thrilled with the results.....we had that thing putting out slightly over 400 HP. Fortunately, our two SUV's were in the other garage at the other end of the house and were spared any damage.

Darlene and I immediately thanked the Lord for sparing our lives. Had that tree fallen just a little to the right, and considering where we were sitting, we would have never known what hit us.

About this time, a little levity was appreciated.

denisegoldberg

Wow! It looks like you're right, you're both lucky to be alive.
The photos look like total destruction - it there any part of the house that survived?

moose135

Wow, that's terrible Tom! I'm so glad you and your wife came through it unharmed!

Juano

I'm glad you guys are ok. Scary pictures.

black mamba

@denisegoldberg said:
Wow! It looks like you're right, you're both lucky to be alive.
The photos look like total destruction - it there any part of the house that survived?

Hi Denise,

The garage was the only part of the house that suffered any damage. The rest of the structure was not affected at all. In fact, until you open the kitchen door that leads to what used to be a nice garage, you wouldn't know what had transpired. We're super lucky about that. We have a great friend who's a super good contractor and he's already all over this project. Hopefully, within around 6 weeks the garage rebuild will be finished and you won't have a clue as to what happened.

Thanks for your concern,

Tom

Stumblebum

Reminders of nature's power!

black mamba

@moose135 said:
Wow, that's terrible Tom! I'm so glad you and your wife came through it unharmed!

Thanks, John. I've seen pictures where some homes in our area, located off a tributary of the St. Johns river, that were entirely under water. Thankfully, my place is on much higher ground and was never threatened by rising waters.

black mamba

@Juano said:
I'm glad you guys are ok. Scary pictures.

Thanks, Cristóbal. It seemed surreal at the time.

black mamba

@Stumblebum said:
Reminders of nature's power!

I tell you, my friend, this confrontation with nature's power is enough to last me a lifetime.

Richard

That must have been terrifying. I was glad to hear that you're OK.

sarasphotos

How horrifying for you! I am very glad to hear you and your wife are safe, Tom!

Cavalier

Amazing how that tree just cut the garage in half. That must have been horrifying to hear and feel. So glad no one was injured. We watched the coverage of Irma and felt so bad for everyone in her path. Thanks for sharing the very explanatory photos!

torags

Thank God you guys are alright

Watching that catastrophe day after day was paralyzing

Best of luck to you both (bronze that kitchen bar... )

Cygnus Studios

Thankfully the damage was limited, good to hear that you and your family made it out relatively unscathed.

black mamba

@Richard said:
That must have been terrifying. I was glad to hear that you're OK.

Thanks, Richard, for initially checking on the situation here. These are the shots that I was going to send you but I decided to just post them on the forum. It was certainly a most uncomfortable thing to deal with. The sad fact is that there are many, many folks who suffered losses far greater than mine. Hell, I feel lucky.

See you, my friend.

black mamba

@sarasphotos said:
How horrifying for you! I am very glad to hear you and your wife are safe, Tom!

Thank you very much, Sara. I can assure you that an event like this will get your immediate attention along with a degree of focus you didn't know you had.

Stay safe.

black mamba

@Cavalier said:
Amazing how that tree just cut the garage in half. That must have been horrifying to hear and feel. So glad no one was injured. We watched the coverage of Irma and felt so bad for everyone in her path. Thanks for sharing the very explanatory photo.

Thanks, Jo. That tree was at least 80 feet, perhaps more. With the wind force and the tree weight....nothing was slowing that thing down. I just saw a local TV interview with two guys, each of whom owned a home on one of our beaches. They were side-by-side houses they both disappeared into the ocean. Like I previously commented, I feel real lucky.

See you.

black mamba

@torags said:
Thank God you guys are alright

Watching that catastrophe day after day was paralyzing

Best of luck to you both (bronze that kitchen bar... )

Bronzing the bar....now that's a great idea, probably the best I've heard yet. I can depend on you, Rags, to be innovative. Thanks for the comments.

Take care.

black mamba

@Cygnus Studios said:
Thankfully the damage was limited, good to hear that you and your family made it out relatively unscathed.

Thanks, Steve. My situation could certainly have turned out much, much worse than it did. I'm very thankful for that.

Dogdots

Thankfully you and Darlene are okay - an angel was watching over you both.