Hurricane Earl

Earl brushed by the U. S. and British Virgin Islands as a category 4 yesterday and last night. Luckily the eye was some 110 miles north. Still, storm force winds extended outward some 70 miles.

I spoke to my sister, Erva, yesterday afternoon around 4 PM as Earl was gearing up. Already the winds were at a steady 40 to 45 MPH with gusts up to about 60. This morning, when she called she said the winds had topped out at about 70 MPH with gusts up to 85 or 90. And it was 12 hours of wind! A healthy storm. Not something to be trifled with by any means, but certainly not terrible.

There was no damage to the house, but we lost two female genip trees. Although they are no great big loss, it's too bad as they were the only female trees on the property and they happened to be full of fruit. Also, they blocked the view of the neighbor's house. Lastly, they were 35 to 40 years old, grown from seeds I probably spit out. Sniff, sniff :(

Erva still has land line phone access. But she expects they'll be out of power for a least a week. Being West Indian, she is fully self-sufficient and will survive quite "easily" until power is restored. She's been through far worse blows, like when Hurricane Marilyn blew the roof off. She and my mother were without power for MONTHS. Not only that, they lived under a blue FEMA tarp for nearly three years. That's how long it took to get the house rebuilt to its present form, which is probably pretty-near hurricane proof.

I don't know how the rest of the island(s) have fared, but I'm sure I'll learn more in the coming days. I will be trying to contact my cousin Rafe on St. John and other friends. My cousin, Frances, in Puerto Rico reported to Erva that they didn't get much of anything.

All in all, Erva came through relatively unscathed.

But Earl is a big and dangerous storm. NOAA is predicting it'll skirt the east coast, which would be a good thing. If it does I wouldn't be surprised if there was some coastal erosion.

Hurricane Omar Update

All is well. He veered to the east. Even though he turned into a category 3 storm with winds up to 125 MPH, reports from family and friends have said there was very little wind, mostly A LOT of rain.

This from my sister this morning.

What a relief!

This category 3 storm with 125 mph winds passed to the east of St. Croix, and headed Northeast on out of here. The storm's center is very small with the major winds extending outward from the center to only 35 mph. There was plenty of rain associated with it and low lying areas were flooded.We had only light breezes and much water!

Rain from this system:
First, this storm crawled through here from East to West as a slushy mess, dipped South then turned back East, eventually turning back Northeast.

Second, I empty my raingauage by 8:00 AM each morning, so that reading represents the previous 24 hour period.
Fri - Wed - 8.02 inches
Thurs 3.93 inches (Accumulation as Omar)
Total: 11.95 inches

The sun is out, and we're very soggy, but all is totally well!

Thanks for your prayers!

Hurricane Omar

Please keep the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico in your thoughts and prayers. Even though he is "only" a category one hurricane it looks like he's going to pass right over the islands. And there is always the chance he could gain strength.

My mom and sister, my cousins and friends will probably be fine. Their homes are strong and have survived far worse than 75 MPH winds. It's the rain at this point that they don't need any more of. They've already had quite a bit from this system, before it turned into a hurricane, and have experienced some flooding. Still it's always a bit nerve racking for me as I wait out the storm from a safe distance.

Unlike people along the coastlines of the U. S. people in the islands cannot be evacuated, they have no place to go. They have learned over the centuries to hunker down and wait it out.

You can take a look at Omar at the National Hurricane Center.