Pages

Friday, October 19, 2018

I Am Well But With Very Limited Power and Internet

Hi to all my blogger friends.
I have been hoping to get on internet to let you know that my family and I are all fine after Hurricane Michael tore through last Wednesday 10/10. We had three trees fall on our house putting small holes in the roof. Only one caused ceiling damage in a guest bedroom. There are ceiling water stains in three other rooms.

Our son-in-law's car was crushed by a tree across the midsection. It is totaled. My car was hit by one tree knocking out the rear windshield and another smashing the roof, front windshield and passenger front fender. The insurance adjuster has indicated it will be declared totaled. :-( We are waiting to learn how much they value it at so we can then look for a new used car for me. My husband's jeep also took damage with a busted out rear passenger window. That is repairable and fortunately left us a vehicle to drive.

Our yard looked like a war zone after the winds either blew over, tore from the ground or broke about 90% of the trees in the yard and surrounding woods. Our son-in-law, two of his brothers and a friend were able to remove the trees from our roof and clear out our driveways within three days. It took two days for neighbors to clear our private community road so we could get out to a main road and others could get in. Out of 17 homes in our community only three did not have roof damage. Some had trees through portions of their houses and one had a tree down the center of the home!

My office building was also damaged with brick falling from a fake second story facade and a couple of small windows broken. Water damaged has caused about six ceiling panels to fall in the front room. All equipment had been moved to an interior room so it was untouched. I have been trying to get someone up on the roof to access the condition and cover it with a tarp if needed. I will try again tomorrow. Two offices to the east of mine took terrible damage, more severe than mine.

Our town was hit very hard with trees and powerlines down throughout the county. The responders and volunteers have worked hard getting streets cleared and the main traffic lights operating. We are still on curfew from 7pm to 7am and they are saying that some of us may not have power for 30 days.

Our RV was under a large metal garage cover and it suffered no damage so, unlike most people, we have had generator power and water since the storm. My husband's water treatment center for the house was in a shed that was crushed. Fortunately he was able to re-route the water lines and get water back to the house within two days. We have a generator which my husband had connected to run the refrigerators, the TV and the corner light where I work on my computer. We were running short of propane and gas fuel for the generators but were able to get out on Monday 10/16 to refill the fuel so we should be good for another week.

Our duaghter's home and second office are located in Panama City Beach. They were on the west side of the hurricane and suffered NO damage - just power outage for a week. Heather was able to get back to work on Thursday. I drove 63 miles west to another agent's office to work on a closing on Tuesday. I did not have time to get online then.

Although our modem shows as "connected" we still do not have internet service. I learned today how to tether my phone internet to the computer.  It is extremely slow but at least got me to the blog so I could post this update. It may still be several weeks before I can get back on for normal posting. I am reading on Kindle and listening to Audible on the phone. I will post some pictures when I have better internet capability.

All in all we feel blessed! God protected our lives which is the most important thing. I am hoping to do some work each day as we wait for power to return to the office and home.

12 comments:

  1. It sounds overwhelming but I do love your spirit. God Bless.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm so sorry for all the devastation. Everyone is in my prayers. But most importantly, as you said. You have your lives and that is the true Blessing. God Bless !
    Carol Luciano
    Lucky4750 at aol dot com

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank God you and your family are now safe. Things can be replaced but not lives. I hope everything gets back to normal for you soon.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you for the update. Keeping you in my thoughts.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sending lots of love from Sri Lanka! Stay safe ❤

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thank God all of you are still alive! Thank you so for the update.I want to post your update on my FB page in hopes of getting more help for your town! Prayers for you and your family!

    ReplyDelete
  7. So glad to hear that you are OK. We missed you and are glad for the news.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Sorry to hear about your car , but glad to hear that you and your husband are okay.

    ReplyDelete
  9. So sorry for your devastation.. blessed you're all ok !
    I posted the link to this info at my FHC fb to inform others and requested prayers ongoing . God's Peace...

    ReplyDelete
  10. Sending thoughts and prayers from Iowa. Glad you are safe.

    ReplyDelete

Your comments are always appreciated!