Hurricane Michael Part three- Debris

As I've said before,  the storm surge is what caused much of the damage in our part of the world. And until you see houses which have been washed out, literally, boulders scattered on the main road and massive chunks of highway, undercut or rippled and nothing holding up the asphalt, it's mind numbing.

As we drove through our area,  the next day or so, after the storm and paths had been cleared on the highway so that single lanes were at least passable, I took many pictures with my phone.  Some of them aren't that great, but I think they show a little of the incredible destruction here.

Where applicable I've blurred out license plates on vehicles and also people. 
The day after the storm, much of 98 was cleared for one lane traffic only.

 As you can see trees, large trees came down, and crossed the highway.

Everyone was courteous driving this single lane.  None of us wanted to veer off to the side and drive on the debris.

 Pieces of docks, sheds, appliances, and more were deposited across the road.

I'm also including some pictures of the debris piles.  Every time I drive past them, I can't help but think of all the heartache that's buried in the debris.  There are priceless relics, heirlooms, memories, unimaginable heartbreak.  Pictures, family treasures, everyday items, and over it all a sense of loss, a feeling of helplessness.

The appliances and furniture that litter the roadsides, still.  Along with the fallen trees, branches and other vegetation.
The force of the surge displaced this boat and the giant baseball which I had thought was safely anchored on a cement base.  The baseball is a bit of a landmark in our area.  The boat and baseball are now back where they belong, on the other side and hopefully safe.
For now.

Much can be replaced, eventually, but so much cannot.  A sense of safety, a place of refuge, forever gone. 
Some people we know will never rebuild there, other's are leaving the area. 

And yet, in our little area, we were extremely lucky. 
The cleanup of the roadways has begun.  Traffic on Hwy 98 comes to a stop as the debris is cleared away. 

So much is gone, but life does go on.

Hurricane Michael Stories, part two

There have been so many news stories about Hurricane Michael, the amount of damage that occurred not only from the winds but the storm surge as well.  There are entire forests, where not one tree survived, all were knocked down by the wind.  Communities like Mexico Beach which were almost totally wiped out by the combination wind and storm surge, from a Category 5 hurricane, (which initially was reported as a Category 4 hurricane,  one mile, one mile!, shy of a Category 5 storm.)  The instruments that were used to record the storm were actually blown away, and were recovered later on.    

Many other communities were battered and bruised by the storm as well.  We were on the right side of the storm which made landfall about 50 miles from us, and usually that's the bad side. 

Our main roadway is Highway 98 which runs alongside a usually well behaved Gulf of Mexico, but not this time. 

I'm sharing pictures I took, two days after the storm, when traffic was limited to property owners only. These pictures are but a small example of the incredible power of a storm surge.  

Workers assessing the damage.

 This is a culvert, under the highway.  

 

 And then there is this.  A house, sitting right on the water, and now a pile of rubble.  I took pictures of it coming from each direction.

I circled the 'house' or rather the pile of rubble left from its collapse.

Coming from the other direction, here are utility or FDOT workers assessing. 

And KUDO's, hats off and everything good to say about FDOT and the fact that a couple of days after I took these pictures, the road was patched and usable.  

We passed many large trucks that day, some hauling bulldozers, other bucket trucks, etc. and I have to say, I wouldn't have wanted to be driving one of those trucks along this damaged roadway.   A friend counted 31 washouts/patched pieces of road in just a 30 mile stretch.  

I've got lots more pictures and I'll be posting them in the next few days. 

Hurricane Michael stories

Our area just weathered a major hurricane.  You may have heard of it?  Hurricane Michael which came ashore at one mile shy of a Category 5. 
Although we were on the right side, and luckily, only got the side of Michael, there was wide spread storm surge here and houses were literally washed out.
These are just a few pictures from that day.
At the end of our street, the main highway was filled with debris from two houses whose contents had washed out and onto our main highway.

And yet, we, who lived just a block or so from the highway were spared, however those on the coast got a stark reminder of the sheer force of a storm surge.
I stood there in bemusement, and shock.  And then remembered I had a camera and took the following pictures.
a fridge, surrounded by cushions and other pieces of the house.

 The force of the storm water washed this water heater into the middle of the road and as you can see behind it, the roof from a shed was also deposited.

 Looking towards the water

 One of the houses,

 The other house

 A close up of the second house.

as you can see the water was still pounding their rip rap. 

 the highway looking to our left

 with a little closer look at a tree and other debris blocking the road

 and looking to the other side

 And the amazing part, to me at least, was that the next day, someone had been out with a bobcat or bulldozer or something and had cleared at least one lane of the highway. 

Also a big thank you to the linemen and power company who actually got power to us a few short days later. 

We were lucky here, very lucky.  Some did lose homes, and many lost trees and had some damage to their homes but we did not experience the wide spread destruction that occurred at Mexico Beach.