My Weekend With Irene

As I wrote over the weekend, the restaurant was forced to close Friday afternoon as a mandatory evacuation was ordered for the city of Rehoboth Beach. Most of the businesses took the precaution of boarding up for extra protection.

The evacuation proved to be a nightmare, taking twice the normal time for people to get where they were going.  Rumors are that a few hotels in RB remained open, (I know for a fact that one didn't inform guests of the evacuation, they had to have lunch with us to find out);  it was also rumored that officials were going door-to-door telling residents to leave.  I can only say that nobody knocked on my door.

I chose to stay put because this is a narrow peninsula with the Atlantic on the East, and the Chesapeake on the West.  The building is an old concrete structure, built in 1948 and has weathered many an Atlantic storm and more than a few hurricanes.  For the record, I did call a few hotel/motels inland, easy to reach in a pinch.  They were already booked, with locals arriving unannounced.

A Hurricane kit was prepared, and all important documents were in place for a quick departure. Friday night was filled with the sounds of heavy downpours and increasingly stronger wind gusts.

Now here's how bored I was:  After supper (and 2 Bombays with olives) I pulled out old VHS video tapes of the Academy Awards broadcasts recorded 20+ years ago.  Well, what else would a single gay man of a certain age do at such a time?  Fortunately, the tapes contained all commercials, so it was a time capsule. And an absolute delight to see how things have changed, how commercials were produced, and how local news updates (ABC in NYC) were more straight-forward and, well, "newsy" rather than fear-mongering hype. 

Bored still, having a coffee Saturday morning I decided to do the laundry.  My thought was that if the storm surge was higher than expected and the storm drains couldn't handle the excess, the laundry room for the building (on the ground floor directly beneath my apartment) would likely be ruined and it would be sometime before it became operational again. So, everything was washed, dried, folded, and put away...Everything.  And hours remained before Irene's predicted arrival. Damn!

Stayed in touch with others via email, FB, or texting throughout the weekend. Then, as posted earlier, there came a strange new alert signal from the fire house which was followed by an inaudible message broadcast by some human voice.  Well, it turns out that message was a tornado alert for the city.  Found out yesterday from other residents who stayed and live closer to the fire house.  Since it was inaudible to most everyone else, we were doomed if a tornado struck here. Tornadoes reportedly caused a house's destruction and damaged a few others in the Lewes area about 6 miles north of RB.

Saturday evening things really began to rock-n-roll, but the electricity remained on as I did a bit of cooking and sipped a Bombay with olives.  Viewed another Oscars video and went to bed as the winds and rain made a terrible racket, but the building was safe and offered no sign of strain.  Slept like a baby (must have been those olives!) and woke to lighter rain - stronger winds - blinking clocks. That meant we lost power for a brief time during the night. I spent too much time resetting the damned things all over the apartment.Whether you like it, need it, or not, almost every electrical appliance and gadget contains a clock.

The city reopened Sunday morning after any sign of infrastructure damage was checked out. Business owners and others began the cleanup work to prepare for business Monday morning.  The locosguys took down all plywood, filled and cranked up the margarita machines, got the kitchen prepped for Monday, called to update me on their progress, and gave instructions on how to proceed with opening in the morning. Rain tapered off by mid-afternoon, but gusty winds remained for a while longer.  The sky cleared and the stars appeared.  Nice.

As it turned out, the locosguys were at work before me tying up loose ends.  Monday was a slow day. Although the Outlet Shopping Centers reopened there were few shoppers around. Many evacuated residents were unable to return to their homes in low-lying, flooded areas and some were stranded where they evacuated to by downed trees, and power lines left them without electricity for over 48 hours.  A few blog buddies well inland confirmed electrical and other utility problems over the weekend.

A lot of money was lost last weekend and Summer ends with Labor Day this coming weekend.  Businesses lost high season revenues and workers lost 3 days pay, but no one I talk to cares about that saying, "we did what we had to do and it was the right thing to do" and to that I say, Amen! The lost revenue and income will never be made up, but we're here and a little stronger for the adventure.  More of a community, more of a family, at least at the restaurant.

Seems I was better off staying than if I had gone as suggested.  Some folks are still straggling into town, happy to see only a few shingles missing or a tree limb down.  Lots of hugs and sighs of relief all round.

The weather has been beautiful since the weekend.  Cooler with clear sky and bright sun.  I'm relieved that it's over and grateful for so little damage. Grateful, too, that some folks thought enough to check in on me during the storm. My thoughts and prayers go out to friends in NYC, New Jersey, Vermont, Pennsylvania, and Maine still coping with Irene's wake of destruction and drowned communities.


Above image from the Delaware Cape Gazette website.

And so it goes.
*