Aftermath of Hurricane Irma at Our Park

I'm a day late with my report on the aftermath of Hurricane Irma at our RV park, the result of having to get two more eBay sales to the Post Office and do a little shopping yesterday. I'll talk about that at the end of this post. The pictures I am showing below were taken early Monday morning, when the winds were still blowing at 20 - 30 mph on the morning after the hurricane. Click on the photos to get larger ones, "X out" to return here. Please excuse the quality. It's hard to hang onto a dog jerking his leash and try to use a camera one-handed, especially when it takes two fingers to zoom in and then hold it steady.

The preparations...

We decided not to try to go out immediately before the hurricane. We had already done most of our major shopping last Wednesday, before the stores began to run short. The only thing we didn't find at that time was water. Walmart at Silver Springs was already out of every brand and packaging style.

We watched the weather reports every few minutes on my smart phone, paying particular attention to predicted wind speeds first, and rainfall second. I already knew we wouldn't flood, so the wind was my only real concern. The moving radar maps told me we would get hit with lighter winds from the east first, and they would gradually switch to the south as the counter-clockwise hurricane moved past us somewhere between Ocala and the western coastline. Then the winds would change to come from the west as the winds died down and the storm moved away from us. No problem.

On Saturday, we did our last minute preparations before the rain started early in the afternoon. We showered and then refreshed our tanks, put wheel chocks on both sides of our trailer wheels, and positioned the van where it would sustain the least amount of damage.

Knowing that the winds would be coming mostly from the south at the peak of the hurricane winds, we moved the van only slightly... so that if the one tree we had at our right front corner were to go over, it would miss the van. We didn't consider any of the other trees a problem, based on predicted wind speed, direction and the location of them. There were some behind us, but if they went, they would hit the trailer first, and not land on our sleeping area in the motorhome.

We didn't have a whole lot to do on the RV... no antennas up, or anything else that would catch wind except the two window awnings at the living room windows. We retracted those when the winds started to rise above 20 mph, during one of the many "lulls" that we experienced.

Riding out Hurricane Irma...

The strongest average winds I saw predicted were less than 70 mph... nothing more than a strong tropical storm. As long as the strongest winds hit us from the south (our back end) rather than crossways, we wouldn't have a problem. Our trailer was behind us to take the brunt of the wind, so we hardly felt anything all night long.

The winds were far from steady all day and into the night. They constantly bounced from near non-existent to gusts of over 70 mph, but nothing that would be a problem. We felt the RV rock slightly when some of the stronger gusts hit us from the east, earlier in the evening, but after we went to bed around 11 pm, the strongest winds were coming mostly from the south, hitting the back of the trailer and RV. We felt very little rocking.

The last two times we let Angel out were quite an experience. Sharon went out with him twice during the afternoon, both times with a big umbrella. Of course, we all know that dogs won't stay under an umbrella for long. The first time, before the wind and rain became too strong, he was just "damp". Of course, we always towel him off when he gets wet. The second time, just before dark, an umbrella didn't do either of them any good. Both got wet!

By the time he went out for the last time before bed, the wind gusts were over 40 mph, the rain was nearly horizontal, and we had standing water about two inches deep on the level ground by our doorstep. I put Angel on his leash and let him out quickly while I stood in the doorstep. As soon as he came back to the step, I opened the door and let him in. He was thoroughly soaked that time after less than a minute outside, as were the bottoms of my pant legs... and I didn't even go out in it!

The wind was howling good at 11 pm, and even though I knew that we would be fine, I put a set of ear plugs in to block the sound of it so I could sleep better, which I did... all night long. Sharon was more restless, and didn't use ear plugs, so she did wake up a few times during the night, although I didn't hear her. She told me about it the next morning.

What we found on Monday morning after the hurricane...

By the next morning at 7 am, the winds had settled down, but were still gusting to a little over 30 mph from the west. The rain had nearly stopped. By the time we had coffee and got ready to take Angel out, they had slowed even more. I made sure to take my camera (cell phone) along, to document any damage, which I will now show you.

Across the street to the north, and against the fence, we saw one small tree down. It had a weak spot in the trunk and probably came down early, as it was laying east to west, broken off about two feet up on the trunk.

A small downed tree at the north woods property line at our park.

In the row of RVs behind us on the back street and about three spaces east, we could see a small tree laying next to a red Dodge truck... new arrivals as of just this month. I didn't realize until Tuesday (yesterday) that the owner had actually returned to the park after leaving it, during all that wind and rain, and had moved the tree away from his truck on Sunday night! The tree did actually hit his truck a glancing blow and broke his wind/rain deflectors at the top of his doors, and put a few scratches on the side of the truck. It could have been worse.

A small downed tree that hit the truck on the back street at our park.

Farther down our street we could see what looked like bushes from a distance, and we knew they weren't there before.

The top end of a tree that came down across the pond at our park.

It turned out to be a large tree that had come down across the pond, creating a new "natural bridge" across the water!

The large tree that fell across the pond at our park.

The roots appeared to be mostly rotten from being right next to the pond water all the time. It probably came down sometime Sunday night, as it was also laying east to west. Had it gone down during the peak winds, it would have been laying south to north, across the fence between this park and the horse farm next door.

Old Glory is slightly shredded but still flying high at our park.

Directly across the street from the pond, and on the back street, we could see a storage shed blown over. This was sad to see, as these people had just moved into the park a couple weeks ago and put that shed up brand new. We saw that they had put a couple of ropes over it before they evacuated the park, but I suspect that only straight stakes were used to hold it down.

A flipped storage shed on the back street at our park.

Straight stakes (like tent stakes) are worthless against high winds of any kind, as they pull out too easily. There are several other sheds in this park, and from talking to their owners, I know that they have been secured with screw-in mobile home anchors, like they use for tie-downs on mobile homes and park models. None of those sheds moved at all.

Adjacent to that shed to the east is a vacant lot. Most of the time it is nothing but lawn. It didn't appear to be deep enough to be meant as a drainage pond, but I can see now why no sites are placed there. We had seen a build-up of water there during the monsoon rains, but nothing like we saw on Monday morning! That area had overflowed clear onto the back street!

The flooded empty lot in the front left corner of our park.

Low areas are what keeps the rest of the park from flooding, though, and I already knew we had good drainage here. If this is all a major hurricane can do, then normal monsoons don't even compare! We are way too far inland to worry about storm surge, so you never have to worry about flooding in this park... as long as you avoid that front left corner!

The flooded street and lot in the front left corner of our park.

Everyone from that corner of the park had evacuated, and it's just as well. The corner trailer's space had flooded, but not high enough to do any damage. The back road has been unusable (unless wearing rubber boots) until Wednesday morning. There is a small area that is now walkable, although still soft with mud.

The cleanup...

On Tuesday, the maintenance man was out picking up debris and putting it on the burning pile, while the owner followed him up with the small tractor/mower and attempted to pick up the smaller stuff with the vacuum action of the mower and blow it into the leaf cart behind the tractor.

The debris being picked up is mostly small limbs and brown dry palm fronds which would have come down sooner or later anyway. I look at storms like this as just Mother Nature's way of cleaning house. And like any other cleaning or sweeping job, it's best to get out of the way until it's done.

Fallen debris toward the entrance of our park.

A few of the residents have started to return, but others are likely waiting until the roads clear and gas is available again.

Angel surveying the debris on the main drive at our park.

Outside of our park...

We had two eBay sales on Sunday and Monday that had to go out ASAP. We didn't want to chance it on Monday, so we were actually a day late with one of them (we always ship within 24 business hours as per eBay rules). On Tuesday, we went into town at mid-afternoon. There was still puddles in the gravel road getting over to the paved road, which then goes out to the highway. We didn't see any serious damage out to the highway, just small limbs and debris down.

On the long straightaway west of the Oklawaha River bridge on Hwy 40 we saw one large tree on the north side, which had been uprooted. It fell to the south, toward the highway without reaching it. But judging by the direction of fall, it was likely setting in wet ground and didn't take much to blow it over. There is a woods behind it to the north.

The traffic light at Hwys 40 and 326 (a tee intersection to the north) was out, so everyone was being courteous and treating it as a 3-way stop. I thought it strange that it would be out, when places both east and west of it had power. Between there and Hwy 35 South, we only saw two large trees down, both on the north side of the road falling southward, and both fell partly into the highway, but had already been cut back a safe distance by emergency crews.

The Post Office was open, but they said some others were without power yet. We continued a few blocks west to Walmart to pick up a few things. They were still out of water and bread, but had everything else we needed. I was going to gas up while Sharon was in the store, but Murphy USA, at the front of their parking lot, had yellow caution tape across all lanes. Neither of the stations at Hwy 40 and 314 had fuel, either. So even though we are now down to an eighth of a tank in the van, we'll simply wait a few days before going out to find more.

After the hurricane, the weather gradually cleared up, with very little rain on Monday, although it remained mostly cloudy. By Tuesday, everything was back to normal, with mostly sunny skies. The really nice thing was that the temperature had dropped, as did the humidity. On Tuesday morning, we decided to shut the air conditioning off and open the windows again, for some glorious fresh air! A nice breeze was blowing and it was wonderful! We've slept every night since then with the windows open, and the roof vents open!

It was actually cool last night at bed-time, and this morning (Wednesday) we awoke to 67 degrees. I can't understand why anyone would "want" to use air conditioning at 67 degrees outside! The sun is out and the sky is mostly clear... beautiful weather! We still may see some highs in the upper 80s yet, but that's only for a few hours in the middle of the afternoon! I refuse to turn the air conditioning on for such a short time just to satisfy my temporary comfort! A fan and some "non-activity" will suffice very nicely!

No regrets...

Everyone is free to judge their own comfort level in facing such storms, but I have absolutely no regrets about doing my proper research and thinking things out before making a rash decision. If we had evacuated early, when Hurricane Irma was predicted to go up the east coast, we would have gone northwest. As it turns out, that would have put us directly in the path of it after it changed course! If we had waited until later, the roads were already becoming impassible with millions of others trying to leave, and as gas stations ran out of fuel, it could have meant being stranded along the highway somewhere with no chance of getting out of the way of the storm!

In addition to that is the availability of places to park safely. We know that anywhere in that direction, there wouldn't be an RV park or campground with spaces left. We can boondock with the best of them (and already have for far longer than this emergency), but that's under normal conditions, when there are safe places from which to choose! Even safe pull-offs along the road, empty parking lots and other places are already going to be taken in this kind of emergency. And anything too far off the beaten path may be too far out and unsafe to park in if the weather got really bad! Where would you go to find shelter out there if you suddenly had to leave your RV behind? I would rather stay in someplace familiar with a solid block structure within a hundred feet!

As it ended up, the storm moved off to the northwest hitting the exact places that we would have gone to try to avoid it!

And to make matters worse, it would have cost us two tanks of gas to just get that far out of the way (one for the RV and one for the van), and then another two tanks of gas to get back here again! The equates to roughly $230 each way...$460 total! If that isn't bad enough, the same traffic conditions exist getting back into Florida as there was getting out of it.

Gas stations are still trying to get fuel to supply all the vehicles returning to this area! I would really need my head examined to put myself through all of that, when all I have to do is do proper research on the weather reports and THINK! 

Summary...

So this ends our tales of Hurricane Irma. We have posted here and up-to-the-minute posts on Facebook as the storm progressed. We posted here before the storm, and then added a review of the park we are in, so readers could see the layout and now the "after the storm" pictures.

The next post (publishing Friday evening) will be to show the daily driver that we bought, and our intentions for it... as they stand right now. Conditions and situations here are in a constant state of flux, so let me just say that anything could happen at any time to change things.

With the hurricane behind us (this one, at least) and the weather starting to cool down, we will be getting out again to do some sightseeing. With Angel, it's hard to do that in the summertime. Leaving him in the van for even five minutes is just not acceptable without leaving the engine running and the air conditioning on, too. As it continues to cool off, we hope to be able to go many new places, and also see some that we haven't been to for 24 years!

Thank you for following our adventures and thank you for the clicks on our links, for which we might make some small commissions to help pay for traveling expenses... even if the travels are local.