As many of you know, Hurricane Florence came through this past week and devastated huge portions of the southeastern coast of the US. Much of North and South Carolina was evacuated, and most residents scattered inland to try to seek shelter from the storm. We were fortunate to have friends in Atlanta to stay with, so Mr. Dressed and I packed up what we could, protected the rest, and left early Tuesday morning.
I don’t really have words for the feeling behind an evacuation. When we left, weather reports were predicting a Category 4/5 hurricane, with winds in excess of 150 mph. We had just closed on our beautiful new home the day before, and had to leave it, unsure of whether we would have anything to return back to. I felt equal parts numb and panicked as we scurried around our home, trying to figure out what to take and what to leave behind. Assigning emotional value to everything we owned, piling the car with all that we would be devastated to lose.
As we hunkered down in Atlanta, we watched the news with trepidation and fear, feeling alternate patches of relief as the hurricane seemed to lessen in strength, and patches of panic as the threat of floods increased. I’m so relieved that we left when we did, and still fearful that a tree may have blown into our beautiful home, or that floodwaters may be creeping up as I type.
In a situation like this, the most important thing we can do is keep perspective. I feel unspeakably fortunate to have had the opportunity to evacuate – and that I have the most important things with me. My family is safe, my grad student was gracious enough to offer us a home to evacuate to, and things can be replaced. News from home is reporting a lot of trees are down and endless amounts of rain. We are hearing stories of flooded roads blocking reentry, petrol stations out of gas, and threat of water supply shutoffs due to lack of fuel. As strong as the urge is to want to return to reassure myself that everything is okay, the best thing for us is to stay put until it’s safe to return.
We’ve been hearing snippets of news about damage to the University and various pockets of flooding throughout town. I’m hoping beyond hope that this rain stops, emergency crews can get in, and we start to see the light at the end of this tunnel…
For those of you affected, please stay safe. We will get through this.
xoxo
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