Hurricane Milton Part 2
Oct. 10th, 2024 04:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
taz_3910pm:
Right before bed, Jameson wanted to drain our pool one more time. By this time the wind was howling, the rain was sideways, and it was pretty dang scary outside. But we went out in it anyway, Jameson getting soaked as he engaged the pool pump.
Inground pools can overflow and flood your patio/house, so this was an important thing to do. We were dumping pool water into the yard, which isn't good, but it's better than the alternative.
When he was safely back inside we dried off (I'd gone out for moral support) and got in bed. We watched Midnight Mass as the wind howled outside, listening to debris hit the house and praying that the pool wouldn't flood us, the trees wouldn't fall, and a tornado wouldn't drop out of the sky onto our heads (This was a legitimate fear tonight. There were 20 confirmed tornado touchdowns.)
12:30am:
I was watching a power outage map. It turned redder and redder as the night went on.
Our county, Osceola, is the large pale green upside-down triangle there near the center. We were doing well.
We eventually fell asleep despite the storm.
Thursday 8:30am:
I woke up surprised at how quiet it was. Several times throughout the night I'd gotten up, from restlessness or to pee, and each time I made a quick round of the house to check that water hadn't come inside. I also checked the garage for water and for AC leaks, or "unwanted guests" in the form of reptiles or bugs that can slither inside. Everything was stable. The power was on.
I was up before Jameson, and went outside to assess damage.
We were incredibly lucky, I mean MIRACULOUSLY lucky.
(CLICK HERE to assess damage with me)
When I came back inside Jameson was up, and he did a circle of the house too.
We can't see how our roof is, but we think it's ok.
The only damage, then, is that I lost my second-largest banana tree that was starting to fruit (I'm not at all surprised or upset) and some of our grass may die off from all the chlorine water that was dumped on it.
And that's it.
We were INCREDULOUS to find we hadn't even lost any screens. That's absolutely unheard of. Losing screens is par for the course during a storm like this...ALL of our neighbors lost at least one. No idea how we were spared that. And my car is completely undamaged.
In other words, we lost absolutely nothing except maybe a day of work.
10:30am
Meanwhile, around 3 million people are without power this morning.
Every single friend I know in Florida, including people living minutes down the road from us, have lost power.
And the closer you get to the coasts the worse the damage is.
I have friends who can't go home right now because their neighborhoods are disaster areas, or their houses are flooded.
Wildly, in St. Lucie (a city located all the way across the state from where the hurricane hit, on the ATLANTIC coast) a tornado touched down and caused catastrophic damage, and death.
It was a hell of the storm, and damage is still being assessed.
11am:
I moved our patio furniture back, and put the plants back outside.
Responded to a lot of texts and messages from family and friends, and all of us FL people checking in on each other.
Ate breakfast and thought about how nice it was to have all of my food still edible.
Brushed my teeth and felt grateful for running water.
Practiced my Disney Christmas music, because we still have rehearsal tomorrow.
Disney Springs remains closed today, otherwise I’m sure I’d be asked to sell hats.
12:15pm:
My step-aunt called to tell me that her dad, my step-grandpa, has passed away.
He has been in declining health so it wasn’t a surprise, but I still find it incredibly odd that both my parents, and now a grandfather, have passed away during this same week in October. He lived in Georgia but died in Pennsylvania, so I’m not sure where or when the funeral will be or if I’ll be expected to attend. Questions for a later time.
1:30pm:
After lunch Jameson and I took a walk. Many couples were out doing the same, surveying damage or cleaning up their yards with rakes and leaf blowers. Damage throughout the neighborhood was minimal, so I didn’t take many pictures…we’ve all seen broken tree branches and storm debris, right? It's redundant.
Here is a house whose owners took the hurricane VERY seriously.
Here is our little lake, higher than I’ve ever seen it (but still nowhere near cresting.)
Otherwise it was a normal walk. We talked and tried not to slip on all the fallen acorns.
3pm:
Jameson got a call from Carnival, basically just to close out their interview process and confirm that he’s no longer interested in the job *at that pay rate.* I hope they’ll reach out again if/when they’re willing to afford him, or if a position with better pay opens up.
I heard from my boss at Main Street Philharmonic, we will have rehearsal tomorrow as planned. I’m grateful for some Mouse Money :p
The beat goes on.
------------------------------------------------------------
That's pretty much it.
We had a stressful night, wondering what would happen and whether we'd be safe as things crashed around outside. The wind was very scary. But ultimately, we rode it out so incredibly well.
I'm feeling emotionally drained, just because lack of sleep and worry over the hurricane, continuing to receive tour paperwork and rehearsal updates while going through a major weather event, and then having a relative pass away right after it was all over and in the same week that I'm remembering my mom and dad's deaths. It's just been...a lot. Like, I'm physically ok, and moving on with work and rehearsals and tour will probably be good. But for now I'm tired on a sort of spiritual level, and will have to investigate ways for replenishing that.
Thank you to everyone who checked in on us and looked out for us. We made it!
------------------------------------------------------------
And now, onward.
Friday: Disney rehearsal, probably making dinner for us, investigating ways to use all those mini-bananas (probably just banana bread.)
Saturday: The usual trombone practice, chores, or tour prep during the day, hat shop at night. Giving notice at the hat shop and we'll see how they take it. I decided to wait until they've made the new schedule so they'll be less inclined to just cut me lose with no further work.
Sunday: ???
Right before bed, Jameson wanted to drain our pool one more time. By this time the wind was howling, the rain was sideways, and it was pretty dang scary outside. But we went out in it anyway, Jameson getting soaked as he engaged the pool pump.
Inground pools can overflow and flood your patio/house, so this was an important thing to do. We were dumping pool water into the yard, which isn't good, but it's better than the alternative.
When he was safely back inside we dried off (I'd gone out for moral support) and got in bed. We watched Midnight Mass as the wind howled outside, listening to debris hit the house and praying that the pool wouldn't flood us, the trees wouldn't fall, and a tornado wouldn't drop out of the sky onto our heads (This was a legitimate fear tonight. There were 20 confirmed tornado touchdowns.)
12:30am:
I was watching a power outage map. It turned redder and redder as the night went on.
Our county, Osceola, is the large pale green upside-down triangle there near the center. We were doing well.
We eventually fell asleep despite the storm.
Thursday 8:30am:
I woke up surprised at how quiet it was. Several times throughout the night I'd gotten up, from restlessness or to pee, and each time I made a quick round of the house to check that water hadn't come inside. I also checked the garage for water and for AC leaks, or "unwanted guests" in the form of reptiles or bugs that can slither inside. Everything was stable. The power was on.
I was up before Jameson, and went outside to assess damage.
We were incredibly lucky, I mean MIRACULOUSLY lucky.
(CLICK HERE to assess damage with me)
When I came back inside Jameson was up, and he did a circle of the house too.
We can't see how our roof is, but we think it's ok.
The only damage, then, is that I lost my second-largest banana tree that was starting to fruit (I'm not at all surprised or upset) and some of our grass may die off from all the chlorine water that was dumped on it.
And that's it.
We were INCREDULOUS to find we hadn't even lost any screens. That's absolutely unheard of. Losing screens is par for the course during a storm like this...ALL of our neighbors lost at least one. No idea how we were spared that. And my car is completely undamaged.
In other words, we lost absolutely nothing except maybe a day of work.
10:30am
Meanwhile, around 3 million people are without power this morning.
Every single friend I know in Florida, including people living minutes down the road from us, have lost power.
And the closer you get to the coasts the worse the damage is.
I have friends who can't go home right now because their neighborhoods are disaster areas, or their houses are flooded.
Wildly, in St. Lucie (a city located all the way across the state from where the hurricane hit, on the ATLANTIC coast) a tornado touched down and caused catastrophic damage, and death.
It was a hell of the storm, and damage is still being assessed.
11am:
I moved our patio furniture back, and put the plants back outside.
Responded to a lot of texts and messages from family and friends, and all of us FL people checking in on each other.
Ate breakfast and thought about how nice it was to have all of my food still edible.
Brushed my teeth and felt grateful for running water.
Practiced my Disney Christmas music, because we still have rehearsal tomorrow.
Disney Springs remains closed today, otherwise I’m sure I’d be asked to sell hats.
12:15pm:
My step-aunt called to tell me that her dad, my step-grandpa, has passed away.
He has been in declining health so it wasn’t a surprise, but I still find it incredibly odd that both my parents, and now a grandfather, have passed away during this same week in October. He lived in Georgia but died in Pennsylvania, so I’m not sure where or when the funeral will be or if I’ll be expected to attend. Questions for a later time.
1:30pm:
After lunch Jameson and I took a walk. Many couples were out doing the same, surveying damage or cleaning up their yards with rakes and leaf blowers. Damage throughout the neighborhood was minimal, so I didn’t take many pictures…we’ve all seen broken tree branches and storm debris, right? It's redundant.
Here is a house whose owners took the hurricane VERY seriously.
Here is our little lake, higher than I’ve ever seen it (but still nowhere near cresting.)
Otherwise it was a normal walk. We talked and tried not to slip on all the fallen acorns.
3pm:
Jameson got a call from Carnival, basically just to close out their interview process and confirm that he’s no longer interested in the job *at that pay rate.* I hope they’ll reach out again if/when they’re willing to afford him, or if a position with better pay opens up.
I heard from my boss at Main Street Philharmonic, we will have rehearsal tomorrow as planned. I’m grateful for some Mouse Money :p
The beat goes on.
------------------------------------------------------------
That's pretty much it.
We had a stressful night, wondering what would happen and whether we'd be safe as things crashed around outside. The wind was very scary. But ultimately, we rode it out so incredibly well.
I'm feeling emotionally drained, just because lack of sleep and worry over the hurricane, continuing to receive tour paperwork and rehearsal updates while going through a major weather event, and then having a relative pass away right after it was all over and in the same week that I'm remembering my mom and dad's deaths. It's just been...a lot. Like, I'm physically ok, and moving on with work and rehearsals and tour will probably be good. But for now I'm tired on a sort of spiritual level, and will have to investigate ways for replenishing that.
Thank you to everyone who checked in on us and looked out for us. We made it!
------------------------------------------------------------
And now, onward.
Friday: Disney rehearsal, probably making dinner for us, investigating ways to use all those mini-bananas (probably just banana bread.)
Saturday: The usual trombone practice, chores, or tour prep during the day, hat shop at night. Giving notice at the hat shop and we'll see how they take it. I decided to wait until they've made the new schedule so they'll be less inclined to just cut me lose with no further work.
Sunday: ???
