Thoughts and prayers for our Carolina friends
#51
Senior Member
Hello,
like Ken said, I am about 15 from the sea but it’s the creeks and rivers that really do the flooding. Had a fantastic day on the bike roaming around. Need that drop bar hybrid for this!
Family is on their way home! Bikes out of the house and dinner is waiting. Well, one project still under construction in the sun room.
like Ken said, I am about 15 from the sea but it’s the creeks and rivers that really do the flooding. Had a fantastic day on the bike roaming around. Need that drop bar hybrid for this!
Family is on their way home! Bikes out of the house and dinner is waiting. Well, one project still under construction in the sun room.
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RVA getting more rain now than during Florence. Same for the rest of the state I think. The VA Tidewater area might be in trouble by the end of the week.
#56
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#57
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I'm 60 miles & Law in Jacksonville is about 15. Two guys really under the gun for this storm that Law & I were going to reach out to for a possible bike ride are @M_Wales in Cape Carteret and @machinist42 in Wilmington. If you have power & internet, how'd you guys fare?
Doing great.. Power came back yesterday and all if fine here. Went for a short ride today to see the damage and we were very lucky...
Thanks for asking...
Mark
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Glad to know.
I do know that the tower windows at New River will bow in at about 80mph winds, and rattle pretty good at 100mph winds.
I've not heard from anyone at Surf City, Topsail, or West Onslow, Hampstead, down into Brunswick County, etc. Very little news out of Southport.
By now, some of the rivers are cresting, and I wonder about the Tar, Neuse, and Cape Fear.
I do know that the tower windows at New River will bow in at about 80mph winds, and rattle pretty good at 100mph winds.
I've not heard from anyone at Surf City, Topsail, or West Onslow, Hampstead, down into Brunswick County, etc. Very little news out of Southport.
By now, some of the rivers are cresting, and I wonder about the Tar, Neuse, and Cape Fear.
#60
Senior Member
I'd be very surprised if Tidewater doesn't see at least 2 or 3 more of these "500 year storms" in the next 30 years. Gonna need a new timeline, alright. @RobbieTunes I don't think it's really about corruption in one party or the other, or even both; it's about looking the other way and thinking positive thoughts. It's about ignoring the data and continuing on the same old way as we always done 'er. Beachfront owners hoping for the best. In other words, "Thoughts & Prayers."
Yeah, sorry about that. My point was more of rhetorical one, rather than political. My point was that over the past few years the phrase "thoughts & prayers" has been repeated so consistently, publicly, automatically and helplessly in the face of national tragedies it has become the verbal version of a shrug these days. It has become meaningless. Or worse, a real insult to fellow humans we could help, by coming up with some action plan to make these thoughts and prayers less needed in the future. Fellow humans who may deserve better from us. I guess I shouldn't expect my fellow man to think very far into the future.
@oddjob2 Honest, I'm not meaning to pick on you for your choice of words. A lot of us speak in platitudes a lot of the time. But... you... triggered me buddy
Yeah, sorry about that. My point was more of rhetorical one, rather than political. My point was that over the past few years the phrase "thoughts & prayers" has been repeated so consistently, publicly, automatically and helplessly in the face of national tragedies it has become the verbal version of a shrug these days. It has become meaningless. Or worse, a real insult to fellow humans we could help, by coming up with some action plan to make these thoughts and prayers less needed in the future. Fellow humans who may deserve better from us. I guess I shouldn't expect my fellow man to think very far into the future.
@oddjob2 Honest, I'm not meaning to pick on you for your choice of words. A lot of us speak in platitudes a lot of the time. But... you... triggered me buddy
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My bikes: 1970`s Roberts - 1981 Miyata 912 - 1980`s Ocshner (Chrome) - 1987 Schwinn Circuit - 1987 Schwinn Prologue - 1992 Schwinn Crosspoint - 1999 Schwinn Circuit - 2014 Cannondale Super Six EVO
My bikes: 1970`s Roberts - 1981 Miyata 912 - 1980`s Ocshner (Chrome) - 1987 Schwinn Circuit - 1987 Schwinn Prologue - 1992 Schwinn Crosspoint - 1999 Schwinn Circuit - 2014 Cannondale Super Six EVO
#61
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The Heart Of Flo
I'm 60 miles & Law in Jacksonville is about 15. Two guys really under the gun for this storm that Law & I were going to reach out to for a possible bike ride are @M_Wales in Cape Carteret and @machinist42 in Wilmington. If you have power & internet, how'd you guys fare?
Cats, Gwendolyn and John, (Jack), are happy, fuzzy and fat, and no longer frightened by rainfall or thunderstorms.
Bikes are fine and entirely undamaged.
I am functioning within normal parameters.
We live on Trails End Road, I have the hats to prove it. I'm 500 feet from the water. There's a road sign outside my bedroom window which reads: "Road Ends 500 Feet". We are maybe a mile from where Flo made landfall, sideways distance. The eyewall lasted about two and a half hours. The weather station 150 meters from my location recorded 95 mph winds for two and a half hours, with gusts up to 135. Fun times! I live in what is called a "cottage" here, but FEMA calls a mobile home or trailer. We are almost 30 feet above sea level, at the crest of the largest hump around here. everything drains down. I have a couple of two hundred year old oaks flanking me, but only a few branches to put out for the pickup.
The eye arrived around 7 am and my first thought was which bike to take out for a ride. I went outside, as did everyone up and down the road who stayed. There was too much debris and too many downed power line and trees on the road for a respectable ride. Also, the eyewall was only at the end of the street, so there was that? It was moving at around 2 mph at that point. Trails End is a half a mile long road. The eye was over us for maybe four hours. Then, there followed four days of Flo.
I've been riding around. Monday evening was perfect. No cars. Well, few cars. One really effective traffic calming device is a tree teetering at an angle over a roadway.
Now, only a few grocers are open for very truncated hours, so the parking lots are full, with lines to enter. I was well provisioned but am running low on Tanzanian Peaberry, so went on a coffee quest. (I hand grind and cold brew in a French press, then decant a cup into a small copper clad Revere pan, then blast the bottom with a Mapp brazing torch for about a minute. It's my standard power outage technique.) Getting to and in the store is greatly facilitated by use of a bicycle, especially one which is C&V. No banks are open. All the ATMs are depleted of cash. No grocer gives cash back. Pretty much everything except Waffle House, a FEMA favorite, is closed. Yet life goes on. I've been through many of these, but though the damage is not as severe as others, the humans here are more shell shocked than I've ever witnessed. I've seen this look before: the glazed eyes, the spastic movements, the nervous speech patterns. Some folk are simply not suited to be in the sh*t? It'll be a few Carolina Blue days before life returns to anything approximating normal here. I suspect it's bad elsewhere. I don't know. I haven't watched the news or read the news or heard the news. I couldn't leave this street until Monday. My cell tower was down until today too.
One sign of healing; people are cutting the downed trees in their yards and piling them roadside, sometime in stacks that dwarf their home, like an enraged spouse putting their duplicitous partner's belongings curbside. It's part of the healing process, but I wish they would not put them in the scant few bike lanes we have. Almost ran into one tonight on Waltmoor, and I travel well lighted, even as I flaunt the mandatory curfew. Someone has to feed the feral cat colonies.
Thank you for your concern and interest! I really wanted to either ride a bike to the mostly intact dock and photograph it against the approaching eyewall, or attempt my 100 km on the Falcon for the Clunker Challenge in the eye. I feel such the disappointment for letting down the community. So it goes, or doesn't.
(My repaint (by the original owner, a professional race car/hotrod painter), "Salmon" or "Coral" (it's pink!), '74 Maserati MT-1 would have looked stunning against the grey trailing eyewall! <sigh emoji>)
p.s. Trader Joe's and Whole Foods still closed, I did find a sack of whole bean Hawaiian at Publix, on sale and with a coupon, on the bottom shelf hidden away. So, a successful day!
p.p.s. I only personally knew one guy who died, Sunday, so that's not too bad a toll? I may sound insensitive, but with the eyewall parked on us for so long, I was expecting a much higher body count.
#62
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2wd
Another really good shop who was right in the bullseye is Two Wheeler Dealer in Wilmington. I think you said you knew Jim the owner when you had Wilmington in your territory. Hopefully they came through OK, they're right in town off South College Rd. so I wouldn't think flooding would be a concern.
https://www.bikesarefun.com/
https://www.bikesarefun.com/
I'll likely head by there Friday or Saturday, and report back with pictures. They may have power by then, and reopen.
#63
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I made it ok but we hàve a lot of destruction, it is worse than Matthew. Spent the last couple of days helping people pull out ruined furniture and hauling junk away. Rode my Univega Nuovo Sport around to survey damage because there is a lot of junk on the road ànd Pasela's are more durbale. Roads flooded, destroyed, bridges and railroad tracks out. Two people in town died and a HS kid is fighting for his life after a tree fell on him.
#64
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Power, internet, and cell were restored earlier today, Wednesday. I'd estimate at least half the area is still wanting these services; I really have no idea. I feel fortunate. I only personally knew one guy who died, Sunday, so that's not too bad a toll? I may sound insensitive, but with the eyewall parked on us for so long, I was expecting a much higher body count.
Monday
Wednesday
THURSDAY higher still, can't see around corner
SATURDAY AM Highest yet but I guess it crested sometime overnight, you can see from the water line it's finally on the way down.
Bueller, Bueller, Bueller.....
Last edited by Deal4Fuji; 09-23-18 at 09:54 AM.