Hurricane Helene

Photo taken by our pool cleaner of pool he had
serviced, not in our neighborhood.

Hi everyone, I just want to tell you that though Hurricane Helene caused major damage and destruction and death throughout the southeast US, we’re okay. I bought my house in a non-flood zone just so I wouldn’t have to evacuate with big dogs.  This time, my purchase seemed not just convenient, but like a miracle.

Even though my neighborhood is only 2 miles from the Gulf of Mexico and is only 12' above sea level, we had no flooding or storm surge.  We had a bit of rain and wind. Didn’t lose power, didn’t have to shut off the sewer system the way some places had to, due to old pipes not being built to withstand a storm of this magnitude. No road flooding. No trees downed. No houses destroyed. No deaths.

I have to watch the news, just like everyone else since I didn't see anything personally, to learn what this storm has done. Apparently due to some geological/geographic/meteorological or whatever combination, this one small neighborhood was not effected. BTW, the news media refers to my area as "Pinellas County" and "Tampa Bay".

We count our blessings and make our donations to the Red Cross and other charities to help the first responders.

Photo taken by our pool cleaner of pool he had 

serviced, not in our neighborhood.

Dog owners place the collars of their deceased dogs
 on the railing of this bridge--the "Rainbow Bridge"-- in NC. 
Unfortunately the bridge was washed away in the storm.

Our neighbor, Dave, lives only 2 miles from us but is adjacent to the water of the Gulf. The surge water came to his shoulder height (you can see the high water mark on the wall). This is a museum dedicated to preserving artifacts of the Tocabaga Indians; the glass display cases were smashed but most of the artifacts were salvaged.