Cape Hatteras Light in by-gone years
Photo courtesy of flicker.com
This Friday post will be a bit different. I've been watching the path of Hurricane Erin with interest. Years of living in Florida taught me to check the National Hurricane Center every day, even though I no longer live there. After all, hurricanes that make landfall in Florida can easily make a turn north and sashay into Tennessee! And they have!
Erin has specifically caught my attention because of a certain area - Hatteras Island. Many, many years ago, my then-husband was stationed at the Coast Guard station there and I lived there for a few months. The names Buxton and Hatteras, and Rodanthe, and Okracoke are very familiar to me.
It can be a "wild and wooly" place and hard rain and wind can flood streets and bring in waves that even the most expert surfers stay away from. We were warned when we first arrived that a few weeks before, a "world-class" surfer had drowned off the coast due to rip current. The 6-month experience living there was not pleasant but that was because of personal issues and not the area. I'd never lived so close to the ocean, and I remember the scent of sea air whenever I stepped outside.
I was a couple months from delivering my second baby when we arrived which held its own drama. Apparently, there was not adequate hospital support or medical doctors where we were and so pre-natal visits required a 2-hour drive to Elizabeth City, N.C. And it was Coast Guard policy that if a dependent went into labor, they were taken to the E. City Hospital by ambulance. Due to distance though, my obstetrician decided to induce me so I never had that adventure.
We lived in a teeny-tiny house, more like a cottage, that had sand for a yard. During my time there, I visited such places as the Kill Devil Hills sand dunes where the Wright Brothers first took to the skies. I traveled to Okracoke to see my parents off as they boarded the ferry there after a visit with us. I visited Hatteras Light on several occasions and climbed to the top once. This majestic light built in 1870 was moved to a different spot in 1999 due to sand erosion.
The personal unpleasantness of living there has removed a lot of memories. I don't even remember where we bought our groceries. But I do remember when the summer tourist season began and all the restaurants raised their prices.
I remember driving down the main drag of the island with high dunes and sea oats almost obscuring our view of the ocean. So, when I read of the effects of Erin, I mourn. As of now, the main artery is closed, covered with water and sand. The dunes are all but gone.
Photo courtesy of msn.com
This area is not a stranger to hurricanes, one named Dorian making landfall as a Cat 1 at Cape Hatteras. It caused wide-spread damage and evacuations of Dare County. Isaias, in 2020 made landfall near there, causing 77b mph sustained winds in Avon, where I had lived.
A few months ago my daughter in law and her sister spent a week there in a house built way high on stilts. As far as she knows, it's still standing, although others have not bene so lucky.
I pray for those with homes and businesses there - for them to be able to return soon and that there will be something standing when they get there. But even with the mess, it could have been a lot worse.
My heart and prayers go out to anyone affected by all this.
Have a good weekend, everyone.
