FAY

Good Morning Campers!!

It's a soggy good morning this morning...Fay has come and gone but boy did she leave her mark....I have never seen such wind and rain.not even during the hurricanes 4 years ago....not to mention a tornado passed through here and I got to experience that too....I am lucky that I am only dealing with minor flooding...one wall of my garage sits under ground level and I guess the ground is so wet that the water is seeping in along the foundation..it is not that much..not even inches but just that small amount caused a significant mess....I had some boxes on the floor and the water seeped up in them...I have since moved them and Ryan blew away the water with the blower but the smell is awful..just a damp musty smell..I can only imagine what it's like for the people who are under 4-5 feet of water....we lost power on and off for about 12 hours..only for minutes at a time though..the longest being about an hour...and the pool liner caved in...just too much pressure from all the rain..it came away at the sides....it had a small area that was coming away anyway and the storm just finished it off...so I have a deep green pond instead of a pool at the  moment... :-(  Again though it is nothing compared to what some have endured ...the pool liner can be replaced....most of Fay's damage to the area came in the form of flooding from 4 days of continual rain...there was some damage from trees being uprooted and falling on power lines, cars etc... 3 people lost their lives by going into the surf....1 person was killed when a tree fell on their car...one of the old peoples homes downtown had to be evacuated because of flooding..the residents were taken out in boats...the tornado that went through here went along the St Johns river...I saw the warning on TV that it was in this area..and because of the rain I couldn't hear much so I went and stood on the front step and that's when I felt it..there was the "roaring" sound they warn you about and then this weird feeling of pressure..like the air was sucked out of the house..then a very intense wind and roar and pressure all at once as it passed by down the river....all I can say is I am glad I wasn't in it's direct path...they say this was a water spout and not even a "real" tornado and that if it had touched down over land it would have been ten times as bad....since Fay moved on we have still had lingering rain and storms which hasn't helped us dry out..it is really soggy here still...just makes it miserable to try and do anything....

I am just grateful to be here and writing about it all... I hope you all have a great week ...

L