A Visit From Hurricane "Hermine."

We had half-heartedly heard the weather alerts and the forecast for the possible route the recent Hurricane Hermine would take.  We first noticed the reports when Hermine was down south of South Florida.  Living in Florida we are accustomed to hurricanes coming relatively close to our area.  But, considering it had been 11 years since we had a brush with a hurricane we did not pay much attention.

Then, Hurricane Hermine moved on into the Gulf of Mexico, and on up past the center of Florida.  The forecasters began forecasting the storm would be coming directly through Tallahassee.  At that point we began to listen.

Sure enough, that storm came plowing right up through our area.  They say the center of the storm hit just about 30 miles East of the Tallahassee area,  sparing us more intense winds and rain.

This is the side yard the evening before the storm.

And, the front yard before the storm...

Everyone living in the path of a hurricane knows to secure anything that can blow away.  My husband turned over front and back porch rocking chairs and set the porch plants up against the wall so they would not blow away. 

He also took in outside chairs and put the trash cans securely inside the garage.

Looking down the hill in the below photo we see the pond.  Our biggest concern was that the pond would overflow with all the heavy rain that was forecast and flood the little guest house, not seen in the below photo.  But, fortunately the pond did not even overflow.

Living in Tallahassee we are about 30 miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico.  So as the storm came ashore it had all that land to cross before reaching us in the north Tallahassee area.  Therefore, we feel we were somewhat spared more severe damage.

The storm was mild by comparison.  This was a category I hurricane with 80 mile an hour sustained winds.    By the time the storm reached inland the winds must have subsided considerably.  But we still had a good bit of wind damage.

After the storm in the below photo the driveway was completely covered with debris.

There is some damage to the rooftop of this storage unit from this fallen pine tree limb.

And there were several large trees blown over in the back yard.  

We were lucky no trees fell on the house

This downed pine tree looks like the center could be lighter-wood.  We will investigate to be certain, but if it is, we would have enough lighter-wood for the fireplace for years,  and,  enough to share with all our neighbors.  The very center as seen in the below photo looks like lighter-wood.

Another downed tree in the back yard.  This one is an oak tree.

And then out across the front a very large pine tree fell across the fence and into the street.  We have no idea who came along and cut the tree out of the street, but we sure are glad they did.

This is the worst damage on our property because the tree took down several sections of fencing.

We went driving around later trying to see if anyone in our area had power because our whole neighborhood did not have power.  

The below business was closed as you can see.  Most businesses in the area were closed due to lack of power.  Unfortunately, there are still thousands of folks all over town who do not have power yet. Because of lack of power,  the schools in the area will not reopen on this coming Tuesday  as originally planned.

I saw this photo on the internet.  We heard that additional power crews from Gulf Power Company with an additional 150 experts will make a stop in Tallahassee and work in tandem with the City of Tallahassee until the power is completely restored.

Photo from the Internet

Gulf Power Company

I am so impressed by the additional help from many power companies from nearby communities and all of the above long line of folks coming into the Tallahassee area to help restore power to our town.

It amazes me all of the good people there are in this world.  Sometimes it just does not seem enough to say THANK YOU!

Wishing you many blessings and a Happy Labor Day,  this last official weekend of Summer, wherever you may be.