I have had the pleasure of making a lot of awesome friends from all over the world due to my geocaching and my photography. As a result we are getting a lot of expressions of concerns about our safety due to the massive storm known as Hurricane Florence.
This post is intended to report what we expect to happen, and to allay any fears.
First off, thanks everyone for your concerns. It is heart warming to know we're thought of! It is appreciated.
So this is the current weather map as I write this post:
It looks nasty. However we are well inland, and the hurricane is expected to take almost two more days to really impact us. By then it will have burned off most of its wind, leaving a lot of rain.
So we expect to get wet.
This is the current projected track:
So the main threat to our house is flooding. We have a creek in back of our house that tends to flood when we get a lot of rain. That creek has never threatened the house however, or even come close.
We are expecting 6-10" of rain, over 48 hours, starting Saturday afternoon. This is a lot, but it is within the realm of "we've had that much before", at least since the 10 years we've lived in this house. So I don't expect much damage, except some errosion at the creek bank, which is a long way from the house.
Even worst case expectations where we get twice that rain, the way our house is built (into the side of the hill, basement walks out to the back yard, main floor walks out to the front yard), the floods would have to rise a full 4 feet higher than its ever been before it causes is any monumental harm to our belongings (benefits of having never really finished the basement, and the parts that are finished could really use a refresh anyway).
Our current risk to our lifestyle at present is an extended loss of power, which we are prepared for. Lots of batteries and non-perishable foods etc. It's also autumn, so the outside temperatures do not range into life threatening on either scale (lows 60s, high 70s) so we should be able to survive without power for many many days.
I'll keep you all posted as to our status as the weekend progresses, but I expect it won't be exciting. All the action is at the coast, so please direct your prayers, concerns, and charitable donations to the east.
