Tropical Storm Fay

Last year, hurricance season in FL was pretty tame. This year, however, we knew things were shaping up for a differnt story. Statistically, it was time for our location in FL to get slammed with a major hurricane. So Carly and I put together our emergency kits and started working with the landlord to figure out his hurricane plan. It all would soon come to good use.

Tues - Pre-Fay Backyard

Tues - Pre-Fay Frontyard

On Tuesday, 19 Aug 2008, TS Fay had zig-zaged from the Atlantic, over Cuba, turned and veered back across the penninsula from west to east, and our home in Merritt Island began to get some rain. The feeder bands on the right side of the TS are the worst, so it was pretty heavy rains. By that afternoon, we were getting nearly constant tornado warnings from our weather radio. The base had cancelled work, so I was at home with Carly and Cecilia. No big deal, we just waited and watched the rain. Our biggest concern was the winds, but since Fay was only a TS, we weren't too concerned. We had put everything outside up, and although we didn't have shutters, we felt pretty safe. Our neighbors, Ron and Candy Jones, had shuttered up, and offered us accomodation in Ft Jones. We declined - but said we might be over later.

As the tornado in the feeder bands continued, Carly and I decided to hole up in the Fort for a while (since the tornados form suddenly and unpredictably, and we didn't have shutters on). We headed over, and Candy and Cecilia had a blast. I spent my time with their son, Riley, making sweet paper airplanes. We ate dinner with them, then ventured back through the downpour to our house for the night. The weather forecasters were saying that Fay had stalled out over us, and was scooping moisture from the Gulf Stream and dumping it on us. And it rained.

The next morning we woke, to rain. It rained for the morning, but let up for a bit while the eye was over us. That wasn't very long lasting, though, and by the afternoon, it was in full force again.

The Eye - 11:15 AM, Weds 20 Aug 08

The Rain Kicks Up - Weds Afternoon

At 11 PM, Carly was thinking about taking a nap. Before she went down, I looked out the front and noticed our street had flooded. I couldn't tell how bad due to the downpour, so I suited up in a jacket and my goloshes, and ventured out. The start to a long saga.

Weds Night - the Flooded Street

While I was outside, I saw my neighbor Ron trying to trench his yard, so I went over to say hey. Turns out his house was starting to take water through a flooded back porch. I made sure Carly was safe back at home and then grabbed my wet vac. Thus began many long hours of wet vacing, mopping, wringing, and doing everything that we possibly could to keep the waters out of Ron and Candy's house. I took a break around 3 AM to put the stuff in our garage up on blocks, and then to do the same to as much furniture in our house as I could.

Weds Night - the Back Porch

By 6 AM, we were fighting a loosing battle at Ft Jones. Water was seeping up from the foundation and every room in their house had taken water. It was coming in faster than we could wet vac. And then I got the call from Carly that water was seeping through the grout in our tiles in a few places. I packed up and came right over, and prepped for the water that never came up.

Thurs Morn - the Floodwaters

As the dawn broke, it revealed a subdivision underwater. We were still supposed to get a minimum of eight more inches of rain before nightfall. Fay was still lingering over us, dumping all of her rain right on top of us. We decided enough was enough, and it was time to get our family safely out.

Thurs Morn - Evacuation