Tornados, Tropical Storms, & Hurricanes...

Our little town in Northeast Florida took quite a beating this past fall. We had a tornado touch down right in the middle of town. It picked up & flipped over a tractor trailer that was driving on the main road through town, unfortunately the tractor trailer was flipped onto another car. Thankfully neither driver was injured just shaken up obviously. The tornado did quite a bit of damage in a couple of neighborhoods, an industrial park & to lots of trees. The only fatality from the tornado came in the aftermath of clean-up when a local landscaper & tree remover was crushed by a damaged tree he was removing. It was a very sad & emotional loss for the whole town.

Not too long after the tornado, Tropical Storm Hermine headed our way. School was of course canceled as the storm approached & we prepared our supplies...

One of my neighbors made this meme out of a photo of the boys, lol...

Thankfully the he only damage we sustained 

was a few pieces of roofing came off the boys' playhouse

The boys kept calm with headphones & their tablets.

They are not huge fans of thunder & lightening so when it starts we make sure these are close by!

Well we just couldn't end hurricane season without an actual hurricane!!! Hurricane Matthew paid a visit to most of the eastern coast of Florida & we were no exception! 

Donna & I have weathered our fair share of hurricanes so we know what to load up on as far as getting through the storm & what we may need after depending on the extent of damage & power loss. When trapped inside with 3 boys for & undetermined amount of time, you stock up on beer, lots of beer! You can't forget snacks & easy foods that don't require cooking & won't spoil if you lose power, peanut butter & jelly, chips, fruit, nuts, & bread. There was water & batteries & such too.

After hurricane Charlie in 2004, we didn't have power for a while. Luckily my dad kept 2 propane tanks on hand for the grill so he was able to cook & use up the meat that would have spoiled in the fridge & freezer. So I bought a couple bags of charcoal & as much ice as our freezer could hold.

supplies...

the ugly face of the storm :(

My cousin was trying to find us on the map...

not my photo but a great shot of the storm rolling in

I managed to get get dinner cooked just before we lost power for the night,

dinner by toy lantern light, lol

The boys were a little nervous about not having electricity so they all piled in our bed for the night,

Kellan burrows under the pillows & blankets to sleep, he's under there...

We worked on halloween projects to keep the boys busy inside

It was a day or 2 after the storm passed before they could get power restored & the bridge to the island opened back up. Someone local that rode out the storm on the island posted this photo from the beach. I was pretty anxious to take the boys out to treasure hunt. They are pretty obsessed with finding sharks teeth & cool shells. There is always a good bit of both along with starfish & sand dollars too left behind on the shores after a hurricane.

I was a bit surprised by what we found when we finally got out to the beach. The locals had already returned most living creatures back to the water & clean-up was well underway. I didn't expect to see most of the boardwalks in piles & telephone poles washed up on shore. There were also a lot of nails & building debris in the sand.

Luckily the sand dunes protected most of the homes in our area. We didn't suffer any damage to our house inland nor did most of our neighbors. There were lots of trees down, we lost power for 10 hours but that was minimal compared to others who were out for days. We're very fortunate to have come through one more storm unscathed & grateful for that!