Ike Came In The Back Door

**dhalltoyo** · 09-15-2008, 05:30 PM

Aletha and I watched with anticipation as Hanna moved up the East Coast. We had made plans to go to Emerald Isle, NC which is a barrier island.

We left on Saturday night about 10:30 pm. Upon our arrival in Emerald Isle the weather was a sunny 91 degrees. No signs of damage to the condo and the beach was intact.

I kept watching Ike as it made its way across the Atlantic. As Ike turned toward the Gulf of Mexico we hopped on a ferry and went out 23 miles to Orcacoke Island. It was a little warm, but we walked around town until about 7 pm and then sat on the bay at sunset in a little outdoor restaurant. At 10 pm we took the ferry back over to Cedar Island and got back into the car for the drive to the condo.

Friday evening was a great day up in New Bern, NC. The Sheraton Hotel/Marina has a really nice deck. We sat and listened to classic rock, you know...songs with lyrics that you can actually understand. We invited a couple to sit at our table with us. They were from Manchester, England. They come over twice a year and they are looking to retire here in the U.S. Ironic that nobody is looking to retire in Kenya, Iraq, Iran, India...etc.

Sunday morning we made our way back toward Ohio. The early morning forecast on the Weather Channel had predicted the remants of Ike to dump substantial amounts of rain in the Ohio Valley region. Aletha said, "That's good, the lawn could use a good soaking."

Our son Chris works the City of Moraine as a Recreational Assistant. He was asked to work on Sunday afternoon at the Civic Center near our home. About 2:30 pm he called us and said that here were trees being blown over in the park surrounding the Civic Center. I thought to myself, "Oh my, that old tree out back..." They sent everyone home from the Civic Center about 5:00pm. Chris called us when he arrived at house.

Yep! That old tree went down, but you couldn't have felled it with an axe any better than the storm. It fell away from the house, missed the power pole by 6 inches, missed our shed by 24 inches, missed the neighbor's house by 6 inches, caught a feeder power line running to a pole adjacent to us and pulled that pole down, but that pole missed out house too!

Chris had been parking his car in the driveway as we were gone and the placed down the street where he normally parks had a tree laying across the roofs of those cars parked in that spot. Had we been here...his car would have suffered severe damage.

I found one shingle missing from the roof and some siding that need to be refitted. We were very fortunate! It took me about 3 hours to get everything put back into its proper place.

Ike finally made its long circular journey into Ohio. Winds were clocked at 76mph. That is a Cat 1 hurricane! Ike literally came in the back door and hammered us.

Between the Dayton Mall and the house (about 5 miles) I saw over a hundred trees downs. Many homes still without power.

**OntarioVanMan** · 09-15-2008, 07:02 PM

Glad you and your family are ok....

**x06col** · 09-15-2008, 08:29 PM

Yepper, i'm typing on generator power myself, from the hoosier state. Had a couple gusts at 80 they newsie people say, an I kinda believe em. One bout tipped me over. Power company says it could be wed or thurs.

**Tom911** · 09-15-2008, 08:40 PM

I live in Madison, Indiana and this area has major damage from the high winds. several large trees blown over onto historic homes. Some areas are still without power and may be toward the end of the week when it's restored.
I was out of town when the wind hit and my power was on when I returned today.

**pelicn** · 09-15-2008, 08:44 PM

David glad to hear that you suffered minimal damage. By the way.....

Friday evening was a great day up in New Bern, NC. The Sheraton Hotel/Marina has a really nice deck.

You were about 8 miles from my house. Cross the Neuse River bridge and head east on NC55 2 stop lights turn left

**flattop40** · 09-15-2008, 09:21 PM

Glad all is well.

Rode out its wrath in Matthews MO.

Woke up about 4 am sunday morning to the van just a rocking away. Saw part of the J's pump awning come crashing down and part of their road sign fly from the front all the way back to truck parking. Was totally amazed at the power.

Then to think what the Galviston and Huston area endured is hard to imagine.

Just goes to show you that with all of our technology and acheivements as humans all mother nature has to do is flick her finger and it puts us back into place where we belong.

We will NEVER have the power to control the weather or our climate and anyone who thinks so is just foolish.

**dhalltoyo** · 09-17-2008, 01:29 AM

Pelicn,

We had been to New Bern before, but the music on the deck was a first for us. I'll be looking for loads headed that way! It is a great place to relax.

Flattop40,

That "J" is in a very flat area. The wind can really whip things around in those areas. On a side note, that place has the worst mosquitoes I have ever seen! I was putting my window screens on in their parking lot and the doors were only open for a couple of minutes. When I closed them behind me I had 20-30 hungry mosquitoes trying to attack me. I laid under my bunk with a flashlight and killed almost everyone of them. I used the light to attract them and them I would grab them with my hand.

x06col - tom911 - ovm,

We consider ourselves to be very fortunate. Folks all around us had severe damage to their homes and vehicles. DP&L still has 180,000 customers without power. You can't find ice, batteries or regular gas here in the Dayton area. (Not easily that is). Many stations have fuel in the ground, but no electricity to run their pumps. Aletha's co-worker from Sears has been without power for 3 days. She called us on her cell last night to ask if we had any extra batteries. (She knew i was a Boy Scout). We never lost power, so we gave her all that we had, plus a nifty L.E.D. lantren that will run a very long time on 4 "D" cell batteries.

P.S. Thanks to all who have written or called us and inquired about our status.

**jaminjim** · 09-17-2008, 07:22 AM

At hour 48 with no power (and one real cold shower) we finally found ice and fresh bottle of propane. Yep hour 53 we had our power back on. On a side note we were able to cook a great pizza on the grill.

I have three no make that two trees in the yard now. The crazy thing was the 60-65 mile an hour winds were not gusts.

**dabluzman1** · 09-17-2008, 09:29 AM

Sunday around 9pm the lights went out, so we ran an extension cord from the truck to the garage, hooked up the dvd projector, started the APU,
popped popcorn in the truck and watched movies until wee hours waiting on the electricity
to come back on..................... finally came back on Tues. morn.
other than tree branches no major damage to us in Bedford Oh.