Monday, October 10, 2016

The After Matth(ew)

What a weekend it was.  As you might have seen all over the news, Hurricane Matthew came roaring up the Southeast coast this weekend, which has made for quite a few days over the last week.  I actually stayed home from work sick on Tuesday after my birthday on Monday, and by the afternoon, my office decided that it was closing for the rest of the week.  It was actually a really weird waiting period because the storm was only moving 12-13 miles per hour.  We had so many days to prepare, and as people started evacuating on Tuesday (1.1 million people were under evacuation order - including us), we glued ourselves to the television and watched it hit Haiti, Cuba, and start towards The Bahamas.  By Thursday, we were so stir crazy.  Our hurricane shutters we up, so there was no natural light or fresh air coming inside, and we needed to do something.  Erika felt the same way, so we all headed down to the ghost town peninsula to check out all the prep.  I took all of these pictures of Charleston about 24 hours before the storm hit, and as you can see, it was a little eery.
We walked just over 2 miles along Rainbow Row, the Battery, and South of Broad, and surprisingly found one business, Carmella's dessert and wine bar, still open.  We refueled and walked close to another 2 miles, up to Calhoun Street, before heading our separate ways.  As of that time on Thursday, we thought that the hurricane would make landfall in Florida, but when it only skirted the coast on Friday morning and looked like a Category 3 hurricane would be making a direct hit in Charleston, we packed our bags (and the cats) and headed to Erika's house, about 30 minutes inland from here.  We are less than a mile from the Stono River, and according to storm surge maps, we could have been flooded in for days or weeks.  Luckily, it dropped down to a Cat 2 storm and hit during low tide, so there was not the same destruction there could have been.  Regardless, we got to have a fun overnight with our friends... I think the cats enjoyed it more than we (or Erika's cat) did.  
I am happy to report that the power is coming back, the waters are receding, curfews are over, and it looks like the state will be returning to a more normal schedule beginning tomorrow.  I could not be more thankful to our friends for taking us (and the cats!) in as we lived through our first hurricane as South Carolinians.

Linking up with Biana for Weekending today. 

24 comments:

kerri @ cheshire kat said...

so glad that you guys are safe! ugh that storm had me freaked on so many levels. so much uncertainty with the storms too! you just never know. glad things are coming back to normal. what eerie pics of the town though!

xoxo cheshire kat

Nikki @ makeupHER said...

Glad to hear you are all ok girl! Such a ghost town, but great pictures you captured!!

Ashley @ A Cute Angle said...

So glad you made it through and everyone is safe! Here's to a more cheerful week!

Kate at Green Fashionista said...

So so so glad you guys are safe! We were starting to get stir crazy too, but couldn't be more thankful that the storm wasn't as bad as predicted. Gorgeous pics of the town all quiet <3
Green Fashionista

Pamela {Sequins and Sea Breezes} said...

The anticipation of waiting for the storm to make landfall is almost worse than going through it. So glad you guys were safe and hopefully Charleston made it through without too much damage! We were definitely VERY lucky here in FL! <3, Pamela Sequins & Sea Breezes

Julie said...

I was happy to see you posting randoms throughout the weekend, knowing things were okay. Too bad houses don't have retractable hurricane shutters because then you'd be able to get them moving when need be.

Chesson | Magnolia+Main said...

Yay for surviving your first hurricane down here! I'm glad that y'all didn't get too much damage but holy cow, Charleston was such a ghost town right before the hurricane hit! I guess that's a good thing & people left like they were supposed to. Hope things get back to normal for y'all soon!

Rebecca Jo said...

Whew!!!! Glad thats over!

SMD @ lifeaccordingtosteph said...

I'm glad it was not as bad as it could've been!

Macy V said...

These photos are crazy to look at, I can only imagine how it felt actually walking around with it being so empty. I am so glad you were all okay and able to stay with friends while waiting things out. I hope this week is better for your sweet city <3

LHWinstead said...

Glad yall are safe!! I bet it was so weird seeing everything basically deserted - beautiful pics!

Brianne said...

I'm so glad that you are safe. Those pictures are eerie & beautiful.

a little bit of emily said...

So glad to hear you guys made it through safely!!

Jen said...

I am so glad that you are ok!

Unknown said...

So glad you are safe! Keeping Charleston in our prayers as the water recedes! :)

Carly said...

Definitely so eeirly seeing those pictures! My husband was in Charleston earlier in the week when they started talking about the evacuation and he said it was crazy with everyone trying to get earlier flights out. So glad you guys had somewhere somewhat close you could go to stay safe!

Ashley Lillis said...

I'm so glad that y'all weathered the storm ok, and you're right about Charleston being so eerie after everybody evacuated! It's always so crowded and so many people in the areas that you were walking around in.

Emily @ Martinis | Bikinis said...

Glad to hear you guys and the pets are safe! I was told with new construction homes, you don't need to board up the windows so we didn't because it sucks nailing into the pretty home but I get it's better to be safe than sorry!

Ellen Ross | Ask Away Blog said...

So frickin scary! glad you guys are okay!
XO Ellen from Ask Away
www.askawayblog.com

Erin LFF said...

I'm glad you guys had somewhere to go and that you're safe! Definitely eery pictures pre-hurricane!

Anonymous said...

Those pics are so cool, yet creepy! Glad yall were safe!

Unknown said...

What a great re-cap! And your photos capture just how eerie it all was.

Unknown said...

I'm so glad we didn't get hit as hard as we all thought. Not gunna lie, I was faaahhhreaking out in Camden that we hadn't done anything to protect our new house like you guys did, but luckily it all worked out!

Erin, Attention to Darling
www.attentiontodarling.com

Living Life With Joy said...

I'm so glad you guys stayed safe. I live a few hours from you and it was so freaky on Friday early morning and Saturday. The winds were crazy and the flooding and trees down were crazy. Luckily, our house held up really well and everyone I know is safe but the damage has been crazy to see all over SC and the other states.

Amy @ http://befilledwithj0y.blogspot.com/

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