Normally, this would be the end of this post. However, this year, things didn't go exactly according to plan. This because of an unwelcome guest named Irene.
As the concern mounted over her arrival, our local government officials took the cautious route and declared a state of emergency early to help the state prepare. This decision lead to the cancellation of what was to be only the second day of school on Friday.
The rains began Saturday afternoon as we made final preparations around the house: moving trash bins into the garage, tying down deck furniture, and gassing up the generator. At this point, the eye of the storm was still far south of us; just making landfall in North Carolina.
The wind and the rain increased steadily through the course of the day. During this time, Alex kept a weary eye on the radar providing us regular updates, Mom made cookies, and I worked to finish the girl's bedroom (more on that soon).
Around 8:30 PM, as I was showering the drywall dust off myself, the power went out. Shrouded in darkness, I raced to rinse and dry, then dashed downstairs to fire up the generator. My haste was due to the fact that the sump had already started running regularly and we had 12 more hours of storm to weather. I didn't want to lose my 90% finished basement before I had a chance to finish finishing it.
Surprisingly, around 9:30 PM, the power came back on. Thank you, Delmarva Power.
This was about the same time that the tornado warnings began rolling in. Emergency broadcasts on WSTW and text messages from WDEL first warned of a twister on the ground in Lewis. Then one west of Dover. When warnings for New Castle county finally came in, specifically for Wilmington and Stanton, I took up sentinel duty, watching the skies for anything swirly.
About 10 PM, after the kids were already bedded down, lightening flashed and the trees and the rain suddenly blew horizontally. I called to Julie to grab the kids. We ran upstairs, woke some and carried others, dragged the dog by the collar, and ran to the basement.
Conditions eased after 10-15 minutes. But with the uncertainty of how many more warnings could be issued and not wanting to keep the kids up all night, running up and down the stairs, we ultimately decided to setup camp and leave them there for the duration.
After that, around midnight, Julie laid down on the couch and tried to get some shut eye. As for myself, I headed into the living room with the intention of staying awake in-case we needed to fall back to the generator in a hurry. I passed the time reading The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, playing Angry Birds and WordzUp, and checking the radar and Facebook.
The eye passed us between 2-3 AM. The sun came up around 6 AM. The rains ceased. And I went to bed finally.
By God's grace, we took no damage to the house. In fact, the whole neighborhood fared very well with only one tree that fell and that was on Sunday morning from the winds on the back side of the storm.
And despite the dodged bullet, the kids were off of school on Monday, too.
