Monday, September 27, 2004
Hurricane Smash Puny Humans!
Jeanne has officially passed us by now, and I got a chance to assess our damages due to the storm. All of the repairs I made to the screen porch came undone, and will need to be done again. We lost a section of the aluminum paneling that covers the roof edge. Although bent, I think I can put it back up. By far our worst damage was to our sycamore tree in the front, which lost its top seven or eight feet in the high winds:
Later in the day Parker and I went out on an explore to see damage in other parts of the county. Compared to Frances, the damage and flooding were relatively slight. The retaining pond that had the most flooding in Frances had a siphon truck there to immediately transfer run-off into waiting transport tankers. The biggest damage we saw was in Micanopy, which has a heavy canopy of old oaks that intermesh with their power lines, and caused many, many lines to fall.
We also went down to Payne’s Prairie. Although they would not let us on the trails due to flooding, we went to the overlook to see what we could see. At first Parker did not want to walk out on the pier, as he said he was afraid of the alligators. When I told him I did not see any alligator, he explained to me that “Alligators underwater”.
We did finally see an alligator, which Parker then complained was too far away. We also saw an enormous water moccasin, which, although about seven feet straight down, was still too close for my tastes.
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