July 8th, 2024
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Personal Story ~ Safety Tips ~ Expert Advice ~ DIY Videos ~ WorkAway Photos
A few days ago, Tropical Storm Debby came through the Gulf Coast as a Category 1 hurricane, hitting the West Coast of Florida around Deadman Bay (Steinhatchee, FL). It’s now downgraded to a tropical storm and after swirling around in the Atlantic Coast off Charleston, SC, it’s now returned to land passing through North Carolina and Virginia and is expected to continue moving up the East Coast of America. The largest impact has been post-storm flooding.
Over the past two weeks I’ve been transcribing an interview related to a journalist who braved Hurricane Beryl, but can’t even finish it before another Hurricane is here and another is brewing already! 1 2
On Monday, July 6th, the first day of the new school year was canceled along with a training I was supposed to attend (This has reminded me of one of the many reasons I choose to homeschool!). I’d just laid down to settle in for the night after two days of semi-anxiously watching for tornadoes and high-speed winds. Normally, there are only some downed trees, limbs or outdoor items thrown around the yard, but the worst of it was past according to advisories and from the looks of things. We could finally start letting our guard down and not be up and down during the night, losing sleep over checking on things and staying alert.
Then I heard a strange hum coming from my front yard… The sound of electricity amping up, but knowing I didn’t have any large electric appliances in the front yard, questioned what on earth it could be. Then I heard it again and it started pulsating, so I got up to investigate. As soon as I got up I saw light radiating from behind the curtain and immediately knew what was happening.
Earlier that day I’d taken a photo of a tall pine tree in our yard that had already been leaning slightly from past storms and noted it would probably be uprooted if things got worse. Since “the worst was over”, I dismissed it. Sure enough though, I pulled back the curtain and sparks were flying everywhere as the tree fell on the electric pole, right on top of the transformer box. They were both on fire and being afraid the tree would continue falling towards the house, bringing the fire down on our small single-wide, I yelled for my son to run to the neighbor’s “right now!”, since he was closest to the door.
By the time I got to the door, he’d opened it, was ready to run out, and was watching the largest sparkler we’d ever seen. I told him to wait, and in a few seconds I had to decide if it was worth taking a chance on the ground being electrified or the tree crashing on us or power lines falling, but it still seemed better than getting stuck in the house with no one else even aware of what was happening to help us.
So he ran on and about 10 seconds later as I attempted to call for help it exploded and went out, causing power outages for us, our neighbors and a total of 20 houses on the circuit. With the fire out, it gave me a little time to message our family group since the first call didn’t go through, grab clothes and my then less-packed essentials bag. But, then in the pitch dark, I couldn’t see if the tree was still falling or anything else. I realized I’d left my car keys but didn’t want to chance going back in (again, mostly fearing ground electricity.)
This is not our video, but may give you a really close idea of what it was like:
Thankfully, we were safe from harm. The tree didn’t fall further (later realized it was falling to the side instead of toward us) and once the transformer was zapped, the fire went out in the rain. We stayed elsewhere for the night and the electric company got the power back on for everyone a lot faster than in some cases. As of today, we still have to duck under some lines right outside our font door that are literally being held by a twig (not even sure how!) and waiting to be fixed.
Fallen Pine on Electric Pole
Pictures from the next morning:
I’ve thanked God for all of the little ways it could have gone worse, but didn’t, and it’s made me realize how much more distressing it must be for those facing worse damages and flooding. Still, it was pretty intense for those few minutes and it taught me how quickly things can get (potentially) deadly and how little time you have in the moment to react, respond, and make the right decisions.
For that reason, here are A Few Tips (lessons learned!) for staying safe in such an event:
- Best case scenario – Have any compromised trees or other structures professionally removed as soon as possible. Wet grounds make for soggy foundations, so even what’s above ground may become compromised after heavy rains.
- Ensure your yard has proper drainage. Ditches and drainage pipes keep water from flooding, pooling and standing. A professional can help with this or check out one of the DIY videos below.
- Don’t let your guard down too early, even after weather advisory warnings have ended, stay alert and keep your action plan in place.
- When you’re done using anything you would not leave behind, including phones, chargers, etc. put them in your emergency grab bag. Also wouldn’t hurt to keep extra sets of keys in there!
- Stay modestly dressed. Trying to find or change clothes during an emergency is not fun nor ideal :-p
- Be aware of all potentially hazardous evacuation routes and have a backup plan for exiting houses, buildings, yards, roads. Also, make sure your vehicle is close enough for an emergency exit, but distanced enough from anything that could potentially fall or it or in the path of your exit driveway.
- Remember to have essential contacts programmed into speed dial including local public emergency services! If you have anyone close-by enough to use walkie-talkies, those might come in handy too!
- Have a backup sheltering plan -whether it’s neighbors, close-by friend or family or elsewhere. Know where public shelters are just in case or where you might go if you can’t make it at any point along your route, because getting a hotel during mass evacuations might not always be your best bet.
- And last, but not least, don’t forget to say your prayers!!! 🙂
I hope this story brings awareness and helps someone somehow to be more prepared in wet, stormy weather they may one day face or help someone else out in.
Here are few videos with advice from experts:
On one of our WorkAway trips in the mountains, we helped clear a drainage ditch with check dams (some natural, some man-made using natural rocks) of leaves and limbs. It was easy to see the difference it could make. I guess I didn’t get pictures from that day, but did get a few the day me & my little cutie cleared two fallen trees.
A few good things have come out of the storm for us at least … For one, we’ve been able to enjoy a little bit cooler weather than the excess heat we’ve been experiencing … and using Indigenous wisdom from the Native Americans, the downed pine tree will give us several uses for natural medicine. Stay tuned for the next article!
We are SURVIVORS!
From soggy Florida,
iam:ForeverBlessed
Further resources:
Angle and Perspective’s YouTube playlist – Hurricane Debby
Angle and Perspective’s YouTube playlist – Weather Prep
Where Does Grounded Electricity Actually Go?
Source References:
Angle & Perspective 
What’s your angle and perspective?