It has been a very rough few days for our friends and neighbors in and around Gulf Shores, Alabama. The area took a direct hit from the storm with reports of winds being recorded around 100mph. While we appear to have been very fortunate, taking what appears to be only minor and mostly cosmetic damage, many others have found themselves with serious or catastrophic damage.
While we, and everyone else, were keeping a close eye on the storm and knew that anything was possible, I think it is safe to say the storm had far greater impact than most imagined. Gulf shores took a direct hit.
As we were closely watching the storm, the information kept looking worse and worse as the storm approached the shore. While a direct hit is obvioulsy never positive news, our community may have been spared from some of the absolutely worst possibilities by the storm shifting far enough east to end up on the side of the storm where the wind comes from the north. That relatively minor shift may have been the difference for our house being relatively spared versus massive damage.
Unfortunately, many others were not as fortunate and the damage cause by the storm is massive and widespread. At the time of me writing this, power is still not restored – although the power crews are doing an incredible job and making quick progress. Reports were that 17 of 22 substations were without power, I believe they were all restored withing 24-48 hours and now the work comes of repairing all of the feeder lines to the various communities, and then to the invididual homes. With some luck, we’ll have power within the next couple of days.
It has been extremely difficult to witness this from afar, to not know the extent of the damage, or the impact to our friends and neighbors. We are thankful to have an amazing community, with people that went above and beyond to share information, gather pictures, etc., for their fellow neighbors, while dealing with their own challenges. I can’t thank them enough! If things go as expected, we’ll hopefully have power soon and then we’ll be hitting the road to start the cleanup and repair process, and hopefully give back to our neighbors that have been so great.
With it having been such a rough year already in so many ways, this was another tough hit, but it really does bring out the best in people and show you just how amazing people are and how willing they are to help one another. I’m thankful for our great friends and neighbors and I wish there was more we could be doing for them right now.
As for the house, we believe it is in good overall shape, but will be taking a much closer look soon. We don’t know yet when we’ll be ready for more visitors, but we’re hopeful that everyone can get back on track here soon. One step at a time and hopefully we all can be back enjoying the beach as soon as possible. For now, all reservations through the end of September (at a minimum) are canceled. Hopefully we’ll all have a better feel soon for how long it may be until Gulf Shores is ready to welcome everyone back.