This edition of Around the Hood will cover the hours just after Hurricane Irma passed through the area.
The wind was still blowing but the rain had mostly ceased. My wife and I took to the streets of our neighborhood to see just how much damage had occurred. We were in an area that experienced steady 50-60 mph winds, with gusts to around 80. We also received about 10 inches or so of rain over the course of the weekend.
When the worst of Hurricane Irma was past us, I grabbed my camera and braved the 20-40 mph winds and remnants of rain that were bringing up Irma's rear. Here's what we saw...
The Local Shopping Plazas
At the local marketplace, we found a nicely secured grocery store. They may have been a little over-prepared, but they didn't appear to suffer any damage, so job well done.
Just outside the front doors was a different story, however. They escaped a near disaster.
(Do you see the lizard running for cover?)
The trash can down the strip was not so fortunate. Irma! What have you done with the lid???
Oh. Found it. Never mind.
Around the corner, the damage worsened.
The storm can be infuriating for many people. During the hurricane, this door was almost completely...unhinged.
Behind the building, the fences didn't stand a chance.
At an adjacent plaza, the conditions must have been catastrophic.
"Oh, the humanity of it all!"
Roads and a Housing Development
This was an absolute mess of trees and branches. It looked like at least two trees were taken down together here, right into the middle of the road and entirely blocking one direction.
The sign says, "No Outlet." It should probably read, "No Inlet."
Around the corner, a sidewalk was impassable. We were not affected by this. We went around it.
Into the house-lined streets, we actually found a home with some damage. This was the only one we saw ourselves that afternoon, which was a good thing. Not many homes or other buildings were damaged, other than a few gutters that were knocked down.
The water levels were a lot higher than usual but it didn't appear that any houses succumbed to the rising ponds.
The cut-and-toss crews seemed to be moving quickly. This tree was already neatly deconstructed just a few hours after the worst weather hit.
An Apartment Community
This place had a lot of trees down and there was various minor damage throughout.
The hurricane plot offered up a little...twist.
NO
PARKING
ON
GRASS
Unless you're a tree and you don't care.
No more cheap car washes for these residents.
Speaking of cars...
This one did not have a good time.
The tree mangled the fence, too.
This old car was a little luckier. That was a close one!
Broken trees everywhere.
A strong roof on this building, or a weak tree-falling?
It just wasn't his time. He found a friend for support.
The water here was pretty high as well. I don't think I'd want to sit on that bench right now. The ducks seemed to be enjoying the flood.
Silly ducks! Don't they know it's not time to play? There's lots of cleaning up to do!
Ending on a bit of a bright note...it wasn't all doom-and-gloom. Some lucky bike-rider will find a special gift from Irma in their bike basket. But from the looks of it, they don't ride much.
We Were Pretty Lucky Overall
Fortunately for us, we live in an area that really doesn't flood and we were spared from dealing with a Category 4 hurricane. There's plenty of debris and a lot of clean-up that needs to happen, but damages to structures and humans was light. During the storm, we didn't even lose power - and that was a great thing because I really wanted to watch the opening week of NFL games.
So...thanks, Irma. But tell your friends that we don't really want to see any of them soon.
Or ever.
*All images taken by me with my Canon 6D.
