What Was It Like?

I've had a number of folks ask me since our experience with hurricani Ike, "what was it like, what did it sound like?" I guess I'm still trying to recall, just what it sounded like and I can't seem to hear just the storm itself. The early part of the storm sounded much like any storm you might go through, extra windy. Part of the sound of the storm was covered up by the sound of my generator which faithfully ran all thru the night, giving us light, a fan, and kept the radio going. We lost power pretty early on, about 5 pm, as we were all laying down to rest before the night came. Most folks didn't lose power till 11 pm or midnight or later but for some reason we were one of the first to go. That pretty much hightened our awareness to what was about to come.

The height of the storm came about the time I finally fell asleep, about 2:30 am. We had left a gap in the boards covering the sliding glass door just big enough to get out, just in case we needed to, and also so we could watch the storm as it came in. One of the sounds I recall was the shaking of the boards on the windows. From time to time, they would shake and rattle, and we all kind of wondered would the next one blow them off the windows but thankfully that never happened, neither did it loosen any of them. (I know cause I took em all off) After falling asleep then next sound I recall was my cell phone ringing at 4:30. Mike was calling from the church and his first question was, "David, you awake? its the eye, its the eye, you gotta go out and see." Sure enough I was awake now and we did go out and see.

No sound, no rain, not even a whisper of a breeze, nothing, yes it was truly the eye of the storm. It was eerie calm and quiet, of course no lights, nothing. I drove down to the south end of our street to see "how highs the water mama?" Well the water had risen up the street another entire block of houses. I couldn't get down to check on the Bonds house because the water was too high. Never seen it that high before...hope I never do again. It's still the eye, calm and quiet as I pull back in the drive way. Much of the damage had already been done but not all was finished. I went back in the house and up to the upstairs deck that looks over the bay. I set my chair out on the deck just to sit for a bit. There, during the eye of the storm, flew a couple of lightening bugs, yep its true, there they were flying around like nothings going on.

After a few more minutes of the eye, there was a whisper of a breeze, just a whisper, then...a bit stronger, and then some wind...and within mere minutes we're seeing the back side of the eyewall come thru and hurricane force winds. Back inside now to watch from the safety of the house, the wind is coming off the bay now and I notice I can't really make out the sound of the generator now...not because its not running but because the wind is drowning out the sound of it. I'm still upstairs watching...because I've been calling Mike from channel 11 since meeting him on our street earlier that afternoon. Mike wants an hourly update on the surge in the bay. By 5:30 now the wind is howling, the bay is churning, and 6-8 foots waves are crashing just down the slope in my back yard...one after another...over and over. I wonder will there be anything left of my bulkhead, my pier, and my back yard. The next sound I recall was the upstairs kind of giving this low rumble. It was literally shaking in the wind but ever so briefly. A few minutes later it shook again, then again. That's when I went back downstairs.

The next sound was a big harumph kind of sound...maybe it was a whooosh and thump. Have you ever tried to write sounds...not all that easy. It wasn't like a tree falling on the house but we weren't sure what to make of it and there's no way I'm going outside to see what it was. The wind is clearly blowing 110 mph and I'm not going out. Then Jared says, "dad, I think I hear dripping?" Yep, it was, generator humming, Ike howling, water dripping. That big sound was a big section of my downstairs roof had blown off. It's rolled roofing on the very back part and the storm coming off the bay just got under it like you putting your sheet on the bed, whoosh, and it flipped back just that easy, then the rains began to come in...for the next 4 hours or so.

Well thats another story. Maybe I'll tell about how we got on the roof and wrestled what was left back down on the roof in the middle of the hurricane. Then you'd think I really was crazy. I don't recall many sounds after that because we were busy bailing water for till we put the roof back down. Gotta go now...I'm on vacation.

de