September 19, 2003 - permalink

Hurricane Isabel Visits Richmond

Work let out early yesterday at 1pm. By the time I got home, it was raining steadily with gusts of wind. The winds picked up over the afternoon — by 3pm a large tree had fallen up one black from me, cutting off the road. I cooked an early dinner and watched TV until around 7:30 when the power went out in my neighborhood in downtown Richmond. The rain let up around nine, however, it was still blowing somewhat when I went to bed. There were still some signs of electricity when I went to sleep. Several buildings downtown were still lit up.

This morning, I got up, boiled some water for coffee and had some cereal for breakfast. The morning was clear and mild with a slight breeze, so I went for a walk with my camera to see the sights.

Trees were down everywhere,- the 300 block of Pine Street, the 200, 300 and 400 blocks of Laurel. As I walked into the Fan, there was a tree down on each street. After taking pictures of a few trees, I realized that they were all pretty much the same Ð a massive trunk with a gigantic tangle of branches lying across the street. I then noticed that a group of people was always gathered around each tree. Invariably, one person would be talking on a cell phone while a couple of others looked at the tree. It was more interesting to watch people's reactions — people were out walking their dogs or pushing strollers. On a couple of streets, men were cutting up smaller trees — one pair were going after a downed tree with handsaws. Of course, many people were also taking pictures — suddenly, every block had a point of interest in a tree laid out across the street.

I walked by home and cleaned up my yard. I was pretty fortunate; I only had a small pile of branched in my backyard. I gathered up the fallen branches and limbs then raked the leaves and twigs off of the sidewalk. I spend the rest of the day relaxing — either eating, reading or napping.

With the gorgeous weather and groups of people milling in the streets, today feels more like a holiday than a natural disaster. A fire company came and cleared the fallen trees from the road. An ice cream truck passed through the neighborhood. The corner store is open, although it also has no electricity. You can only buy dry goods — you tell the clerk what you want and he goes back into the dark aisles to get it for you. I'm still without power — the radio also advises that you boil any water before using it to cook. I'm writing this on a couple of hours of leftover laptop battery power — I probably won&'t post again until the lights come on.