I took Frankie for a walk Thursday morning. At the time I thought I should get him out there before the weather got bad. Unknown to me at the time the weather wouldn’t get bad for quite a while.
I saw on the map that the storm would pass us at its closest point around 3 p.m. We got a little rain and a little wind before then, but I was surprised by how mild it was. Then Frankie started to annoy me because he wanted to go outside. I never took Frankie for a walk twice in one day, but now, during the peak of the hurricane, he wouldn’t stop annoying me. I caved. I looked at the clock. It was 3:45. I looked out the window, saw the rain had stopped, and decided to take him out again.
At first, he hung around under the carport, not sure what he wanted to do, but then he decided to go.
After a while, the rain returned, so I picked him up and carried him home. He only hissed at me once.
To my surprise, the weather got worse after 6 p.m. By 6:30, the wind was blowing hard. Every ten or fifteen minutes, we would hear a loud bang from a tree branch falling on the roof. My next-door neighbor pointed out a tree across the street that had very large limbs broken off. It seemed just as windy at 9:30 when we went to bed.
In hindsight, three things happened that I didn’t consider. First, the winds trailing the storm are stronger than the winds ahead of the storm. This is because those winds travel across the water where no obstacles can slow them down. Second, the storm got stronger as it went farther north, so it was stronger at 6 p.m. than at 3 p.m. Third, the storm was a little slower moving than predicted.
The next morning, my wife wanted to go to the beach to look for shells, which are plentiful after a storm. We went outside before the sun came up, around 6:45. Even at that time I could see tree branches, big and small, scattered about our yard.
We thought there was a chance we would not be able to get to the beach. Sure enough, several police cars blocked access to the bridge. Later, it occurred to me that they needed to inspect all the bridges before reopening them.
We returned home just as it started getting light. On the way, we saw one home with its carport ripped off and lying on its roof. I took some pictures of the area near our house.
After taking pictures, I pulled some of the bigger pieces of debris from our yard and added them to the pile. I then went inside and found Frankie waiting to go outside.
Bad Cat Chris 
Frankie wanted to check out the storm damage I’m sure. So glad you all made it through with no damage – wish that had been the case for everyone but the storm did an incredible amount of damage everywhere it went. We had outer band wind and rain – 3 days worth. This morning sounds quiet – still dark so can’t see anything outside but even all the way up here in Virginia, there has been flooding and high winds and tornado warnings/watches. Helene certainly made her mark.
Hugs, Pam and Teddy
I learned last night that all the Pinellas county beaches are still closed because of severe flooding. I think we are about four miles from the beach so we were lucky.
That was a horrific storm and am so glad you all are ok.
Thanks.
Glad your all safe.
Thanks.
Frankie could be an apprentice contractor / landscaper. He needs to practice assessing the property.
Love and licks,
Cupcake
It would be nice if he could earn his keep.
That was one nasty storm! Glad you are okay…but praying for all those who are dealing with the aftermath.
Thanks. A lot of people need prayers now.
Way to go Frankie! Just about every house in our development had trees down and lots were into the houses. We got hit bad here.
Where are you? I saw some terrible flooding in North Carolina, I think.
Glad you survived with minimal impact. Good thing Frankie was around to survey the damage. 🙂
What would we do without him?
Probably the reason Frankie was bugging you is that animals can sense when an impending huge nature event (such as a hurricane), is about to take place. Might not have really been about taking a walk. Animals have a sixth sense for this stuff. Glad that you didn’t experience significant damage, and that you are all safe!
Thanks, Caren.
Its good to know you came through well, when that Helene had her temper tantrum in your region.
So sad for so many though, who had such severe damage and even loss of loved ones.
Franki made me smile…checking out what happened to his domain.
We were very lucky.