Hurricane Irma has come and gone. Thankfully, we were spared the worst of it. It was a big, powerful storm, but surprisingly the outcome wasn't nearly as bad as last year's hurricane Matthew.

No trees fell down this year, and there were just some sticks in the yard that needed to be cleaned up. Now, that's not to say that this wasn't a powerful storm - it was. However, last year's damage was worse, most likely due to a tornado that went down our street. This year we had some pretty strong winds that vibrated the house during the strongest gusts and got a ton of rain shortly before the storm let up.



We were very lucky to not have any damage this year. The worst of it was losing power, which was restored that same evening. My friends in Florida all made it through the storm (as I knew they would), although some had quite a bit of property damage. I'm just happy they are safe.

Well, hurricane season has arrived once again. Supposedly the largest hurricane ever to hit the United States is on its way up through Florida right now, where it will eventually hit us in GA this evening through Monday. The wind is already starting to get a little gusty from this one.

As with Matthew, I'll try and post updates here and on Facebook whenever I can. I think I'm a little more prepared than last time, and the latest models show the path of the storm shifting to the west as well as decreasing to a tropical storm by the time it gets to our area. I've got two full tanks of propane for the grill, a full tank of gas in the car, some ice for the coolers (and more is freezing as I write this), laptops and phones are all charged up, and I've got enough food for a few days. I think we will be alright. Hopefully no trees fall on us this year.

To my friends and family in the path of this storm, stay safe. This is a big one.

Well, I still don't have permanent access to the Internet at home because Frontier sucks (they keep driving past our house and slowing

down to look, but they won't actually get out to fix anything), so these pictures took a little bit longer for me to post than I would have

liked.

I present to you, the hurricane Matthew damage and cleanup:

















The Ocean Galley restaurant here lost part of its sign and the parking lot was a bit flooded:













And finally, the cleanup:





















There's still a lot more that needs to be done around here, but it's a start. Some tarps were put on the roof yesterday to keep the rain and animals from coming in, and the landlord is getting estimates from contractors and roofers to repair the house. The damage looks pretty bad, but it sure could have been much worse...

I'll post more pictures and updates as they happen.

Until next time,

Nick Higgins

Sorry this took me so long to update. The Internet and power are still off at our house. We ended up having a very large tree fall on our house, which put a few holes in the roof above our bedroom. Another tree also fell in our yard, knocking out the power completely. The front yard is completely filled with trees and my car is stuck in the carport.

I will post photos as soon as the Internet is back on at our house, whenever that is. The roof still needs to be repaired and the trees removed. At least we are safe and the storm is over...

Still have power! Flickered a few more times and the internet cut out for a minute (which caused me some issues trying to connect to my network again) but so far, so good.