Rob's visit was centered around taking care of his dad and making sure that there was no visible water/roof/window damage.
We arrived late afternoon Friday and managed to get Lewis secured and move stuff from there to the house.
I was up early Saturday and I went to work on the pool deck. We lost some screens around the pool so a lot of outside stuff got inside. The pool deck was covered with bits and pieces of leaves, grass, dirt, trees etc... A good, thorough sweep made a huge difference and I made my way down to the concrete deck/patio in the back yard. This deck runs to the sea wall and then the dock.
As I was sweeping and I got closer to the dock, I noticed that I was going downhill a bit. There should be no downhill on this. This patio area is fairly small but the slant is perceptible. I started looking a little closer and noticed significant cracks going up the sides and across the patio surface. My guess is that the significant wave action of the water ate away at the seawall enough to allow for some "give" in our patio. We will definitely have to get this looked at. It could stay this way for years or it could fall in the river tomorrow. Who knows?
The dock itself is still a bit of a mess. One end section closest to the sea wall has separated and is floating in place. Because of the precarious condition of the post, the Sturdy Pelican had to be removed from his perch. He survived Matthew but he was at risk of being wobbled right to the bottom of the canal. He has been safely relocated to the pool area.
The dock is L-shaped and lots of muck got trapped in the section between the sea wall and the longest part of the dock. Our first order of business on this was to get this cleaned out. It was beginning to smell very ripe. We discovered that we could step on the floating bit of dock enough to allow the water to wash over it and get the muck moving. That and a bit of raking got all of it on its way. We then spent a bit of time devising the best way to re secure the deck to the posts.
A trip to Home Depot was in order.
Home Depot was definitely set up for post hurricane repair work. They had set up easy access areas for dry wall, fencing, and plywood. We got what we needed for the dock and screens, crammed it into the Honda and headed back to the house. The supplies went into the house and we were done with that for the day.
I had also noticed, upon closer inspection, that the front of the house was filthy. The house faces north and the counter clockwise winds of Matthew hit from the WNW. The front walls and windows of the house were covered with slightly embedded grass, dirt and leaves. We got the hose and a mop and basically scrubbed the front. It took time and elbow grease but it cleaned up nicely.
Somewhere in the middle of all this activity, we went for a run. We needed it and we wanted to see how the beach had fared.
We made our way to the shoreline via the nearest access point. The dunes had held up but they had taken a beating. The distance between the dunes and the water has shortened significantly. The tide was going out and the ocean was angry.
THE DUNES ARE NOT FAR TO THE LEFT OF THIS PICTURE. HIGH TIDE MAY BE GETTING WITHIN 10 YARDS OF THE DUNES
PRE MATTHEW IN THE SAME AREA. HIGH TIDE DID NOT GET WITHIN 40 YARDS OF THE DUNES
I see some dredging and shoreline replacement work in the future.
We will be busy while we are here but all the work is doable and we are well housed. So many were not so fortunate. Our day was hot and smelly but it ended with a good meal, a hot shower, a clean bed and air conditioning.
Another great day in this thing we call life.
No comments:
Post a Comment