ESCAPE FROM HURRICANE FLORENCE

We are all aware of the hurricane that hit the USA last month.  In September, Hurricane Florence brought devastation to the Carolinas, causing about $13 billion in damages and, more tragically, 53 fatalities. Two St Patrick’s Graduates, Teri HEALEY Evans and her sister, Betty HEALEY Brown, were caught up in this frightening ordeal.  Teri has shared some photos and her story with us.  I will let Teri tell it.  

“I had gone to beautiful North Carolina on July 25 to spend some time with my sister Betty and her husband, Billy.  Early in September we were hearing on the news that a massive hurricane was forming and that it looked as if the eye was going to make landfall in Wilmington, NC.  That was alarming because the city of Wilmington was only about 25 minutes away from where Betty lived in a lovely little town called Burgaw. Her home was situated along Cape Fear River.

Well the weatherman was right, it was heading our way. We had to evacuate because the Cape Fear would indeed flood and all the roads would wash out.  Not to mention all the trees that would fall due to high winds, making any chance of the roads being passable.   To give you an idea of the type of home Betty had I can describe it as a bungalow built on 12 foot pilings.  Because it was up so high (12 foot off the ground) we never in a million years thought that the river would rise that far as to get in to the main house, it had never before. So before evacuating we only secured the grounds and anything at ground level.  Unfortunately Mother Nature had different plans for it.  The River rose 25+ feet, meaning 13 ft or more of water got into their beautiful home and destroyed it and all the contents.  The River stayed that high for over a week ruining everything.  Thankfully, we had evacuated and were safe.

I have attached a few photos for you to see.

The first photo is a sort of 'before' picture (Betty and 
Billy hosted a wedding at their property on July 28th)

The second is of the river beginning to rise.  

The third photo shows the River half way up the house.

 (After this it was too dangerous to go there by boat anymore)

The fourth is a photo of the Restaurant we often ate at which was

 only one mile from Betty's house.  All you can see is the roof.

And sadly, these photos only show a very small fraction of the devastation caused by Florence.  Betty and I have many, many friends there who have also lost everything.  I've been home since October 16 and I still can't get some of the horrible destruction our of my mind.  It was just like a war zone when I left.

Betty and Billy have found temporary housing and do plan to rebuild but that could take up to a year to get everything back to a livable state.  However, they are safe and count their blessings everyday.  As do I now to be living in beautiful Newfoundland!"

Thank you for this account Teri.  It must have been terrible for all of you.  I can understand why you are glad to be back in "beautiful Newfoundland".  There are worse things than "rain, drizzle and fog"!