As I'm writing this, it has been raining for the past twenty-four hours. There's been a few breaks in the rain, but they've been brief. Yesterday's rain was courtesy of a cold front, I guess? That's what I heard anyway. The rain I'm listening to now is from the hurricane.
Hurricane Helene is barreling toward Florida as a Category 4 storm. I live near Atlanta, but Helene will still be a tropical storm when it passes over us.
I have water standing in my backyard, but I'm not too worried about flooding because my house sits on higher ground. The standing water is on its way to the retention pond.
I'm a little worried about the wind. They've said gusts up to 70 MPH. We've had other hurricanes come through here after coming ashore, but this might be the strongest of the lot. At least it's the strongest I remember. I'm going to trust that everything comes through the wind okay.
My chief concern is the power going out. I have every electronic device in my possession charging. I even charged the charging bank I have for my phone. There's really not much more I can do, although I should probably find the lanterns I bought and get those ready and I will after I finish this post.
Of course, the worst of the storm will be rolling in overnight. In the dark. When you can't see what's coming. According to the weather reports I've seen, it will be cleared out by 9am tomorrow. There's still wind forecasted but not storms. We'll see if they're right.
After all this angst, I know I'm lucky to be far enough north not to take the brunt of it. I'm hoping everyone in Florida who needed to evacuate did, and that we can get through Helene without anyone being hurt.
ETA: When I wrote this, the storm hadn't destroyed towns yet. My heart goes out to the people who bore the brunt of Helene and to the families who lost loved ones. I'm saddened by the destruction left in the wake.
