Charley:Going Home

After looking around our host's property we thought we would see if we could make it over to our own home to take a look around. It was a very cautious drive over there were downed trees and power lines all over. It was however, still passable with great care. As we reached US-17 we saw utility poles and power lines down for miles. We had already passed several homes damaged from fallen trees or missing roofs. It was difficult to see very much so soon after the storm because of the trees and debris had not yet been cleared. We looked around with anxiety at the damage wondering what had become of our home. On the way down our street we noticed our neighbor's front porch was no longer there. We saw aluminum littering the Brazilian Peppers on the other side of the street some was from our neighbor's porch, no doubt, but I was certain that some had come from our home.
We had expected the utility sheds not to survive beyond that we were not sure what to expect. We were in no way prepared for what we found. No matter how many pictures of this sort of thing you see on TV or in the newspaper you are not prepared for seeing it in real life. There is no comparison. The first thing that drew our attention was the travel trailer. It had been sitting next to the driveway. It was now thirty feet to the north. Two feet from where it now rested was a five foot tall bottlebrush tree that the trailer had gone OVER. Our thirty foot Coachman Catalina had been tumbling and was roughly five feet in the air! This realisation took a moment to sink in. As we continued to assess the damage we noted that the roof-over was gone, the carport, utility sheds and well pumps destroyed, and the electric lines down. We had very mixed emotions. Our home was still standing and relatively fine inside apart from a few leaks and some broken dishes, but outside was a scene of extreme violence.