Saturday, August 23, 2008

Tropical Storm Fay strikes again!

All week, I’ve planned on attending a birthday soirée downtown. But, Fay had other plans for me. I had it all planned out. I got an old ratty umbrella to get me from the parking garage to the bar. You know, the kind of umbrella that I wouldn’t miss when someone steals it from the entrance because they forgot their’s at home. I would just sprint to my car and get a little wet when the bar closed.

I get all dressed up and ready for the night. I open the door and I’m met with that mist from rain caught in the wind. No problem. I pop open my umbrella and wade through the river that sometimes doubles as the parking lot of my apartment complex.

Everything goes as planned until I hit Highway 61 and notice that the whole area has turned into one large swimming hole. Not Downtown Charleston’s knee-deep flood waters, but bad enough for me to take notice. I round the bend to see a sea of emergency flashers ahead of me – people driving 2 miles an hour.

Then the sky opened up. It’s like Fay was waiting for me to get just far enough to make it difficult to turn around. There I am… not able to see three feet ahead of me. If my area is flooded, downtown will easily look like a set from Waterworld. It looks like it’s going to be a Friday night at home… thanks Fay.

We are just in the outer bands, but it’s just enough to be pretty damn annoying. As I type this, there is a waterfall outside my bedroom window. It’s like a watery serenade from the warmth under this roof, but it’s pretty nasty out there.

Our beaches are taking a pounding this week and so is the sea life -- a beached whale and dead sea turtle hatchlings. Fay isn’t playing around.

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