Feelin' Ophelia -- 28480 141830SEP05

NC government officials are playing their A-game. I heard Gov. Easley's press conference on my emergency radio today. "Strike teams", evacuation warnings, and evidence that the governor was up late last night studying this storm--he was full of advice; sounded like an expert--marked his meeting. I'm sure no one wants to be part of a consecutive hurricane recovery/relief debacle. Whatever. Good job thus far!

As I write this, we're under a 12 hour curfew from 6pm to 6am tonight into tomorrow morning. Ophelia is a slow mover. And although she never completely made landfall in our area, I'm convinced the winds were topping out in the 80s, at least. We lost power on my street for about 6 hours. Kudos to Progress Energy for restoring my power whilst the winds howled.

Damage to the structure of our house was limited to the loss of some old aluminum trimmings on the roof and a scattering of errant shingles. The docks to the left and right of our own dock sustained minor damage; one lost its gangplank, the other broke free of its fasteners and now flaps in the surf. Our dock continues to hold together.

My take: In this area the biggest threat seems to be downed trees and powerlines which were weakened by wind and moisture; we'll surely have received 10 inches of rain throughout the day.

It was shocking to see live footage of the Outer Banks; the surf was almost tranquil! This won't last. Officials were smart to order a mandatory evacuation for our state's barrier island strand. The landfall area will get a full dose of this storm by the morning.