Back to the Beach - Day 23

The Governor's office said to expect the evacuation order to be lifted this morning at 8:00 am.  So as soon as I woke up, I called down to the Margate to see if power had been restored (the Embassy Suites had completely shut down).

I waited for the kids to wake up, then we got packed up and got on the road at 9:30 after the morning commute had died down.

We had heard reports that the power was still out and that standing water had closed many roads.  Gretchen had warned that there were even several closures on our main route.  But armed with streaming traffic updates on the GPS, we hoped it would be ok.

It was, but the 3 1/2 hour trip took much longer than expected... 8 hours to be exact.

We were detoured off the major highway just north of Lafayette.  It took us through a decent size town who was completely without power.  There were emergency crews, volunteers and even city workers out trying to help direct the traffic but it was rough.

I decided to head east to pick up a different highway.  On the way, I ran into trouble so the GPS directed me south.  For three hours I drove in a general south / east direction... never finding power restored.  The kids had been complaining they were hungry for over 1 1/2 hrs and I was down to a quarter of a tank of gas.  In a few small towns, I found gas stations but they had a $20 limit on fuel, cash only and terribly long lines.  We came to several flooded roads and had to turn around.  Honestly, I couldn't trace my route on a map now if I had to.  Eventually we found ourselves in Garland, NC.  The first business we came to was a gas station and IT HAD POWER!  We pulled in and waited 35 minutes for gas.  I sent the kids in for snacks not knowing when we'd find a restaurant but Tyler came out empty-handed because it was picked over.  Ugh.  I dug in the back and found some groceries Gretchen had sent with us and at least got him something.  Then we were off.  First we headed west to the highway... road was missing under a newly formed lake.

I watched another vehicle attempt to cross but decided to go around.  So we headed east, then south, then south west.  NOTHING.  I stopped at a random home to ask for directions.  Followed those to another dead end.  I'll be honest, I was frustrated.

Finally I pulled over to pray with the kids.  A local family in a white pickup flagged me down and asked where we were trying to go  (I think they were out assessing the damage and noticed us turning around over and again).  When I said we hoped eventually to get to the beach, they literally started laughing (not helping).  They explained that they had been told to evacuate yesterday because of rising waters and that there was no way out of town except the road I came in on.  I took a deep breath and told the kids that we had just wasted 2-3 hours and now needed to go in the wrong direction to get out.  So we called Scott to give an update as we headed back north.  It was close to 2:30 when Tyler announces he REALLY needs to use a bathroom.  Unfortunately there was nothing available which I knew from driving these same roads / towns earlier in the day.  We pressed on and eventually came to a cash only gas station.  Tyler went in with cell phone in hand (to use as a light).  We got back on the road and eventually made it to Clinton around 3:00 pm.

From here we could take several routes down to the beach but would be traveling much closer to shore than I originally had hoped.  But the larger roads did offer more signage and warnings of road closures.  At this point the GPS read that we would still need 2 hours to make it and last I heard there was still a 6:00 pm curfew in place... we prayed that things would go smoothly and we'd make good time.

We stopped at another gas station without power to run in for a bathroom break.  These folks also ran a cafe and had a huge line of locals waiting for a meal.  They opened up their employee bathroom for folks to use.  It was awful but we were just so grateful for their hospitality.

It felt so good to finally make it to familiar areas... we could easily work around road closures because I was aware of other route options.  We pulled in to the Margate around 5:30.  We were hungry, exhausted and just ready to unwind so we left our luggage in the car and headed up with some take out for supper.

After dinner we took a walk on the beach.  The dunes out front of the property are gone.  There's debris and sea weed washed up on shore and there is so much ocean life lying dead on the sand.  The Apache Pier next door did sustain some damage and is closed indefinitely for repair.  Not many people have returned yet but staff has returned to begin the clean up.  There is a solemn peace about the beach tonight.  Its pretty spectacular really.

 

The kids and I worked together to put the patio furniture back outside to reclaim our living room, then unloaded the car and went up to check on Barb's other condos in the building.  We settled in for a family movie night and all commented how glad we were to be back.

Damage: The water on the coast has mostly drained and roadways are easy to get around.  Power has been restored to the coast as well but there are still over 160k without power in the Grand Stand.  Further inland there is still lots of flooding and road closures.  Area tourist activities are beginning to reopen including many restaurants on the main strip (on Monday), Tanger Outlets, Barefoot Landing, and Broadway at the Beach (on Tuesday) however the State Parks and Brookgreen Gardens remain closed.  The golf course across from Kingston Plantation has a significant loss of trees so I cannot even imagine how long that will take for clean up.  People here are eager to share their stories...

Tonight as I thought about how much or what to share, it was humbling.  Here's my summary: The kids and I are good, we are safe, there is no need to worry for us.  But I couldn't shake the faces and stories of the people we met today.  There are many people in the Carolinas that are hurting tonight... they need our help, they need our prayers.