Hurricane Dorian has come and gone, unleashing its fury in places other than Bladen County.
A storm that raged as Category 5 while it stopped over the Bahamas continued away from North Carolina still battling at Category 2. He buffeted the coastline from Florida to New England, and for a few tense hours on Thursday into Friday morning, all we could do was wait.
Our preparation was done beforehand. Bladen County has this drill down pat, no question about it.
We suffered through Hurricane Matthew in October 2016, Hurricane Florence in September 2018 and scores of others before them. Many areas of our community are still recovering from the last two.
Why, just Tuesday night about 48 hours before Dorian visited us, county commissioners and the director of Emergency Services handled business that was pertaining to assistance money with Matthew.
Three hurricanes in 35 months. And while we are relieved our damage is far, far less this time around, we know of the trouble that is now, and what is ahead for those who got the worst of it.
In the coming days and weeks, we’ll hear more about the damage estimates. From Savannah, Georgia, to Charleston, South Carolina, Dorian was making his presence felt. Myrtle Beach took a blow.
By the time he reached our state line, tornadic activity — always a concern with a hurricane, but seemingly more so with this one — was increasing. Brunswick and Carteret counties experienced a couple of bad ones. We might have dodged some kind of cyclone that died before going from Pender County into Kelly; certainly something was going on in that area.
Our beloved Outer Banks is a tragic mess. Standing atop the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse and looking in all directions, the beauty of our coastline stretches as far as the eye can see.
Dorian has changed it, making landfall there and scrubbing everything from Cape Lookout to Corolla. N.C. 12 is always at risk for hurricanes big and small, but this one left parts somewhat roller coaster humped. Ferry service, so vital to that region, was interrupted and may be out for a while.
Our hearts were beating furiously through the night as we awaited Dorian, listening and peeking out when we could. We awoke to not much more than downed trees in places, a lot of limbs to pick up, a few areas of flash flooding.
We came out of this one better than most. And our problems with Matthew and Florence are still with us.
Even still, where possible, we hope everyone will consider what they can do to help. Be it through local faith organizations and other community efforts, or through national assistance entities, we hope there’s something to be done for those who are in need.
When our need was great, others came to our rescue.
Now we pay it forward.