Hurricane Henri is aimed straight at us

You see that mess of purple on the map above?  We’re right at its dead center.  The storm surge maps are even worse, putting Accabonac Harbor and the entire area surrounding us in Springs on alert for the highest tides and possible flooding.  They’re predicting 4 to 8 inches of rain.

Naturally, in advance of this nightmare, I came down with some kind of bug yesterday. I had a fever for about 6 hours, but that went away by the time I got checked out by my GP in the afternoon. I continued to feel lousy, but Tracy gave me some cold medicine and I was able to get a good sleep.

This morning I woke up with no fever and feeling if not exactly 100 percent at least a little better. So Tracy and I were able to mask-up and spend the day in preparation.  First thing we did was head out to get ice.  They were sold out at the One Stop Market, but we found some at the local Springs pizza joint and got 12 five-pound bags.  Now we’ve got our freezer full, plus two coolers. 

We stocked up on milk and bread and hamburger meat and got an extra bag of charcoal so we can cook if the power goes out, which it will. They’re saying our area of East Hampton could be without power for as long as two weeks.  We already had 12 gallons of water here, so we’re pretty much set on that front.  And by happenstance I ordered a box of 100 AA batteries just a week ago, so we’re not going to run out of those, which power our flashlights, headlamps, and little camping lanterns we already had.

Stopped at the farmers market for some baguettes and bagels, at the fruit stand for some peaches, and drove into East Hampton to get a big DC power source battery thing so we can charge cell phones, etc etc, and a power inverter we can hook up to a car battery that’s strong enough to run a couple of lights and the sump pump I’ve got right outside the sliding glass door next to me.  See, the stone patio out there is the lowest place around this studio, and it fills up rapidly with water even normal severe rains.  So a while back I went to Lowes and got us a sump pump that will remove 25 gallons a minute.  We ran the hose 100 feet away to a spot where the water will run off harmlessly. (Below.)

Tracy and I had already sandbagged the old garage door into the studio that’s never used anymore, and some time ago I built a dam with plywood and thick tar paper and hit it with about 10 tubes of silicone caulk to seal it up, but we’re not taking any chances with Henri.  (Below.)

Here’s a picture of Accabonac Harbor before the storm comes and starts flattening reeds and changing the view we see every day.

The upshot is that if the power goes out, it’s going to take some driving and maneuvering for me to get to a wifi hotspot from which I can post columns on Substack, so I’ll just go ahead and predict they are going to be a little spotty in the coming days.

But fear not.  Tracy and Ruby are old hands at this hurricane stuff, and I went through at least one when I lived out here in the 70’s and 80’s, and more than one came ashore near New Orleans when I lived in the French Quarter after that. 

We may be off the radar for a while – with the exception of storm radar – but trust me, we’ll be back, maybe a little soggier, but not even a smidgen less fierce.