Well....it hit. Took a direct hit to my neighborhood. Long and short... here's the 'damage':

Local flooding (no surge to us)-rain. Water to within 12 inches of our house. For awhile we were an island...no kidding. The water was about 3 feet deep. Still need to laser level the area to determine the actual depth. It was several days of literally just walking the top few feet of the driveway and the front yard....which leads to....

No 'plumbing'. Forget about 'running' water. I'm talking about flushing capabilities. And don't tell me I should've just poured water into the toilets. That flooded front yard.... was my leech field. With it flooded, the water was backing up. Fortunately, a check of the access pipe from the house to the septic tank, showed only partial water. It never came INTO the house/tubs etc. After 2 days it subsided enough to pour into toilets but even that was being done sparingly as we didn't want to overload. For those who DON'T know, pouring into the toilet uses LESS water than flushing. Used a fair amount of water before that became apparent. Lesson learned.

Years ago we HAD a generator. Too many issues and only used in testing that we opted to get rid of it. I should have replaced it with a smaller (ie. whisper quiet-Honda type) generator to at least have a window AC. Let me tell you- you DO NOT want to be without AC! Sleeping was...... well this IS a family forum so......you get the idea of how miserable it was. Had a battery fan. it didn't do squat really but it was better than nothing. Resorted to rigging an old computer fan to a 9 volt battery. Didn't last the night but help my wife a little.

Our refrigerators (one in house-second in garage) obviously almost all was consumed-the rest lost. This was expected and we planned accordingly. Moved things to the chest freezer when power went down. We did well stocking with refrigerator with non perishables (ie. water, Gatorade, etc) so it kelp cold then cool for awhile and kept the chest freezer colder.

The chest freezer was packed with 'ice' in various forms (ice packs and water for the bulk). Then refrigerated stuff went in. We consumed the frozen perishables that thawed (thermometer ensured safety). The refrigerated stuff actual stayed COLD. I mean that through 4 very hot days, the chest freezer NEVER came above 40 degrees! Really surprised me.

All that flooding? Yeah... well....my well. Under water. I have a call in for someone to come in, test, decon....so water for toilets...that's good! Bathing, cooking, etc..... alternate plans... for now.

Good news...Power came back today! My wife said her new favorite state is Pennsylvania. When I asked why she said, "That was where the power crew was from that got us our power back." So an official thank you to them......and everyone else. I literally almost cried when she text me.

Me I was dragged into work (Medic) on the 11th. They had to send a FD brush truck to pick me up as the water was too deep for anything other that that. It was that or a boat. Seems DOT 'lost' jurisdiction temporarily. For awhile we were governed by the US Coast Guard. While the the FD truck drove me to another crew (funny it happened to be a marine PD unit) a motor boat was plugging along next to the truck....that's how deep it was.

Neighbors... good to know them... everyone watched out for each other.

Gas..... BIG COMMODITY! Shortages all over. Wife said, "Finally your job has 'A' perk!" One station was getting a delivery and there were Nat. Guard present with a LEO... people were being turned away. I happened to 'know' this LEO and asked when it would be available. He informed me that they were allowing First Responders (or as we use to say in NYC..MOS)(Not military MOS-PD, FD, EMS) to fuel. I got to top our tank. Ah, the shield helped...

For the most part....we aren't really complaining. Everyone is safe and so far healthy. The damage to the structure.... Minimal. The old Direct TV antenna that I should have taken down....well that got ripped off. The lag bolts got pulled out. That'll get taken care of with the roof. Lesson learned. Few shingles bent up but only one small patch that went down to tar paper. VERY small area. Storm Fabric and Accordion Shutters were the best investment we've made!