New Bern NC meets Isabel updated during storm

[soonertwister]

Thanks Pebbles. Sounds like things are getting a little hairy at your mom's spot, hoping for the best for them.

[HurricaneQueen]

Yes, Pebbles. Thanks for the updates. It sounds as if they were well prepared but please let them know we are thinking of them and please keep us posted. Thanks, Lynn

[Pebbles]

Sept 18th 1:00pm EST

Just got off the phone with NCbird again. Reports that downtown New Bern is underwater.

At her location about 6 miles down river the river has overflowed into some of the resorts parking lot and up to under some of the stilted buildings the resort owns that are close to the river. Some of her husband's coworkers are out there and a school of fish got trapped in the parking lot. They are scooping up 2 1/2 to 3 foot Puppydrums (not sure on spelling but they are saltwater fish) up with their bare hands. They are communicating with walkie talkies about conditions.

NCbird lost the weather system. The wind blew it over and it went underwater. Winds are gusting 60 to 70 mph and a gentleman on the river clocked a 101mph wind gust. There is horizontal rain and they are just waiting for the wind direction to change to see all the trees start coming down. Still worried about riding the eyewall but tucked in safe and sound...

will post more later

[Pebbles]

Sept 18th 2:30 EST

NCbird reports that not much has changed from the last update. Lots of rain and windy still. Everyone that was out "catching" fish shortly after they started as conditions just got too bad. Only other thing was a they watched as a tree snapped in half, fall down, got scooped up by water and slammed into another tree and broke that one. Wind hasn't shifted competely shifted yet which tells her they are still waiting for the eye to pass along the east side of their location. No eye for them..just eyewall.

More later...

[JCT777]

Thanks for keeping us updated, Pebbles. I hope all goes well for NCbird!

[Pebbles]

Thanks. Please forgive my horrid typos and english today. Being pregnant and WAY overtired is a bad combo. I am not reponding to hardly any of the posts I've been reading but I am thinking of everyone else out there too and hoping they all stay safe and sound. Will be much better once I know NCbird and hubby are ok and the storm is gone..then I can lay down for a long much needed nap.

[Pebbles]

Sept 18th 5:00PM EST

Well been trying to get through to NCbird for almost the past 1 1/2 hours. Not quite sure what the problem is but I can't get through..hopefully it's just phone problems or something such as that. Will update as soon as I hear from her and then hit the sack. Just slightly concerned as the eye hadn't past her point the last I spoke with her....but sure everything is probably fine.

[HurricaneQueen]

Pebbles: About half an hour ago MSNBC was driving through New Bern. Most of the electricity was on and they reported only low lying areas as flooded. They had the "Bloom-mobile" out riding around parts of the town and did that bring back memories. I felt as if it should have been David reporting

Of course, there is no way to know how accurate cable TV reports are but it looked relatively undamaged. Hope you get to talk to your mom soon and then get that much needed rest. Lynn

[Pebbles]

Thanks for the reassurances Lynn. Still getting the all circuts are busy now on the phone trying to call her. While not panicking at all it's still quite unnerving to not be able to get up with her. Through all the storms we had experienced the one thing we never lost was the phone. If you or anyone else hears any information about Fairfield Harbor...please share. Thanks

[ncbird]

Well finally got electric back just about half an hour ago...

I would first like to thank everyone for your prays and thoughts... they are much appreciated.

Well Isabel may have been a cat 2 but because of her size and the angle she came in she really wacked the area I am in and numerous others also.
In our county over 50 homes are lost, many damaged. I do believe this has woke some up to the fact that even a cat 2 can do an enormous amount of damage and not to take it lightly.

As Isabel moved inland we rode the eye wall. The winds seemed like they would never end, and in fact at midnight we were still listening to it howl. The wind and water finally had the best of my weather system, but the highest gust reported in the area by where I was at was 101 mph. This was enough to send a tree flying through the air (very scarry to watch), and I did see one poor bird trying to fly and get smacked by a pinecone. It hit the ground, and thankfully did managed to stand back up and run under a bush for cover (I'm a bird lover so of course I was thrilled to see it get back on its feet). Things were not to bad until we got to the point that the winds shifted. Normally what happens is this will push the water out of the Neuse and sound. Instead, there had been so much pushed up river that when it was pushed back it was too much and got bottlenecked by us. In less than half an hour I watched the water in the ponds rise more than 6 feet. Both ends of the resort flooded which left us trapped with no way to get us or the cars out. All we could do was pray it would slow down, and thankfully our prayers were answered. Major flooding at the resort. Trees down all over and other damage still being assessed.

As for my home, it did shift about 2 inches and we will have to have a contractor look at it to make sure main support is still structually sound. Other than that we lost the food in the freezer. If you look at the yard next door you would swear it was winter as evey leaf on the trees is gone... stripped off by the wind.

All in all... I count my blessing. Some lost thier lifes and many lost everthing they owned. Isabel left a path of distruction that will take some time to clean up, but it could have been much worse... we were spared because of the dry air.

ncbird