The Moveable Feast

The hurricane came from out of the Atlantic, traveling at about 14 miles per hour, with winds to 155 mph, and a system of series of tornadoes inside the storm.  These two pictures are taken as the eye is over us, with the north edge of the eye in the sky.  The sand was blowing down the beach like a sandblaster, and I could only take a few seconds in it, as I fought to brace against the wind for the shots.

We did not know at the time, but Floyd was over 700 miles wide, making it one of the largest hurricanes. All communications and basic services, fragile at the best of times, were knocked out in the first few minutes of the build-up to the actual hurricane.

Eleuthera became a true island - completely isolated from the world for almost a week.  It would be 25 days before the phones were restored, and weeks before even a semblance of normalcy returned.

		If you would like to see a larger version of the pictures below, just click on them to enlarge.
		On the left, taken the day after the hurricane had passed.  On the right, the same view with growth.  Our dogs had vanished during the storm, and had just shown up when this picture was taken.
		An indication of how much foliage and vegetation was on the ground after Floyd passed.  We had to chainsaw our way out to our main road, a distance of about a mile.  It took two full days.
		On the left, the front of our house during the eye.  On the right, the bougainvillea made a good recovery, coming back into full flower in 50 days.
		On the left, the front of SeaView Cottage during the eye.  On the right, the recovery of the lush foliage was very fast, within 45 days. Before the eye, the rain water was pure seawater, drenching the landscape with killing salt.  After the eye, the rains were fresh water, washing down the trees and plants that had withstood. We were lucky.  Other parts of the island did not have the cleansing rain.
		On the left, another view of of SeaView Cottage during the eye. On the right, the cottage today, all back to normal.