I just got back from a drive to town, which we took mostly to see if we could get to town after Irene blew through our area. Yesterday we stayed up on our hill, and although we lost power, and it rained like hell, we had no idea how bad things had gotten in our area until late last night. But before going to bed we saw a video of the covered bridge that leads to our friends Janessa and Burleigh's house just collapsing and washing down the river. Rivers that usually run along the bottom of a gorge, 50 to 75 feet below bridges and roads, were washing away their bridges and roads and anything else in their path. Many of the towns in our area have experienced crippling damage, and even a good chunk our little town was under water for a while. This morning is calm and crisp and beautiful, but reports of the extent of the damage are still coming in. We feel very lucky to have been spared all but the most minor damage, and that our road is still passable, although barely in some spots. All the photos above are from our road, and the top one is our driveway. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that the damage all turns out to be property rather than loss of life. I can't bear to watch them anymore, but if you want to see videos of the raging waters click here, or here. The second one is the same covered bridge featured in my recent post on Simon Pearce, where you can see how high above the water it usually was.
