Helene

 So, I don't need to tell you all about the absolute mind-blowing devastation this storm left behind. I don't think we have the entire picture or the final death toll, and may not for days. Entire tiny towns in the Big Bend area (the part of Florida where the peninsula turns west out into the Panhandle) are basically GONE. They took a direct hit at landfall. 

But the damage is all along the coast; the worst seems to be from Tampa north. It wasn't the wind and rain, it was the storm surge. 

But Helene continued north, and my beloved Asheville is in a horrible situation, with basically all the major roads into the area washed out, and not in an "Oh, a road crew can fix that as soon as it dries out" way. I mean, a chunk of I-40 is gone. It fell off. It can't just be repaved.

I lived in Asheville over a decade ago, and I know the roads and neighborhoods that have been destroyed. I mean, all you see are rooftops above the water. It really is a Katrina level disaster there, and it couldn't have happened at a worse time. Asheville is a fall tourism destination, and a lot of small businesses, including my son's, are going to have financial insult added to injury. This is when they make the money that sustains them through the winter. Yeah. This is much more complicated than just the flood.

My son and family in Asheville are okay, at least their house on high ground sustained no damage, but there's no power, water, cell service, etc. They do have a generator and he went scavenging today for more food and water and more gas for the generator so they're in okay shape for now. He was able to text me from the gas station while waiting in line, so a few cell towers are functioning, but this is going to be a long, slow, expensive recovery. 

I had a day off today, because my storm "catering" team (that's what I call us, we have a fancy official name) is working together to not kill ourselves. Yesterday was an 11 hour day that started in the pre-dawn, and I came home totally wiped out. My pedometer app says I walked nearly 30k steps in two days, and that was almost ENTIRELY INSIDE THE OFFICE BUILDING. And it wasn't just walking, it was dragging carts, lifting, etc. I'll spare you the gristly details, but it involved all sorts of seat of the pants planning, and oh, yeah, the AC in the building was out until about an hour before I staggered home. We were zombies by 6 pm, seriously. I got today off, but got called this afternoon about the plan for tomorrow.

Grandma's too old for this shit, but I remind myself several times a day that this is my last year of storm duty, because I'm damn sure going to retire before next hurricane season. And of course, millions are dealing with far, far worse, so give my bitching the weight it deserves. I'll drag my ass back to the office tomorrow before noon to let the leader of our motley catering crew get a break tomorrow afternoon. Monday I'll be the first one on site at o-dark-thirty.  At least the AC is working again.