Well, I woke up around 6am, after a restless night of listening to the driving rain and the wind shaking my tiny house, to find the power was already out. I'd just taken this picture,
when there was a loud thud above my head and I looked up to find a tree had fallen on top of my apartment! I figured that between braving the 70mph winds outside, and staying in my apartment watching everything get soaked by the torrential rain coming in through the hole in the roof, I preferred to get out! but before the hurried evacuation of myself and my few possessions to a friend's house down the road (who bravely drove down to get me) I took these two snaps of the view from my door and the inside of my apartment for evidence...


But after that adrenaline rush while still in my nightshirt, the rest of the day has been pretty uneventful. The storm abated around lunchtime although a rather English drizzle continues, and it seems that the Brit wanting the 'hurricane experience' has been the only student to suffer any damage to their home. Today mainly consisted of sitting around eating peanut butter sandwiches, listening to the radio, and driving around checking out the damage, including my front yard.


One derelict brick warehouse was rather dramatically blown down in town and a few trees have fallen, but apart from that, the power's been restored and everything's getting back to normal. It seems like the eastern part of the state is being hit much harder, with major floods and high winds.

I'm now staying in my crazy landlady's parrot-themed (down to the bedspread) spare room full of stuffed toys, with the real live parrots squawking at me from next door...