Hurricane Frances
In 2004 St. Augustine was hammered by 3 hurricanes in a row. The worst for us
was Frances. Winds in the area gusted to over 90 mph. The worst part of the
experience were the almost constant tornado warnings. We had one tornado that
blocked a nearby road and one small tornado that splintered a backyard tree into
three pieces. This tornado came through at night. We herded the animals into
a bathroom for protection. I couldn't see much as it neared but it made a deep
rumbling sound as it got closer to us. Afterwards we discovered that this
small tornado had touched down several times and destroyed a number of homes a
few miles away from us.
We made a game out of it by betting where the next tornado would hit. We lost
count after 60 warnings. These tornadoes were small but there were many of them.
We had a lot of tree damage from the hurricane and about 6 inches of rain.
This photo shows the front yard 2 days later after some cleanup and after the
water level had dropped a couple of inches. A lot of branches were sticking out
of the ground like spears. It took a couple of weeks to completely clear all
of the debris.
We lost power for 6 days. We stayed for the first 2 days and it was so hot that
for the sake of the furkids here we relocated everyone to a hotel in
Jacksonville that had regained power. With our travel carriers, bird cage, and
hermit crab tank we probably looked like Noah's Ark! Everyone was fine and we
were very fortunate to not have any major damage to our mobile home. Many of
our neighbors were not as lucky and there were shingles all over the yard that
had blown off of other homes. All in all it was quite an experience.