Aftermath of Hurricane Irene - Aug 27th 2011
Nimue
Sat 27 Aug 2011 13:01
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Hurricane Irene was a large and very destructive
hurricane which affected much of the
Caribbean and US East Coast. Shortly before making four landfalls in the Bahamas,
Irene peaked as a 120 mph (195 km/h) Category 3 hurricane.
Thereafter, the storm slowly levelled-off in intensity as it struck the Bahamas continuing to weaken, Irene was downgraded to a Category 1 hurricane before making landfall on the Outer Banks of North Carolina on August 27, becoming the first hurricane to make landfall in the United States since Hurricane Ike in 2008. Throughout its path, Irene caused widespread destruction. Damage estimates throughout the United States are estimated near $15.6 billion. It was the seventh costliest Hurricane in United States history.
Track of Hurricane Irene (we were in between the yellow and green dots) As Irene approached, we managed to tie down
everything we could before we left Nimue to shelter in the television room at
Herrington Harbour. However with a couple of hours of it reaching us, the
power lines came down and we were without light and power. A nice
gentlemen who was sheltering with us, took me by car to Nimue, so I could get
some candles and food. It was lucky we had put weights at the bottom of
the ladder, otherwise the wind would have lifted it up and possibly broken
free. We both went back to Nimue to have a very bumpy noisy and
rattling night sleep on board. We woke up to a lessening wind and soon as
we got off the boat we saw there was quite a lot of debris, which
consisted mainly of broken branches. However all the electricity was out
for 48hrs , due to the rather flimsy power lines being taken down by falling
trees.
  Some of the debris around the grounds of
Herrington Harbour (above & below)
    The chain holding down the ladder during
the storm and Michael climbing back on board
 This picture shows the edge/end of the
storm, immediately followed by bright blue sky and sunshine –
amazing!
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