Hurricane Irene, August 27,2011.
Anyone who lives on the east coast knows about Hurricane Irene and the damages the storm caused. Jim was at Harkers Island, the house was enclosed but we didn't yet have the Certificate of Occupancy. In the days leading up to the storm Jim was making preparations for the arrival of Irene and one thing he learned was that construction insurance does not cover wind or water damage....hmmmm. So, we watched the weather channel constantly and he gave me updates by phone. Jim decided that he would spend the night in the house so he would be there to see how the house would withstand the storm. He camped out with a cot and granola bars and gatorade. The house did have power and AC so as long as the power was on he was in good shape. From the 3rd level of the house he had a good view of all the weather action taking place outside the window. Irene made first landfall at Cape Lookout (remember, we can see it from the roof of our house). During the night the power was lost, and the winds blew so hard that the front doors could have easily been blown open, and actually did have water blow in around the seals. Jim went so far as to nail a board across the two front doors to prevent them from blowing open. He did have to mop up the water that blew in, fortunately the floors hadn't been finished yet and when that was done there was no evidence of water staining. On Saturday morning Jim called me as the eye of the storm passed over the island. Following that phone call we lost contact and for 20 hours we didn't have contact. Kind of unsettling,and back in SC I constantly watched the weather channel for any news of what was happening there.
After Irene finally moved up the coast Jim determined that other than the water around the doors that the house withstood the storm extremely well.
