The morning of Sept 28, we had our breakfast and decided to hike down to Lower Tennis Court and Deep Gap Rd to check on friends. Since we still had no power, and by the looks of things, it would be quite a while before we did have power restored, we had no means of communicating with the outside world. We headed out and hiked straight down the mountain through the bush in front of our property. There was not much erosion on the upper section of the road and only a few downed branches. In some areas, the ditches where the water ran undercut the road, but most of the upper part of the Tennis Court Rd was okay.
Then, the second property on Tennis Court Rd came into view, and we were absolutely stunned by what we saw. We walked up the Baumann's driveway to the point where a huge landslide had taken out the driveway to their home. The sheer extent of the landslide was terrifying. The Baumann's had just spent a lot of money and time renovating the house, and they put in a huge stone retaining wall both in front, along the driveway, and behind the house. Now, that was taken out by the landslide. Friends of ours, Molly Seacrest & Larry Katz owned the house that was directly below the Baumann's property. Their house had been pushed off of the foundations, the front deck no longer existed, and their property was all part of the landslide. At that point, we wondered if they had survived the landslide. The Baumann's were not there during the storm, BUT we knew Molly & Larry & their dog were there during the storm. This was a worry for us. Where were they and were they okay? We kept moving down Tennis Court Rd.
We then headed up Penny Park Lane to check on another friend's home. When we arrived, we discovered that their bridge was covered in debris, and the soil on either side had been partially eroded by water flow. We crossed the bridge to inspect their home, and thankfully, everything was just fine.
As we walked further down Tennis Court Road, we encountered a massive pile of fallen trees, an eight-foot-high mound of mud, debris, and our friend's car, which looked like a crumpled tin can. I had never seen anything like it, and I hope I never do again. Since we couldn't find a safe way through the debris, we let Willow, our dog, lead the way. It was impressive how she skillfully guided us through the chaos with such confidence. Once we made it to the other side, we noticed that the landslide had also damaged a charming little red house at the junction of Cold Spring Road and Tennis Court Road. The devastation was overwhelming, but thankfully most of the residents had not been home when the hurricane struck.
Leaving the red house area, we noticed someone outside at the first house on Cold Spring Road—the Meehan's. We made our way over and knocked on their door, and we were thrilled to find our friends, Seacrest and Katz, had made it to the Meehan's in the middle of the night after exiting through their back door due to the house being affected by the landslide. Yikes! We were so relieved to see they were okay, albeit a bit shell-shocked.
We then continued down Tennis Court Road, with our next stop being Carol Beal's home. When we arrived, we found her and her dog, Natasha Vidal, sitting on the back deck. They were so glad to see us! We updated them about the events happening above on Ogles Gap, and then we continued on our merry way.
We crossed Cattail Creek at the Mighty Mouse Bridge. Although it is still standing, it is damaged enough that no vehicles can use it until it is repaired.
We walked from Tennis Court Road to Deep Gap Road, where we immediately noticed the mudslide that had swept through the Meyer house. Below the house, we spotted a stained glass lampshade and a piece of a wooden chair resting on the slope. We approached to assess the extent of the damage, as we were on our way to visit Kerry and Misa Meyer at the top of Deep Gap Road. The damage to this home was not good.
We continued along Deep Gap Road, encountering more landslides and debris, with another home affected by a landslide. We had to do a lot of climbing over, around, and through the debris. Once again, the conditions were a little muddy and wet. As we approached the intersection of Deep Gap, Bear Pen, and Ogles Gap Roads, we noticed that the Nyegard's footbridge to their property was gone, washed away by the flooding creek. It was shocking!
When we arrived at the intersection of Deep Gap, Bear Pen, and Ogles Gap Roads, we found Kerry Meyer trying to retrieve some of his car parts from the creek. The storm had severely damaged his garage, washing everything inside away. There was also a strong smell of propane in the air, and when we looked down towards the creek, we noticed a large propane tank slowly leaking. The tank had been pushed from the Meyer's property by a landslide that occurred just below their house. Deep Gap Road above was completely torn up, and we couldn't easily get any further up Deep Gap because a creek had cut through the road. The culverts were entirely destroyed.
On our way back home after our grand tour of the mountain, we ran into Andrew Harrington. He was just heading back to his place after reaching the top of Ogles Gap with Alan Fitzgibbons. Andrew informed us that Alan has a satellite dish, which means we would finally be able to access cell phone service and the internet. We were very excited since we had been without electricity, cell phone service, and internet since the evening of the storm. Woohoo! Guess where we’ll be going tomorrow morning? It was very exciting!
Leave a comment (all fields required)
Comments will be approved before showing up.
