In May 2018 I spent a full week doing genealogy research in the Cape Fear River Valley, North Carolina. The weather was beautiful with blue skies and sunshine most of the week. When I got to Wilmington it rained and rained. It rained so hard that I thought I would be washed into the sea.
Then I drove home through South Carolina across north Georgia and Alabama into Tennessee and north–visiting libraries and archives along the way and gathering bits of genealogy as well as a lot of Southern geography.
Later I watched in amazement as Hurricane Florence hit North Carolina and Myrtle beach areas, where I had just been, with a vengeance.
And today Hurricane Michael smashed into West Florida as a Category 4 with a large well-defined eye. Billed as the strongest and hardest hurricane since 1851 with winds up to 155 miles per hour and sheets of rain driving storm surges up to 18 feet.
Be of good cheer–the commentators have pointed out that Florence brought much needed rainfall to a parched South and Michael made landfall over the air force base narrowly missing the populated areas of the West Florida coast and their economic centers. Miles of white sand beaches and oyster beds.
Seems Michael turned to the right at the last minute. Be of good cheer. Your favorite genealogist, Arlene Eakle
PS Be of good cheer–Hurricanes, like all natural disasters, cost much in money and effort and even lives. The economic recovery brings money and renewed efforts and even new life to the South.