Chapter 2 - Tropical Storm Arthur - First Twelve Hours
Horrific wind and rain start Friday night. I think to myself, "Rain could get into this trailer (RV) again. It already did and that was melting snow and ice. Imagine what a tropical storm could do?" I fall asleep thinking as long as my feet are not in water when I get up tomorrow morning, I am good! And CeCe and I were. Off we went before noon Saturday, to man a Red Cross Information booth at the Pabineau First Nations Annual Two Day PowWow. For three days, all we heard about was Hurricane Arthur, and then Tropical Storm Arthur, and how high the winds were going to be, along with the 80 to 100 mm of rain forecast for this area. I kept waiting to hear that the PowWow was cancelled, at least for Saturday. Nope! So we drive there in the middle of the storm, wind and rain like I haven't seen in a long time. We get soaked just running into the building. Well, they weren't ready for this, we are told. READY? We are the Red Cross; we inform people how to be ready for emergencies like this! There is no room for our booth in the main lodge room, so we are tucked away in an adjoining room, to set up our kiosque. Again, we are told, they were NOT expecting this. WTH? What planet have they been on the last few days? Did I mention that we now realize that there is no power, no water, no food, and no flushing toilets? They are dumping big bottles of water into the toilets! So we sit there for three hours, in the semi-darkness, but what the heck, it was fun! We met lots of wonderful people and got to listen to all the different drums. I even danced in one of the dances, me in my Red Cross vest, and the First Nations in their beautiful headresses and traditional garb. It was awesome. I loved it!
We head back home around 4:30, to check on the dogs, and be at my sister's sweet little beach house, ( aka a cottage) for supper at 6 and a hen party. The storm is still furious - bits of debris (nothing big!) flying everywhere. The closer to the water, the bigger the fury. Baby Bro's, where I am staying in his RV, is in the woods, so I figure it won't be so bad there, but it is. I see flashing lights further ahead of me, before I turn left to go towards home. I wonder what they are. The pooches are fine, so we change out of our wet clothes, get our stuff and leave for the beach house. I get to the end of road, see that to my left, there are STILL flashing lights, in the distance. Normally I would go that way. However, I would have to double back on the 134 to get to my sista's. Plus I don't know why those lights are flashing. They aren't traffic lights. So, I think, "Nope, I am not going that way. I am not going back towards where I came either, which I would do by turning right. It is too far. I am going to take that short cut my sis-in-law #2 told me about. I will cut through the middle of the woods. I won't have to double back at all, and will come out near sista's cottage. So off we go down this new road. Well, you guessed it. 2K from my destination, what do I see ahead.? Friggin' flashing lights! Firetruck blocking the road, transformer down and wires on the road, the fireman tells me. Turn around, go back by Laplante. I tell him there are flashing lights down that road too. For a minute I think, OMG, we are stuck here! Happily, we weren't. I just had to turn around and go back and take the road I SHOULD have taken in the first place. Karma bit me in the ass again!
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