Eight inches of rain?
Well, actually 7.9, but that is still one helluva lot of water coming down here in a 48-hour period.
When my wife and I were thinking about moving east from California 15 years ago, she had some requirements as far as the climate. No hurricanes or tornados, no flooding and no frigid winters. Since we had been living in Los Angeles, wanting to avoid earthquakes went without saying.
So we weren’t moving to Florida.
No problem. I am not fond of Florida.
We weren’t moving to the Great Plains.
Hey, I’ve been to Oklahoma and Kansas enough for one lifetime.
We weren’t moving to Minnesota or either Dakota.
No explanation needed.
So we bought a house in Griffin, Georgia, and the first year we were here, a tornado wiped out buildings about seven miles from us.
Not much else happened for quite a long time. Just about the only weather-related stuff came when we would get significant amounts of rain from various Atlantic hurricanes. The winters were mild, the summers were hot and humid. Hey, it is Georgia after all.
Then in January 2023, a much more powerful tornado came through Griffin about five miles south of where we live. This one was strong enough that it uprooted massive trees and dropped them on houses and cars.
Thankfully, not our car or our house.
A few years back, rain and wind related to a Florida hurricane caused a power outage of three hours or so. Still, realistically we had gotten what we wanted in terms of avoiding natural catastrophes.
That will probably be the case with Hurricane Helene too, although the storm itself may be headed right at us.
When I checked the weather on my iPhone this morning, I saw we had received 2.9 inches of rain in the last 24 hours. That’s a lot, but it’s hardly get the kids and pets into the ark kind of weather.
The second number I saw was more of an eye-opener. It said we would get 5.0 inches of rain in the next 24 hours.
If 2.9 was a lot, 5.0 is a lot lot.
Good thing we have no kids or pets living with us.