Isaias regained hurricane strength as it passed by the low country, thankfully just offshore, the night of Monday, August 3, 2020.
Isaias was the first tropical system to affect us since we purchased the house back in March. Knowing that the storm would be relatively mild, and wanting to see how high the tide would get before the salt water encroached into the yard, we decided to have a family sleepover!
The winds started picking up around dinner time. I believe the wind gusts were only about 45 MPH, which is well below tropical storm strength. It was dusk before the salt water reached the rain water. The storm surge, about 4’, was underestimated with this system. As Isaias approached, the tide was coming in. But it wasn’t just a normal high tide. It was a full-moon king tide, higher than any other time of the month. Pair that with 6” of rainfall and, at the peak of high tide, around 9:00 PM, there was about three feet of water under the house, no grass was visible, and the downstairs fridge was floating!
When the wind died down, the tide turned and the water started to recede, we went to bed. The following morning we were greeted with very little water in the yard, almost no mess from the storm surge and a stunning sunrise.
With just a little bit of clean up we are back to normal. Well, almost. I don’t think the fridge will make a recovery.
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