Dear Readers,

Remember how in April of 2020 we had storm damage to the house that resulted in something like 30K of repair/renovation work and the insurance denied the claim? Well….

On Monday, I went to have my pre-op Covid test, which I passed. I had only been home for an hour when my surgeon called to tell me all surgeries for the next day were canceled due to Hurricane Nicholas’ expected arrival Monday night. I was half expecting that, so we rescheduled for first thing in the morning on Tuesday the 21st.

The rain and winds started up that evening, but it wasn’t too bad. I got in bed at 10:15pm and around 10:30, I heard a low rumble and the house jolted for a second. At first, I thought one of the refineries had blown up because that’s what it sounded/felt like. My wife went outside and discovered that the massive tree in the abandoned house next door’s backyard had fallen on us.

Thankfully, my 1930s home is built solid. It’s like the Mike Tyson of houses. There was no structural damage, but the branches punched some holes in the roof. Given that the wind was gusting over 60mph with heavy rainfall, we took some water damage inside.

We were able to get the tree cut off the house Tuesday evening and a tarp over the holes in the roof, but we were without power from Monday night through this morning. When the tree fell, I shut the power off at the breaker (my firefighter instincts are still there), and we waited to turn it on until my electrician could check it out this morning.

We are probably looking at 10-15K in repairs this time around, but thankfully since it was a tree falling during a hurricane, the insurance is going to have a harder time denying the claim. It sucks, but that’s the trade off when live on the Gulf Coast. I’m a few blocks from the Bay, with great scenery and a beach within walking distance of the house, but all that comes with the risk of hurricanes.

The important thing is that we are okay, the cats are okay, and the house is still standing. And surgery next week is as good as this week.

Until next time, friends, take care of yourselves. And each other.

L.H.