Storms Net Positive

[DBOldford]

I would be interested to hear from locals as to some of the net positive aspects of Mother Nature's wrath during the past year. For example, looks like we received quite a bit of white sand redeposited from the wave action precipitated by Katrina. I also recall seeing some comments about realignment of the Western Lake and the Eastern Lake inlets. How are we doing with the fishing? How is our coastal vegetation looking, given the heavy rains that came with the storms? Reports are that Monarch butterfly migrating population are way up, and are we starting to see evidence of this now? What about our birds, particularly my beloved cardinals and that game pelican that hangs out along the surf at Grayton? Seems we have had so much tragedy and sadness to bear with the storms, and we need to see some of the constructive natural phenomenon as balm. Anyone?

 

[wetwilly]

The locals can probably add alot more to this thread than a part time Seagrover but.....

Don't know the balance of positive vs negative but when we were down Laborday weekend it looked like the beach held up pretty well from Katrina and no new property or beach damage since Dennis that I clould see.

I noticed as others have commented that the sandbars have been moved, reshaped and are irregular (shallower er in some places than others and non existent in some spots ). As for wildlife, we saw porpoise (sp?) off the beach in the calm waters several morning, the baitfish were rampant, and the Whiting were biting real well from the surf. Several large crabs were spotted in the surf and in the lakeside of the Eastern Lake out/inflow and my son caught but did not land a 3-4 lb flounder in the lake. He is 9 yrs old and has his 1st "the big one got away story of his own...".

In some areas, several piles of scraped sand that was piled up as new, man made "dunes" were still in place from where the dozers put them after Dennis scrapings but in other areas the piles were not there anymore. we aminly stayed in our general vicinity of Eastern Lake. As said the Dog Flies were rampant but that is seasonal and not attributed to the hurricanes directly but a northwesterly wind pattern (that is probably attributed to the hurricane season). Just my take on this net positive net negative issue.

 

[Kurt]

It's been a crazy year with all the changes. Wildlife and fish have been fine. Katrina and Cindy did a good job of adding sand. We just need a lot of time for the dunes to rebuild.

A lot of the vegetation has been burned by all the salt blown onshore since Ivan.

 

[Smiling JOe]

Donna, we really didn't get the heavy rains with the hurricanes. I was quite surprised and very pleased.

 

[ktschris]

Another positive on the community --- I think the hurricanes brought all of us together. I lurked on this board for well over a year, after Ivan, I registered and just recently started posting. Maybe its just a coincidence, but the member list seems to grow with each storm. Not everyone stays, but it does seem we keep a few more friends each time. I don't know if this was the kind of thing Donna was looking for -- but I felt it was important to point out.

 

[kathydwells]

Another positive on the community --- I think the hurricanes brought all of us together. I lurked on this board for well over a year, after Ivan, I registered and just recently started posting. Maybe its just a coincidence, but the member list seems to grow with each storm. Not everyone stays, but it does seem we keep a few more friends each time. I don't know if this was the kind of thing Donna was looking for -- but I felt it was important to point out.

And it is a very good point!

 

[DBOldford]

Thanks for the feedback from everyone. I couldn't agree more with the comments about communications, too. This board has provided us with information that we couldn't get anywhere else, including photos of our property after hurricanes (thank you, Smilin' Joe) and reports from Kurt. It's fun to hear about the beaches and to get ideas from others, especially since we do not get to spend as much time there as we would like. I wanted to post a +++ thread because we've had so much in the way of storm damage and complaints on the board. Let the good times roll! :clap_1:

 

[Smiling JOe]

Another positive on the community --- I think the hurricanes brought all of us together. I lurked on this board for well over a year, after Ivan, I registered and just recently started posting. Maybe its just a coincidence, but the member list seems to grow with each storm. Not everyone stays, but it does seem we keep a few more friends each time. I don't know if this was the kind of thing Donna was looking for -- but I felt it was important to point out.

and we are pleased to see you posting.

 

[ktschris]

Shucks...Thank you