River House Diary

My brother and his wife looked in on our house this morning. The French doors in the great room had been secured but had been blown open and were flapping around, a lot of the erosion control fencing was gone and we may have lost some roof shingles. Ted was amazed at how different the conditions were right on the river. This morning the wind was blowing about 20 mph at his house but were still about 60 mph at our house. The river is still an angry beast. The angry Neuse River; courtesy of Ted Jennings Looks like our erosion situation fared fairly well; courtesy of Dawn Jennings

Hurricane Dorian has strengthened a bit and may make landfall at Cape Fear, Cape Lookout or Hatteras. Even if it doesn’t make landfall, its brush with the North Carolina coast is predicted to bring monsoon rains and storm surge Thursday and Friday. At least it’s moving faster than Florence so its effects on the area will not last as long. Our builder spent yesterday trying to limit the erosion caused by water pouring off our gutter-less roof. More Dorian preparation; courtesy Austin Bayliss

The National Weather Service is currently predicting tropical storm or hurricane conditions for New Bern this Thursday and Friday with 5 to 7 inches of rain, 4 to 7 feet of storm surge and, of course, high winds. Our builder has begun prepping our house for Dorian. They've shored up all the silt fences along the property line and river, had the trash dumpster emptied and will move all building material and supplies in the garage. We are still fighting an erosion problem, which will be permanently resolved when a French drain and our gutters are installed. We wish our roof could be completed before the storm. Silt fences along the seawall; courtesy Austin Bayliss Erosion area; courtesy of Austin Bayliss

Our bulkhead lost the top board during Hurricane Florence. Our builder had that repaired earlier this month and we got our first look at it today. You'll also notice that both our neighbors lost their docks as well. We'd like something similar that has stairs down to our new small beach ... courtesy of Florence. Looking up river. Our new bulkhead top boards are in the foreground; personal collection Looking down river. We lost some of our riprap rocks during Hurricane Florence; personal collection

Hurricane Florence made landfall just south of Wrightsville Beach as a Category 1 hurricane on September 14, but she outstayed her welcome by moving ever so slowly away from New Bern. While visiting she drove water up the Neuse River and dumped almost 36 inches of rain, causing record flooding. Our lot had some damage. Downed trees, which wasn't a problem as they were all where the house will be located; courtesy of Ted Jennings Our bulkhead needs some cosmetic repairs; courtesy of Ted Jennings The debris field indicates the high water mark and boy did our neighbor's roof take a hit; courtesy of Ted Jennings