The Day After Hurricane Dorian

I swear I didn't ask her to pose!  LOL.  She was facing left and as I continued to make some images, she turned then put
her foot up. Perfect! Everything seems back to normal just one day after the storm. (click to enlarge)
This was a difficult image to edit.  It is backlit and cropped 50%.  I played with converting it to black and white but,
in the end, left it in its original color rendition.  Black and white may have been a better choice as the heavily overcast
sky and high humidity made everything blue/blah.
Olympus E-M1 Mark II; 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens at 100mm; 1/800th sec. @ f/10; ISO 200

My assumptions about this hurricane, Dorian, proved correct.  Hurricane Dorian for my location was a non-event.  That is not to say it didn't wreak havoc in the region.  The Outer Banks of North Carolina were pummeled.  Ocracoke Island is still largely closed and there is no power.  Virginia Beach and the Eastern Shore of Virginia had some pretty severe sustained winds, flooding and massive power outages.  There was lots of tidal flooding in all of southeastern Virginia as well.

As for me, the 3-4 inches of rain predicted the morning of the storm proved to be only 1 inch.  We didn't have a downpour, only a continuous moderate rain for a few hours.  We often times get more than that on a normal rainy day.  

The 35-45 mph sustained tropical force winds that were also predicted for my city turned into what I would characterize as a "breezy day."  But...you never can quite tell what is going to happen with these storm tracks as, in the past, they have made unexpected turns and fooled many of the weather forecasters.  Preparedness is essential and never underestimate a storm such as this one, no matter what your assumptions may be.

On Saturday morning, the day after the storm, I drove over to one of my favorite places in the region to photograph—Messick Point in Poquoson, Virginia.  Since it is right at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay and the bay is to the east (east is the direction the winds and water would have come from), I wanted to see if any damage occurred and how much the easterly winds pushed the water up over normal levels.

This dock is about 4 1/2 ft. above the level of the water. You can see the debris left behind. (click to enlarge)
The other dock is closer to the water level.
Olympus E-M1 Mark II; 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens at 17mm; 1/400th sec. @ f/5.6; ISO 200

The debris is between 5 and 6 ft. above the normal tide level. (click to enlarge)
Olympus E-M1 Mark II; 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens at 16mm; 1/500th sec. @ f/5.6; ISO 200

From what I observed, I would estimate the water rose about 5-6 ft. above normal tide levels.  The dock is covered with debris indicating the water was washing over the dock and the grass adjacent to the parking lot also has debris.  What I didn't make an image of was that across the road (behind me as I made the above images) had been covered and the water pushed up the slope on the other side of the road a bit more.  However, I didn't see any damage and the parking lot was full as lots of boats had been launched to go out and have fun, fish and enjoy the sunny, albeit quite humid, late summer day.  

Friday, a potentially deadly hurricane quickly turned into Saturday,  a normal day for fishing and boating.

As you can see in the image at the top of the post, life also quickly returned to normal for the gulls and anglers.  It was just another Saturday.  There will be another storm in the future!  Always is.  Life goes on.

Join me over at Instagram @dennisamook or my website, www.dennismook.com. 

Thanks for looking. Enjoy! 

Dennis A. Mook 

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