ericadawn16 | Hurricane Milton

It's not my first rodeo. I felt Irma was the storm to compare all others to...

But Milton was way worse. For one thing, he took down the tree that we'd been watching as problematic, but it was on the wrong side of the fence to do something about it. It made the loudest, most horrible noise as it snuggled with our roof and smacked our overhang out of place. As Milton continued, it ripped the tree apart further although the pieces still remain in our yard, mostly the backyard.

My town was cut off from the outside world. Every road connecting it to somewhere else was flooded, blocked by fallen trees, debris, or just plain destroyed. Our electricity flickered out. Our internet and cellphone coverage became non-existent or spotty. I know we were lucky. I have friends in Asheville where we didn't hear from them for about a week and were beginning to accept they may be dead before we heard from them.

It's still a weird feeling though. Every trip has to be carefully planned and made with the understanding that you will be turning around, going down alternate routes, and taking so much more time than before. Routes that used to take 10-15 minutes are now 30-50 minutes. Do you realize how hard it is to see your hometown in ruins? So much of the places tied with your childhood memories are now destroyed, flooded, or with trees down. There are so many businesses flooded or torn apart in the wind. The vast majority of older mobile homes are all destroyed. The carports and closed-in porches of the newer ones are all gone. I feel bad for all the businesses, but I feel worse for the homes, especially the ones that were barely hanging together before; their owners barely able to make it day by day.

And Milton wasn't even that close, he was 45 miles away! Supposedly, his most powerful winds wouldn't have even reached us. I can write this because those beautiful linemen just turned our power back on, but so many will still spend days without any power. Prayers or whatever you believe will be much appreciated for my town and everyone in it.

*Someone on a community page has claimed their wind monitor captured 123 mph.