Ocracoke Waves on Squarespace

We recently got to taste tropical storm Hanna.  Her visit was short and educational.  Given my experience on the Canadian coast with winter storms coating power lines with salt infused ice, I should not have been surprised by how much salt Hanna brought to the area.

First Hanna's winds blew straight up the White Oak River.  Based on what I saw our river waters which are salty to start with got a serious extra dose of salt.

We had a minor storm surge of around three feet.  From these pictures you can see the higher levels of water and the areas after the water receded.

My favorite clump of cattails apparently did not like the extra saltiness of the water.  I am hoping that the inch plus of rain that we got this afternoon might help some of the plants that seem to be suffering from the storm surge.

I was surprised to see that even the grass that was flooded seems a little under the weather. 

While I am guessing at some of this, there were reports in the local papers that most of the power outages in our area were not from downed lines but from transformers that shorted out because of the salt coating they got.  Apparently some lines and transformers had to be washed down to remove the salt.

While the salt might not have been good for our electrical service or some of the plants, my guess is that it helped with the fish in the river.  I'm looking forward to see if the extra dose of salt has improved the early fall fishing which is still pretty slow.

The cattails and the grass weren't the only casualties of the storm.  I think my tomato plants got beaten to death by the winds.  Shortly after the storm they looked like they had been frosted.

I never would have guessed that a wind storm would take out my tomatoes.