Station 15 Reporting

Seeing the news of Hurricane Gustav come ashore in Louisiana, I am reminded that today, two years ago, on Sep. 1, 2006, I was driving my regular courier route to Tappahannock and sharing the road with Tropical Storm Ernesto the entire five hour trip.

The winds were predominantly from the east and were dropping trees across Highway 17 frequently. At one point, while northbound, I had to move as far to my left in the passing lane as I could (without getting into the grass which was a mudpit waiting to trap my van!) to avoid a falling pine tree. The top missed me by inches. This fall happened just prior to the turn for Highway 14 westbound, about 55 miles from home. In the same vicinity earlier, vehicles were stopped while a tree was moved out of the way. I did see one or two VDOT crews out trying to assess and correct damage where they could.

I had seen powerlines down coming up from Gloucester Point. Crossing the Coleman Bridge was a treat--yikes!

I missed Hurricane Isabella when it went through, but I can say I was surprised at just how furious even a tropical storm could be. It did drop atree squarely on a trailer killing a set of parents:

Ernesto heads north

The full details of its entire life a s a named hurricane:

Hurricane Ernesto