DIANE MAKAR MURPHY Former columnist found herself in hurricane's path

Jane Tims retired from writing this column three years ago, but she has not retired from readers' hearts. When Hurricane Isabel slammed into her and her husband Jay's neck of the woods, it seemed the perfect time to ask Jane to return, at least in words, to this space.
"Here on the Northern Neck of Virginia, a peninsula surrounded by the Potomac River, the Chesapeake Bay, and the Rappahannock River, they started warning us about Hurricane Isabel a week early. While others scrambled to stores, we remained cavalier. I'm a native Floridian, right? I know hurricanes.
"On Wednesday, Sept. 17, before her projected Thursday arrival, my husband, Jay, lashed the outdoor furniture to the deck, filled the bathtub and asked the neighbor if his generator did ice cubes. On Thursday morning, I washed and dried a load of clothes, filled an emptied milk jug with water and put new candles in their holders.
"On a whim, I decided to bake a refrigerated ham that we'd bought on sale, hoping it would finish cooking before we lost power. It did, and cockily borrowing time, I threw a rum cake into the oven at 1:20 p.m. At 1:40, I was vacuuming -- me, vacuuming before the storm! -- when the power ceased. I left the nearly raw cake in the closed oven, and the residual heat saw it through.
"As the afternoon progressed, we watched the river crawl steadily up the path. We watched her cover the dock and eventually the seats of the two Adirondack chairs bolted thereto. ... We watched a 25-foot Boston Whaler rush down the river unmanned.
The next day
"We ate ham and rum cake for supper and readied for bed by candlelight. By Friday morning, Isabel was long gone, and we ventured outside to assess the damage on what was a bright and gorgeous day.
"Other than some trees in the woods and a Virginia pine uprooted across our oval driveway and caught in other trees at a 60-degree slant, we fared well. We had no structural damage.
"The storm destroyed thousands of trees throughout the Northern Neck. After an extremely wet summer, a phenomenon Youngstown well understands, the saturated ground couldn't hold the roots. It spewed them up, so that trees fell almost in slow motion onto lawns, in woodlands, across roads, into power lines.
"Property damage is enormous. Still, the Northern Neck made it through Isabel without loss of life. She came at little more than half the pace they'd projected. We are all grateful.
"Early Friday morning, residents hit driveways and roads with chain saws, cutting impeding trees so that cars could get through.
"Truth is, we had prepared for the storm but not for the [power] outage. By Sunday, we had precious little gas in our cars, and drinking water dwindled. The two grocery stores, lacking adequate generators, tossed ruined meat into trucks to be carted away.
"When power to the hospital and the Town of Kilmarnock was restored Sunday night, we moved into a new phase. Gas was available, albeit lines at first were long, and prices were the same as before the storm. Unfortunately, some tree removers looked for fast bucks, and the gouging began. This is a small place; we know who they are.
"By Tuesday after the storm, grocery stores had restocked, and water and ice were available downtown. For two weeks we ate out, cooked on the grill, or gathered at generator houses. The American Red Cross and the Southern Baptist Convention served thousands of meals at the Kilmarnock Baptist Church. St. Andrews Episcopal Church and the YMCA offered their showers to the public.
"Jay went every morning to town to get coffee for us at McDonald's, fill the big green bucket from the hose at Town Hall, and pick up free bags of ice and jugs of drinking and washing water.
Spirit of cooperation
"Utility crews came from Texas, North Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio. Power was restored one road at a time, and those who got it offered emergency supplies to those without. One friend lent us four battery-driven lanterns. Others invited us to move into guest rooms. Although Jay helped others with his chain saw, I spent two weeks doing nothing for anyone, being the eternal recipient, humbled by need and grateful for the spirit of generosity that never ceased.
"Late Tuesday afternoon, Sept. 30, our power returned. There are still others without. Isabel has taken her toll, and lest we forget, we need only look at the landscape, lighter now and littered with remnants of trees that will always remind."
murphy@vindy.com