The usual section of US 98 out on the island was under water, as Nature want to cut a channel through the island, probably because of a seafloor change after Ivan directing the surge in at that point.

Most of the larger branches were remnants of damage in earlier storms finally coming loose from the trees.

There was one bad band that came through around 2AM, but everything else was less than an afternoon thunderstorm.

The cats were quiet, crouched together, under the futon.

Yeah, cats don’t trust change in their environment.

the storm drains here were well and truly clogged after ivan, and for a long time too, so the tropical [and even the nontropical] storms that came through here for the next few years flooded streets and neighborhoods quite a bit more than usual. this might be the first time since ivan that the flooding was closer to ‘normal’ for this amount of rain, at least in parts of the city.

yesterday afternoon a little before dark [and several hours before ida’s landfall], i took the dog out for a long run since it seemed likely he was going to be shut in the house for a longer time than usual, with only very short and infrequent bathroom breaks. we went down to one of the bayous where it was obvious something besides a mere band of thunderstorms was going on [had i not already been informed by the intarwebz] — the water had already risen ~1.5′ higher than usual.

a few downed power lines in my neighborhood beginning yesterday afternoon [old, lots of trees, not much in the way of underground utilities], and the phone company and cable company were out today, working on their boxes. other than that, fairly uneventful here.

oh, and the cats were freaked out by the porch furniture and flowerpots taking up space in their living room.