I am a grandmother paddling alone over 2,500 miles from Maine to Guatemala. Along the way I will be:
- telling the story of the children who live in the Guatemala City garbage dump community
- honoring their entrepreneurial mothers
- talking about the success of the Safe Passage model school and
- raising funds for additional grades for the school.

Saturday, October 3, 2015

Trapped in bad weather in Charleston, South Carolina

Atmospheric River pumping tropical rain right to Charleston, South Carolina
National weather reporters are calling Charleston, South Carolina the worst place in the US weather wise with a once in a lifetime weather event.  National Weather Service calling it a 1/200 or even a 1/500 year event with over 16 inches of rain.  An "atmospheric river" is pumping tropical water up from Hurricane Joaquin.  There are flood warnings on the rivers and rip tide warnings on the coast.  It would be a very dangerous time to be kayaking, especially as I would be paddling these flooded rivers.

While glad I'm not on the water, I'm not feeling real comfy staying here in Charleston on one of the creeks.  It is a small tidal creek, so hopefully the rain based flooding will not be too bad.   The tides today are predicted to be one of the ten highest tides ever recorded.  I'll feel better after high tide at 1:00 p.m.  Isolated tornados are also being predicted.  Although this is rare, there were tornadoes here on James Island earlier this week.

If there is an evacuation notice I will have to beg a ride with neighbors, as there is no vehicle where I am staying.  I'll keep you posted.

Gratitude list:
  1. Watching the heavens pour from inside a dry house
  2. Time to reflect on the purpose of this expedition
  3. Messages of support from Maine to Florida
  4. Time to create the biography, the photos and the presentations for the award to be announced October 20th
  5. Sleeping with the lovely sound of rain on a hot tin roof.
UPDATE:  CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) -- All traffic to Charleston, Folly Beach and Edisto Beach are shut down and Dorchester County set a curfew from 6 p.m. to 7 a.m. in response to widespread flooding across the Lowcountry.

President Obama declared a state of emergency in South Carolina.  The list of road closures is long, including the roads to get me by road to Edisto Island tomorrow as planned.

Walked to the grocery store to get food for today, but many refrigerated shelves and cases are empty because of frequent power outages.

So glad to be safe and dry.

Deb and Ellie


Date: Saturday, October 3, 2015
Location: James Island, Charleston, South Carolina
Host: Ellie Maas Davis


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