Natural Disaster Week

Week this week I survived not one, but TWO, natural disasters! Although the earthquake that hit my area on Tuesday was categorized as a 6.0, it didn't feel quite so bad and the most destruction our home felt was some pictures knocked off the walls.

Saturday and Sunday, however, Hurricane Irene roared up the east coast and caused quite a bit more destruction.

The scene in my backyard as Irene came through Saturday afternoon.

Although my parents haven't had power since about midnight on Saturday, we are all safe and there hasn't been much damage. Here is the most that I've seen so far...

The most destruction Antonio and I found - our recycle bin flew down the stairs and emptied and my poor Ravens flamingo had a slight (but fixable!) injury to it's leg...

A tree uprooted in my parents' neighborhood.

The pool behind our house looked like it was seriously going to overflow!

While I personally haven't seen much destruction, I know that people over Maryland and the entire East Coast are waking up to morning to more rebuilding. Irene gained steam coming up my beloved Chesapeake Bay and wreaked havoc on nearby neighborhoods. My aunt had a tree fall through a shed, my uncle lost a porch, and my brother's mom lost part of her garage, a brand new front porch and a car port. A number of people in their neighborhoods lost their homes completely. Here's a look at what happened around Maryland this weekend... (All images found via Google images)

The pier in Ocean City, MD

The boardwalk in Ocean City, MD covered in a sand drift

A house in Annapolis, only 15 minutes from where I live

My family and loved ones were all very lucky to get out of this with minor tree and water damage. I hope you will join me in continuing to help and pray for those who were more affected by this disaster.