On 17 September 2003 coastal eastern Virginia was officially placed in a hurricane warning status.  That warning was for Isabel.  The next day she made landfall in North Carolina, though her 100+ mph winds were easily felt in Chesapeake where we lived.  The below image is from the National Hurricane Center showing Isabel as she made landfall on 18 September 2003.

As you can see, she was whipping hurricane-speed winds from South Carolina all the way into upstate Pennsylvania and as far west as Ohio.  She officially made landfall as a category II hurricane, but was sporting a category V status for much of her existence (over the ocean).  Dramatically, she actually increased in speed when she made landfall.  And to many, that was a God-send, because at 13 mph she wouldn't linger too long in your backyard.

Kelly and the girls hunkered down and weathered the storm on their own.  Don was required to spend the entire duration, from 4:00 am on Wednesday until noon on Friday, on the boat.  Because the boat was in a dry dock, every effort was made to protect the boat, including having 50+ personnel onboard.  And whenever there are personnel onboard and isolated from outside help, Don has to be there in the event they need medical assistance.  The view of the hurricane from the shipyard (and dry dock) was impressive.  Kel recounted similarly impressive sights at home, including watching our fences blow away.  For three days we were without power and our phones were gone for four.  All in all it cost us about $200 in lost food (for which we are finally saving to buy a generator) and the owners of our house about $2000 in repairs.

The below pictures are of the damage Isabel inflicted on our house in Chesapeake.  We were, by far, very lucky in the damage we sustained.  Neighbors just houses away had entire sides of their houses ripped off, roofs missing, and trees in their living rooms.  Both of our side fences were blown down (as were all the fences on the whole block - 11 houses total), the awning on the back door was partially ripped off, some siding was pulled free, and we lost about 2 dozen roof shingles (most wound up in the pool!!!).  The damage to the trees was minimal (young, flexible trees), though clean-up took me the whole weekend.  A week later, the whirring sound of chain-saws was still ever-present in the neighborhood.  The damage seemed that it would (and did) take months to repair as construction and roofing contractors were overwhelmed with work.