Jarvis Landing

Jarvis Landing is a community of about 35 vacation homes on the Pamlico River near Aurora, NC (although a few residents do live here permanently). Every home on the street suffered a fate similar to ours.

From what we can tell, the river flooded its banks as a 6 to 7 foot storm surge swept through the community.

Here's the video I shot as we were first arriving at Jarvis Landing:

Nothing can prepare you for a sight like that.

As we assessed the damage it was clear what we had lost: everything. And what was salvageable: nothing.

The only thing we really could do was try to take it all in, remarking at the items left scattered in the yard, and the things that we had no idea where they might have gone.

This was a brand new queen-size mattress:

Can you image how powerful that water must have been to reduce it to this?

Where the pump house used to sit:

And the sun room:

Flat-screen TV anyone?

This tree that's laying down in the yard is not ours (we actually didn't lose any trees). Our theory is that it floated into the yard from Indian Island across the river.

Some festive 4th of July leftovers:

And of course pictures:

Snapshots scattered all up and down the road.

A few lighthouses left somewhat intact and a jar of pickles:

The amount of stuff that we can't locate at all is unbelievable. The refrigerator? Gone. The entire barn? No clue. The oversized picnic table where we've shared so many wonderful meals? Vanished.

We did spot some of our furniture in the marsh and woods across the street.

Can you make out the plaid in the middle? That's our couch.

We've lost our pier in hurricanes past, so when we rebuilt it, we built it in sections that could be taken up in the event of a storm. Dad went down last week and removed the sections and tied them up in the yard. The pieces are nowhere to be found now.

Here's a short tour of the property (sorry that I get loud at the end!):

But all of these things are just "stuff" that can be replaced. But there were some things that are irreplaceable:

• Dad's "river journals" -- where every weekend he meticulously documented who was down there that weekend, the activities and events of the weekend and how and where the fish were biting.
• His pride and joy 8+ lb trout , stuffed and mounted on the wall.
• Two paintings by my great-grandmother, recently framed and hung in the dining room.

The trout and paintings might still be hanging on the walls, if only we knew where the walls were. But they are nowhere to be found.

All up and down the street the scene was the same:

But again, everyone is safe at that is what matters.

We had insurance and we will rebuild.

It will take time but we'll be back. Slowly but surely Jarvis Landing will clean up, dust off and get to the hard work of rebuilding this community from the ground up.

And we will forever be stronger because of it.