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So here we are September 2017, watching the Weather Channel predict our impending doom. I was thinking the whole time there is no way, we just had Hurricane Matthew last October, and so we should be good for a hundred years. Right? I remember Matthew like it was yesterday. Same coverage, Weather Channel on all day every day for weeks. As far as I knew, all of 14th St. beachside residents were staying. Thursday night we visited some of the south end bars, and a lot of the Tybee residents had already evacuated. My Thursday night drivers, Stephen and Kelly, were taking care of Breezy that night because they had decided to stay as well. I had a few adult beverages that night and most of the evening was a blur. I woke up Friday around noon to find out that 80% of the island, who said they were staying, had bounced before I had even gotten out of bed. I got it, when you have a police officer stop by and ask, “Who is staying? The chief wants me to get a body count,” this question can be taken the wrong way. I got a text from Stephen and Kelly that they too had decided to leave. It was a Mandatory Evacuation so I couldn’t tell them no. I said, “Don’t worry, we are shutting Breezy down for the day anyway. You know there is a hurricane coming?” Then I got word that the Mayor was trying to get in touch with us, so we just turned the Breezy phone off. Problem solved. Joey and Leigh had been out driving around the island and had seen the convoy of Tybee Island Police Force leaving the island with a big U-Haul in tow. When they got home we took two of our vehicles to Beachside Colony parking deck, seeking higher ground. After that we all took a tour of the island (I will confess I did 90 mph down Butler, it was awesome). As we were driving north, I saw that a friend of ours had parked his cars at the post office. With those huge pine trees over there I thought they may be in harm’s way. I called my friend and suggested he move them to the parking deck. He said, “Ron we have been drinking already.” I told him, “If you’re ever going to drink and drive, today is the day.” We all remember what happened to the post office. But his cars ended up being fine. The tide was supposed to be at low tide during the time we were riding around. We went to Breezy Point to look at the pontoon boat that sits in the mud during low tide. It wasn’t sitting in mud, it was riding high. We went by 2nd St. to the beach access and the waves were pushing the ocean onto the road. Again it was low tide. We went by Alley 3 and the water was as high as the road and the tide was coming in fast. Not good. We all returned back to our little 2nd story apartment. I’m going to confess that I was as nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof. My original plan was to evacuate, however Leigh and Joey said they were not. I told them, “Well I guess the dogs and I will go to my mom’s.” They told me that long trip wouldn’t be good for our elderly dogs. I don’t know, made sense at the time. Anyway, I was pacing across the front porch into the living room, through the kitchen, back to the porch. I was pretty much on my toes. After about 10 minutes of that Joey told me, “Like dude, you need to take a shot. You are freaking out!” I replied that I didn’t think this was the time to get drunk, we all needed to be as alert as possible. “Take a half a shot to calm your nerves,” Joey insisted. I have to admit that half shot of Irish whiskey did make me feel better. We had power so we still had the TV and internet. The coverage of Matthew was making me feel better about our decision. I recall a reporter saying that the palm fronds were falling down and the Spanish moss was being blown. 34 TYBEE BEACHCOMBER | OCT 2017 By Ron Goralczyk You can breathe on Spanish moss and it will blow. It’s an air plant, it has no weight, and it just hangs there. We started getting reports that the storm would definitely weaken and start making its way east before it got to Tybee. That half gallon of Irish whiskey was calling my name. As good as a half shot was, a full shot was twice as good. Imagine that. Then I went Facebook Live. “This is Ron Goralczyk reporting live from Tybee Island.” I was giving updates from 14th Street, keeping my eye on the parking lot, looking for any type of storm surge. I also had my eye on the pool canopy at Hotel Tybee. That canopy was dancing around. I was sure it would be smashed into the Brass Rail condos before the storm ended. I was getting feedback from my live coverage that the north end of Tybee had been without power since early in the evening and that Wilmington Island had lost power before that. So I felt it my duty to show reports from the Weather Channel during my live coverage. I grabbed my wooden spoon because I didn’t have a microphone; you should look professional when reporting the news. The wind gusts had been blowing south during the storm. Watching it blow the rain as it hit the ground reminded me of a jet dryer like they use in Nascar. Our porch faces south so we could stay out there without getting wet. It was probably around midnight when we saw the first roofing shingle fall from the sky. The gusts were getting stronger, but I was still convinced by the Weather Channel that this was a bad as it should get. Forecast said it would start going east out to sea anytime now. However, the storm went on for hours. Around 2:25am we lost power. By 3:30am no one on the island had power. Hurricanes are a lot easier to deal with when you have power. It was completely black and very loud. I was still on the porch with a mag light with fresh batteries, so I could still see the parking lot and I was still watching the canopy. Little did I know Leigh and Joey were in the kitchen with the bottle of Jamison, doing shots out of milk glasses. They had enough of the storm and decided to euthanize themselves. It worked. When I came in the house they were passed out in the living room. I was thinking the dogs must have taken a shot as well, because they were passed out too. I was on the porch watching the parking lot when I heard a loud boom in front of Hotel Tybee. It was the canopy coming through the fence right for our building! It busted through the fence, hit 14th Street and the hurricane force winds took it …off to the beach. Thank God! The canopy wedged itself under the 14th Street crossover. I ran into the living room screaming, “You guys are missing everything!” No response from my crew. I got a text from my friend who had left his cars at the post office asking “When is this going to end?” I told him I didn’t know. It looked like my radar was locked up. The eye had been sitting there and had not moved. Wtf? I decided to take a big shot myself and have a seat in the living room. I was waiting on the winds to settle down. I wanted to put my phone in the car to charge it, but with all that flying debris I figured it was best to just wait. At 8am my neighbors, Debra and Clint, returned from 18th and Butler where they had decided to ride the storm out. They were standing on the porch and I heard, “Good morning! You guys all right?” The rest of the story we all shared. The year has flown by and not every home has been repaired. We are Tybee Strong and we take it day by day. Memories of Matthew


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