The internet is either a blessing or a curse. But I am watching WTOCNEWS in Savannah live streaming! It is non stop coverage of Hurricane Matthew! This sounds very serious.
Richmond Hill is evacuated under mandatory evacuation as is all of Savannah. SAvannah is a huge metro area and extends into South Carolina and the Hilton Head area.
We are not sure how the Hurricane will affect our area. The biggest problem will be flooding if high tide and the surge occur at the same time. Savannah and Hilton Head both have extremely high and low tides that go miles inland. It is rather amazing, almost like the Bay of Bundy in New Brunswick, Canada.
So I am in a bit of a panic in being an absentee father in such a big crisis for my parish. OF course, I would have had to evacuate with everyone else and more than likely would have gone to Augusta where my sister lives. That's about 2 and a half hours away compared to 11 hours here in Rome by jet!
Please pray for all who are in harm's way. The WTOCNEWS is telling everyone to get out and if they don't they won't have emergency services and more than likely will die! That is scary.
I concelebrated Mass this morning at the tomb of St. Peter's at the Basilica. My Mass intention was for the SAvannah and Charleston dioceses and its people living on the coast. God bless them all.
Please pray that people will be wise. There were people on Hilton Head Beach a few minute ago when WTOCNEWS had a live story from the beach near my family's condo! Stupid are some to say the least.
12 comments:
Fr AJM, Don't worry that you are away you could do nothing here anyway. The local news here is most concerned with Charleston. It could be that this is where the storm hits land. Savannah is also a real worry. I am praying for you family home in Hilton Head and I am praying for my family home in Amelia Island. The surge looks horrible. Just have to pray and trust God and the most important prayer is for people not our homes.
My prayer goes first for people and animals. My second concern is for homes and the beautiful island trees. I am also almost in a panic worried about my church and the church cemetery where entire generations of my family are buried on Amelia Island. Amelia Island has the river on one side and the ocean on the other. The cemetery is right next to the river. My family has a beautiful celtic cross marking their graves and in front of the graves is a huge 15 foot angel we call Mahoney. This statue is over 100 years old. They could never be replaced. I know it may sound foolish to worry over stones but the thought of my family graves floating out into the ocean is horrible. Please pray for Amelia Island.
I love Amelia Island and had a wedding at your church there 4 years ago for a Macon parishioner. I hear Atlantic Beach is getting 100 mph winds now which is close, very close to A.
A suggestion: you might consider starting a post for people to relay and post information about your parishoners,i.e. Whereabouts, condition, plans, etc. You can smite the trolls and stray comments at your discretion (I recommend a calibre that starts with a '4'). I suspect you have other ecomms with your people vis email, so If you chose to take my suggestion encourage your contacts in the parish to network with each other and use their phones to monitor the blog while enroute to safety. You can give help and hope from right where you are.
They told me horses could not out run the tide in Fundy. Not sure about Bundy 😆
Please pray for my church Fr.. Please pray for my island. The storm is not even there yet and we are hearing that Amelia Island is flooding badly. Did you have the wedding in my historical church St. Michael or the larger Catholic church on the mainland. St. Michael and that cemetery are my heart. Its flooding right near there and the storm is still not there. I know your prayers for St. Michael will help. My home is right down from the church. I can rebuild the house but the church was just this year renovated. It cost us so much.
I have been to Amelia Island as well as some of the barrier islands off the coast of Georgia. All these islands are very vulnerable to sustaining heavy damage from a large
hurricane. It's not just that the winds a very powerful, which of course they are, but because hurricanes are so large in size, any area in the path of one has to endure hour after hour of punishing winds and along the coastline, the continuous pounding of high waves from the storm surge. This puts a lot of stress on structures trees and beaches. Many of these islands are susceptible to major flood damage.
Kelley-by all means we must pray.
May God protect His children from the hurricane. May God have mercy upon the souls of those who died as the result of the hurricane. May God heal the injured and comfort those whose loved ones have experienced injury and death.
May Our Lady of Loreto pray for Father McDonald's safety as he travels.
Pax.
Mark Thomas
Thank you so much for all of the prayers during the hurricane. We do not know yet of the damage to Amelia Island. They are now inspecting the bridge to see if it is safe to return. I do know that a favorite restaurant was destroyed. My first stop when I can return is to my church and to the cemetery to check on my parents graves. I do know that this could have been much worse. I know that God heard our prayers. I thank him from the bottom of my heart because I do know there is still an island to go home to.
Kelly, that is good news. We have not been able to locate my aunt and uncle on Edisto at this time. I suspect he went to Spartanburg to sit out the storm and left his phone charger behind.
rcg, Let us know when you find your Uncle. Im sure he left that island. It was really bad there.
Im so glad people listened and left.
Kelley, thank you we think we found him.
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