Hurricane Ida and aftermath
On the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina (Aug. 29, 2005), and within a few days of the 10th anniversary of Irene (Sept. 1, 2011), Hurricane Ida slammed into New Orleans and the US Gulf Coast. Unlike Katrina, Ida continued northeast and brought tremendous rain, flooding, and seven tornadoes to New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The Stony Brook and Millstone Rivers were many feet over their banks, and our Refuge was inaccessible for days.
We have no record of the water levels at the Refuge during Katrina, Sandy, or Floyd, but we do have a water level marked on the observation tower for Irene. Ida, ten years later almost to the day, was several inches deeper.
On Sept. 6, David Padulo wrote: Joe and I walked the trails and cleared as much as we could. Thankfully most of it was easy to take care of and you can now definitely get around the whole marsh. Really appreciated Joe’s help…
This is the first impasse on the Blue trail (above).
We couldn’t move this tree that likely floated on top of the bridge just before the swinging bridge. Thankfully it didn’t fall and crush it. I tried to cut it with the chainsaw but the tree was very waterlogged and I couldn’t get through with Lee’s chain saw. It’s supposed to be nice weather for next few days so hopefully it will dry out and we can try again to cut or move. Lucky the integrity of the bridge is intact and the log is easy to step over for the time being.
This large tree (below) is probably our biggest challenge. Obviously too huge for us to cut or move. We’ll have to get some help to cut through it or just re-route the trail around it.
Once our work was done the skies cleared up, the bugs came out and so did the warblers! Several Redstarts, Chestnut-sided, Parula, and Black-and-White. The real treat this morning was a Yellow-throated Vireo over on the trail by the swimming pool. Also, we didn’t see it, but a yellow billed cuckoo was seen and photographed the day before. Exciting fall movement!