10/06/2024
I want to speak on something. In the last week or so, I have received several messages from people interested in puppies or already on our lists, asking for communication or photos or updates. I am so thrilled that so many are excited about our puppies, but I just need everyone to understand:
Edenbright Brittanys, the business, is not a priority for me right now. I live less than 40 miles from an area that has recorded 130+ sustained winds for several hours on the night the hurricane hit. While I was only without power for a few days, all of our surrounding cities were completely shut down. When I say shut down, I mean no gas, no food, no water. When we exhausted the gas we had gotten to prepare for the hurricane, there were 4 to 6 hour lines we had to wait in at the few gas stations that were operable - and many times they would run out of gas before we were able to get any. My husband began getting up at 5am to beat the lines, and would still get stuck in line for two+ hours.
Roads were impassable for days, and so many still are. Not just a few roads - all of them. 7000 miles of road and power lines were damaged nearly every mile between us, many of our family members and our surrounding towns and counties - not just one or two trees down over the road, but entire sections of pine forests had fallen over onto roads. People have been trapped in their houses - and I don’t mean I saw it on tv where people where trapped in their houses, I mean I witnessed it first hand - so many of my friends and family had to be cut out of their homes or helped cut others out of their homes - including myself and my husband.
Banks and atms were down, there was NO cell service for nearly a week. Limited cash meant limited supplies. And there was no way to travel to get cash or supplies from places that were less affected, BECAUSE THE ROADS WERE IMPASSIBLE.
Once the roads were cleared enough and we could visit family and friends to checks on them, we found ourself in many of their front yards, familiar places completely destroyed by fallen trees and telephone poles. Every mile traveled was a disaster. Every home had damage.
And then the response for help was slow. The hurricane was supposed to miss us to the west, weakening enough that we should have only gotten tropical storm force winds. It is being seriously considered by the experts that we experience the full force of a category 3/4 hurricane for several hours. Help had been mobilized to the wrong place, and impassible roads meant demobilization and relocation was extremely slow. I know people who have died in their homes, crushed by fallen trees. I know elderly people that have died from lack of oxygen and life saving medical devices because there has been no power.
Currently in our area, nearly 100k people are still without power. That may seem like a small number to those that live in larger cities, but I live in a town of only about 10k. My family is from a town of about 8k people. That means that a path of destruction across several counties is what we have been dealing with.
Things are returning to livable, but as far as any kind of normalcy - it will be weeks.
The business of Edenbright Brittanys will have to wait - but the very personal life of Nicole (me) the pet owner, mother, wife, family member and friend to those that need my help is what I am prioritizing right now.
You will get photos. You will get videos. When I can get them. I thank you for your patience and your prayers. No one wants normalcy more than me right now.
