Irene?

[Tradd]

Anyone here in the probably path of Irene?

Good thoughts and wishes for you all!

I've got a friend (moved to NJ less than a year ago - lives 10 min. from ocean) who thinks she's still going to Atlantic City this weekend. Yeah, right!

[Miss Cellane]

Well, holing up in a comfortable hotel with room service isn't the worst way to ride out a hurricane. It all depends on how much the storm slows down after landfall. Right now, they aren't predicting full force winds for NJ.

I'm in the Boston area, and generally the hurricanes have hit land and slowed considerably by the time they get here--currently Irene is supposed to arrive early on Monday. But they aren't going to know for days just what it will be like when it gets here.

[reader99]

Here on the north-central east coast of Florida we expect heavy rains, wind. Without landfall there should be no need for evacuation.

[Mrs. Hermit]

I'm in the threat path. First an earthquake this week, now Irene as a houseguest! What an exciting week!

[artist]

I'm in NH and should be effected by wind and rain on Monday, if the path doesn't shift east. By the time it reaches us it is expected to be a category 1 storm.

[Tradd]

Well, holing up in a comfortable hotel with room service isn't the worst way to ride out a hurricane. It all depends on how much the storm slows down after landfall. Right now, they aren't predicting full force winds for NJ.



She actually expects to be on the beach and around town shopping, even if Irene hits. She lives very close to the beach - but not on it - further south, and laughed when I asked if she had any supplies.

[Weston]

Well, holing up in a comfortable hotel with room service isn't the worst way to ride out a hurricane....



Maybe not the worst, but pretty bad if you're on the 12th floor, the windows are blown out, there's no electricity and the National Guard and Police are not letting anyone in or out except emergency personnel and utility repair crews. Been there, done that with my elderly father who refused to evacuate his condo before a hurricane a few years back.

I've seen first hand the power of these things. People can joke all they want. They stop joking when they are stuck in the aftermath for days without food, water and electricity.

[Miss Cellane]

Maybe not the worst, but pretty bad if you're on the 12th floor, the windows are blown out, there's no electricity and the National Guard and Police are not letting anyone in or out except emergency personnel and utility repair crews. Been there, done that with my elderly father who refused to evacuate his condo before a hurricane a few years back.

I've seen first hand the power of these things. People can joke all they want. They stop joking when they are stuck in the aftermath for days without food, water and electricity.

Sorry, I didn't mean to offend. I've been through a few hurricanes, although what we get in New England usually isn't as bad as what hits south of us. But I've done the three days with no power and no water and power lines down in multiple places on my road so that I couldn't get anywhere in my car--rural is great until you realize that you are the last street in town, and maybe the county, to get power back and even the live power lines on the street in three places aren't worth dealing with for three days, other than to tie some yellow tape on them.

I was just making a joke, that's all. I recognize hurricanes for what they are and I prepare for them.

Tradd's friend seems a little optimistic--but then I thought her friend was hitting the casinos, not planning on a beach weekend.

[Weston]

Sorry, I didn't mean to offend. I've been through a few hurricanes, although what we get in New England usually isn't as bad as what hits south of us. But I've done the three days with no power and no water and power lines down in multiple places on my road so that I couldn't get anywhere in my car--rural is great until you realize that you are the last street in town, and maybe the county, to get power back and even the live power lines on the street in three places aren't worth dealing with for three days, other than to tie some yellow tape on them.

I was just making a joke, that's all. I recognize hurricanes for what they are and I prepare for them.

Tradd's friend seems a little optimistic--but then I thought her friend was hitting the casinos, not planning on a beach weekend.

No need to apologize. Sorry if I sounded touchy on the subject. I guess that after 35 years of living in Florida I just have more and more respect for the power of nature, and less and less confidence in people using common sense during such occasions. That includes at least a few members of my own family.

I'll decline to go into graphic detail of the conditions my father was living in when the police finally allowed me to enter his neighborhood. It wasn't pretty and it was completely avoidable.

[Tradd]

Weston, I've got a friend in Baltimore, who pays almost no attention to the news and barely checks the weather. She and her husband are both from Europe, and hurricanes are totally not part of their experience. I just PM'd her on Facebook telling her she really needs to pay attention to the Weather Channel website, and that stocking up on some extra groceries, water, batteries would be a good idea. She laughs that they're not by the sea. I sent her the link to the Weather Channel website map with possible coverage area, telling her winds can go inland pretty far and she might be without power. She still laughs.

What is *wrong* with people?!

[cdttmm]

In western MA we are expected to get hit on Sunday with strong winds and massive rains as a result of Irene. We have a back-up generator for power, but I will be making a point of stocking up on a few supplies just to be on the safe side.

[Weston]

What is *wrong* with people?!

When it comes to hurricanes there are several explanations. The three most common ones I have seen are:

1. They've never experienced one so they don't comprehend and respect it.

2. They've been through a couple of false alarms and have grown weary of following directions and making preparations only to have the storms veer away from them.

3. They think of it only in terms of the storm itself instead of the aftermath. If the hurricane is a Cat 1 or 2 (or even a low level 3) your odds of getting hurt by the storm itself are pretty minimal. But people just don't look beyond it. They don't think about the fact that they may be without electricity or cell phones for a week or two. Lot of fun being in a high rise without food, or water or an operating elevator. They don't think about the fact that even if they can get out of their homes and the roads are clear, and the downed power lines have been turned off, the cops and national guard may not let you on the roads for several days and all the stores near you are out of supplies and don't have any electric or staff.

The government shuts down areas not only after natural disasters but also immediately prior. A few years ago when a Hurricane was threatening South Florida a county emergency manager was being interviewed on the radio and was asked by a caller what they should do if someone stays and is seriously injured or sick. He responded gently and appropriately but the (non politically correct) translation was something to the effect of " That person will suffer and possibly die. I'm not going to send my employees into a hurricane to save someone who refused to evacuate. That is why we tell you to evacuate. We may not be able to get to you for days"

On a lighter note. I highly recommend comedian Ron White's routine on hurricanes. It's probably on Youtube. My favorite lines...

"There was a guy, down in Florida, who said that the age of 53 years old he was in good enough physical condition to withstand the wind, rain, and hail of a force-5 hurricane. Now, lemme explain somethin' to ya: It isn't *that* the wind is blowin'. It's *what* the wind is blowin'. If you get hit by a *Volvo*, it don't matter how many sit-ups you did that mornin'. "

[Miss Cellane]

For me, I find it hard to get too caught up in the hurricane warnings, for two reasons. One, the path of hurricanes can change quickly and radically. No one really has a grasp on where the hurricane will end up more than, say, two days ahead of time. Two, the media do tend to hype up every. single. storm. that appears, so it's hard to tell a really bad storm from your basic thunderstorm.

I have emergency stuff in the house at all times--some big jugs of water, canned food, batteries, candles, a small camp stove. I also have a gas stove, so cooking isn't a huge issue even if the power goes out. If I need to evacuate, I could put everything I need to take together in about 15 minutes, and most of that would be stuffing the cat into her carrier.

I am going out for some food today, because I'm moving to a different state next week, and I've let the food supply dwindle on purpose. So I need to go out and get a few "emergency rations" in case we get hit hard. They are now predicting that Irene will be significantly west of where I live, instead of coming directly at us, but that could change.

I've never had to evacuate my home for any reason, but I suspect if I did, I'd be out of there like a shot. I admit I don't get the mindset of, "Oh, every single newscast is telling me to leave, the rain is pouring down, the wind's taken down two trees, but I think I'll stay here and watch the storm." If things get bad, I'm out of here. I just have to figure out where I'll go before Sunday.

[HappyHiker]

We're in Eastern Coastal NC and Irene has us in her cross hairs, her eye's supposed to make landfall about 15-20 miles from us...nonetheless, as of right now, we're staying out. Talked to a bunch of old-timers today and they're all staying put...as they've been through many hurricanes, I listened to them carefully and we've made our decision to hunker down.

We're not right on the ocean and our house is not in a flood zone, though the 17 inches of possible rain could bring some water in...

Wish us luck, hope we're not being foolish. We do have a hobie-cat type boat right next to the house so a flood might see us aboard...floating somewhere, dog aboard and wondering WTH...

[Weston]

Wish us luck, hope we're not being foolish. We do have a hobie-cat type boat right next to the house so a flood might see us aboard...floating somewhere, dog aboard and wondering WTH...

HappyHiker

So how does that hobie-cat handle in 120 mile winds? ;)

Good luck and stay safe.

[CathyA]

I think one problem is that the local weather people seem to cry wolf alot. Then when something really awful is coming, people are less likely to believe it. But it seems like everyone everywhere is saying this could be a horrendous one....even the hurricane experts. Its hard to know........but I would sure err on the side of safety, even if it ends up being an inconvenience.
I have to say I'm thinking I was right this summer. Whenever there's a huge lack of rain around here in the summer, it seems to mean its being collected somewhere else........like for a hurricane. I have the feeling there will be several more bad ones this year. But I hope not.
Seems like places on the coast are either heaven or hell.

[HappyHiker]

How does the Hobie handle 120 MPH winds? I suspect she'd be damned fast! But we'd be sailing under a bare pole come a flood...and rowing...

[Bastelmutti]

I think one problem is that the local weather people seem to cry wolf alot. Then when something really awful is coming, people are less likely to believe it.

I think this is true. If they would stop making every event the event of the century, people might listen. I saw this with my DH when we had the 2011 blizzard. Weather Service said don't leave the house, let alone drive, because it was too dangerous. DH insisted on taking the kids to a friend's house. Made it to the sidewalk in front of our building before turning back because they couldn't take the wind (thank goodness - the kids who did go were stranded at friend's house for 2 days!) I don't blame him, though. Like I said, every storm is made out to be the storm of the century.

[Tradd]

The NYT just had a news alert that NYC is shutting down ALL mass transit at noon tomorrow.

There's a difference between having a reasonable amount of food at home, some water, and a flashlight or two to rushing out to the stores, stripping them bare and not doing a danged thing.

I spent a good amount of time yesterday giving hurricane prep advice over email and Facebook to clueless East Coasters who don't know a thing about ANY sort of emergency prep. They wouldn't know what to do for a blizzard, let alone a hurricane!

There are a big bunch of dumb clucks out there who are just clueless and lack the most basic common sense. My friend in Baltimore still has her fingers stuck in her ears, singing "lalalalala." She readily admits she's not done a thing - and won't!

I have another friend in NYC who is only taking this seriously because she lived through 9/11. She said that if she'd not been through 9/11, she have her fingers stuck in her ears, singing "lalalalala" too.

<rolls eyes>

[AustinKat]

I'm in NH and should be effected by wind and rain on Monday, if the path doesn't shift east. By the time it reaches us it is expected to be a category 1 storm.
Speaking as someone who had one go right over her house (Charley, in August 2004), a Cat 1 is still nothing to mess around with. Power lines will be down, trees will be down, there will be roof damage and flooding. Be ready!

[Miss Cellane]

Guess what? Apparently Hurricane Irene is big news all over the world. I got a phone call from my brother today. He's stationed in Turkey. The local news had a 10 minute segment on how armageddon is facing New York City and doom will spread all over the East Coast. My poor sister-in-law, who has never seen a hurricane, but who has lived through several severe earthquakes, was frantic with worry for the family over here. It took me several minutes to convince her that here in Boston, we don't have any need to evacuate (at least not with the current situation as we know it).

Irene is a front page story in the London Times and the lead story on the BBC news page.

I had no idea this would rate more than a paragraph in the paper or 30 seconds on the news in other countries. There is, you know, actual news coming from places like Libya and Syria.

[Tradd]

Yeah, well, when NYC has to shut down mass transit AND has mandatory evacuations (a friend of mine had to evacuate), I'm not surprised it made big news overseas.

[pony mom]

I'm in NW NJ, so although we're not directly in the center of the storm and away from the coast, we're probably going to get lots of flooding. My neighboring town (Belvidere, Warren County) is on the Delaware River and that often floods--a real shame, since it's a cute Victorian town. We're in a condo development, and there's a creek running behind us, which has never overflowed since we've been here--yet. The threat of high winds scares me because there are a lot of tall, old trees everywhere and most heavy storms cause broken limbs, resulting in downed wires and loss of power.

Our unit faces mostly north, and we usually miss being hit full-force by most storms. Our old house is in central Jersey, which will be hit harder.

In all my 45 years, I don't remember having so many warnings about a storm before; we've never been hit directly and we usually only get the fringes of most tropical storms and hurricanes. Then again, we didn't have The Weather Channel years ago. Who knew watching weather could be so engrossing.

I'm glad this is being taken seriously. It'll be interesting to see how NYC fares; never in my life have I heard of the city being shut down before (except after 9/11, of course).

We're not too prepared here--lots of water in the fridge, candles, flashlights and food. I'm sure the power will be out at least overnight and Sunday. It's 9pm now and the rain is definitely coming down harder and the wind is picking up. The worst is supposed to be from midnight until Sunday afternoon.

On my way home from work today I stopped by the barn to give my pony a big kiss---hope he doesn't blow away!!!

[pony mom]

On Friday Anderson Cooper (LOVE him!!!) was broadcasting from Battery Park and he mentioned that he had rats running around his feet. Perhaps they sense the coming storm and were emigrating uptown!

[pony mom]

My area made it through OK--it wasn't as bad here as some other areas. Flooding is still expected over the next few days. There was one small tree down in the house part of our development, lots of leaves everywhere too. Now it's just very very windy.

How did everyone else do??

[Mrs. Hermit]

We did ok. Lots of debris and limbs down, but not whole trees. Localized flooding. Power was out here for 22 hours. A neighboring village is expecting power to be restored in 14 days!!!!