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?!