The storm

[Rapier]

Guys, if any of you are in the path of Irene and on the coast or in a low area, you need to get inland or move to higher ground. We do this for a living down in the "Plywood State" and it is not to be done at home or by amateurs. :)

Really, take care and get prepared for power outages and flooding because when it starts raining up you way it will flood like all get out. If you are in the path, right now at diameter and forward speed I figure 2.5 days at 24 hours straight of pouring rain. That is 800 miles at 14 miles per hour. It will rain so hard you will not be able to see the street in front of your house.

Good luck.
Ed

[buckhunter]

I am so sick of hearing about this storm. The weather folks just keep hammering away with the "What If" and "If Only". We will get some wind and some rain but doubt that anything major will happen. I do live on high ground so doubt anything will flood. And yes I take them serious. Road out a couple when I was in the Navy and they are scarey.

Obama is leaving Martha's Vineyard so there will be less wind coming from the south which will help. Last hurrican we had (1991) I slept thru.

[Gil Martin]

I am the Emergency Management Director for my township. For the most part the national TV stations and most radio stations give useless and hyped weather reports. I only consult the National Weather Service forecasts that are not allowed to hype their weather reports. All the best...
Gil

[Skinny Shooter]

Hey Ed, thanks for sharing your concerns.
How are you making out?
Our ground is saturated with a recent rain so its going to get interesting if the heavy rain and winds make it to our area in SE Pa.

[buckhunter]

As expected it was a total big fizzle in the Boston Area. Some folks in western Mass got hit pretty hard even for a Tropical Strom. I cannot believe the news is still hiping this storm. For us it was a little rain, a little wind and thats it.

[dovehunter]

That's about what we got here in central Virginia. It was really more in the nature of a severe summer thunder storm than an actual hurricane, at least in comparison to Isabelle. We have a lot of cleanup to do - twigs, branches, leaves, etc. but thank goodness this time we didn't loose any trees or sustain any damage. We have, however, been without current since 5:00 PM Saturday. Thank goodness my wife insisted that we buy a generator back before Isabelle. It has been running constantly since Saturday afternoon. It's not big enough to run the AC but it does power the refrigerators, freezers, a few lamps, the TVs and (thank gawd) a few fans. Hopefully we will get our current back today. Keeping that generator running 24-7 at $3.40 per gallon of gas is a pain, but I guess it beats all your food spoiling, etc.

[Larryjk]

I realize "Irene" was a hurricane that affected a large number of people. But the Missouri River from the NW end of South Dakota to its confluence with the Mississippi has been flooding SINCE JUNE and will continue flooding into OCTOBER. You can't even find that story on the news; only by googling Missouri Flooding. Since June the Corps of Engineers (administrators of the Missouri dams) has been letting 150,000 cubic feet of water per MINUTE out the gates of the dams, flooding everything between the dams. Those folks have lost all production for the yeaar on their farms and cannot live in their homes. But not a word on the news. I guess it is because they are used to wiping their own behind.

[skeet]

Actually Larry the reasons are much more basic. The hurricane affected 90 million people on the East Coast..the Weather channel has to sensationalize the whole thing so they can make themselves look necessary to the world. No wonder Home Depot and Lowes advertise so strongly on TWC..Those places were so busy before the storm it wasn't funny. So it all boils down to MONEY..as usual. Don't forget..a Hurricane is transitory in nature and as you have ointed out...the flooding just keeps going on and on and on. Not diminishing the flooding..but after the first week..it just doesn't make money or the news. Sad isn't it??

[Rapier]

Hey, I am just glad all of us are still here and no one is hurt or on the street.

You really do not want to get my spring wound about stuff like New Orleans and all the other crap you see come from storms in this country. Just do not look to close or I gurantee you will not like what you see before this Irene deal is all done. There will be little balance, some will get screwed to the wall and others will get rich.

I am glad we did not get tagged this time. But, our season starts, really, in September and ends about the end of October here in NW Florida. the Gulf is very hot how, the water is near 90 degrees. If we get a storm in the gulf, it is very liable to be a bad hombre. Just hope we get lucky, know we need rain, but.
Ed

[skeet]

You know..I lived through a whole buncha hurricanes back east starting with the first I remember Hazel. If all of them people didn't have to live right on the water..it would be ok... but no..they want to be right where the highest tides in a normal time woulda been...so when the "STORM OF THE CENTURY" comes along they are long suffering..and it was just terrible. We had storm surges as they call 'em now in the past and people who lived in low lying areas..just left..didn't evacuate whole areas...and the rest of the people just hunkered down and rode it out. Sheesh...and again. All those low lying areas didn't sprout plywood orchards back then. What do people expect if they live in a swamp like they do in the marsh on Kent Island in Md?? Shouldn't allow 'em to build there..but they bring some of the highest property taxes ya know..Money again!!

[FIJI]

I believe there are at least 35 people (not to mention all the loved ones they left behind) that might disagree

CNN : "The death toll from Hurricane Irene, later downgraded to a tropical storm, rose dramatically Monday as at least 35 people were reportedly killed...."

there are a lot of people still unaccounted for too - at least for now

[popplecop]

Death toll 25 last I saw. My lady friend was in Conn. was supposed to fly home last nigh, but didn't get out til tonight. Vt. and New Ham. really getting flooding.

[skeet]

Fiji..I am not diminishing the storm..or the loss of life. But many people that get killed while dealing with a hurricane are doing stupid things.. There was an 11 yr old kid killed in Virginia for goodness sake... Where were his parents..why was he out in a hurricane?? We are our own worst enemies when it comes to doing stupid stuff.. I'm sorry those people lost their lives. Accidents do happen but so does stupidity. Working in the fire dept all those years showed me an awful lot of stupidity on the parts of adults and children. Remember ol Bubba??..here hold my beer and watch this. I went to the ocean one time before a hurricane hit and holy cow..there were idiots surfing in water impossible to swim in.. One..didn't make it. Who's fault..the storm or his??

[FIJI]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gxKStPXyn8

[Skinny Shooter]

Just got back from another tree down call which is about 40 so far.
Our department reported to 30 tree-down calls starting around 0130 Sunday morning till later that afternoon.

I'm glad for all the hype.
We had no accident calls and it kept most people off the roads for a change.

If the storm hadn't been hyped and it was a biggie I can just imagine the accusations of incompetence and negligence that would have been thrown about.

We lost power just after midnight Sunday and got it back late in the evening. Lost it again yesterday for awhile.
Folks in our area are projected to be out for a week.

[Rapier]

My comments were not allegorical, I spent 21 years as Chairman of a Fire Control District covering 1/4 of an entire Florida coastal county and 21 years as the Chairman of the Board of a Water and Sewer District in the same county, both elected positions and stood election for 11 consecutive terms. I also served as the 10 county Coordinator for all of NW Florida, on the Florida State Catastrophe Committee, an appointed position. I have been through 3 of the top 10 worst hurricanes in our country's history, in those positions.

I do not guess about such subjects, I know about them from being up close and very personal. I have held the bull by the horns for days on end, not once but many times. I have also never been paid one cent in salary or one penny in compensation for expense. I help because help is needed.

Right now you are seeing that the storm does not pass by, rain a little and is gone into memory. It destroys lives, homes, businesses, towns and counties. Some areas effected will be years in recovery.

My suggestion to you, if you are near the area, is to put a chain saw, groceries, generator, gas cans, ice chests in your truck and go help your neighbors that are in need. There is no feeling in the world like helping, especially when you are not expected.

Skinny, good on you man. Downed trees are a big deal, nothing happens until they are cleared from power lines and roads.
Ed

[popplecop]

Has anyone heard from Fabs since this all took place? Hope that he and his family came out of it ok.

[FIJI]

had plans to meet up with Fabs for coffee on my way through his area. Didnt work out as he was ill that day. This was right before the storm

[fabsroman]

Hey guys, thanks for thinking about me. I had everything that Rapier suggested. 2 chain saws, a generator, plenty of gas, and coolers. We lost power for almost exactly 48 hours. Lost it Sunday night and got it back Tuesday night. Not many trees fell down other than the ones on the power lines around here. A couple of small trees are down in the neighbors' yards, but nothing significant. Figured I was going to get a lot of wood for the new wood burning furnace, but that isn't the case, which is probably a good thing for the community as a whole. Plus, I have plenty of places to get wood from anyway. Like Skinny, we had a lot of rain prior to Irene and the ground was pretty wet. Speaking of rain, it has been raining all week long and yesterday it was coming down really hard. If a hurricane came by now, trees would be all over the ground. We have had flooding in places from this rain and Main Street in Ellicott City had about 2 to 3 feet of water on it.

During the 48 hours without power, I hardwired the generator into the well pump, ran extension cords to the fridges, and powered up some other necessities like the entertainment system for the kids. LOL That was Monday. On Tuesday I went to Home Depot and bought about $90 in extension cords and set up my home office so I could get some work done. As soon as I was able to power up the computer and get back to work, the power came on. I spent the next three hours taking down the generator, wrapping up extension cords, and wiring the well pump back into the breaker box. That was the end of my Tuesday. On Wednesday, the hot water heater wasn't working, but that was because both heating elements were shot.

All in all, not too bad. When we moved in, one of our neighbors said that they hadn't lost power over the past 2 years since the wires in the neighborhood had been buried. Well, that is just the neighborhood. The wires that feed into the neighborhood, from the 2 main roads, are all above ground and they have a plethora of huge trees lined up by them. So, I am looking at replacing the two electrical boxes we have with interconnect boxes. They will allow me to plug in a 220 cord from the generator right to the electrical box and power the circuits that we want to use.

Right now, I am in the process of installing a wood/natural gas furnace and new AC. Getting the utility company out here to run the natural gas line is a PITA. Once we have natural gas, we will probably convert the water heater to gas. Not to mention that I am thinking about installing a system in the wood burning furnace to heat the water and send it to a tempering tank. After that, I will be looking into swapping out the electrical boxes. Cannot imagine the power outages around here if we get a wet, heavy snow. Plenty of things to do on this 24 year old house, but we really like the house and the property.

Glad to see that everybody made it through the storm alright.