The storm
 

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

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.

It depends
 

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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??

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

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!!

dunno about that.....
 

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

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.

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??

you cant fix stupid
 

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.