Hurricane Irene check in thread

[disneysteve]

This thread is for all of you who are in Irene's path. Check in. Let us know where you are and how conditions are.

I'm in southern NJ just outside of Philadelphia. We're about 60 miles inland so aren't supposed to get the full force of the storm. Local forecast is for 50-70mph winds and 5-10 inches of rain. Right now (7pm) we are getting the outer edge of the storm and it is raining and windy but the actual hurricane isn't due to reach us until later tonight.

[Krazykat]

Stay safe! I know the southerner's are laughing at us like the West Coast was laughing at as earlier in the week but our cities were not built for this kind of weather, its the same as when the south gets snow and us up north laugh at them =)

[rj.phila]

lol, didnt know you were so close. NW side of philly. just rain and wind so far. chucked the 2-seater in the garage, got wifey some cookies, and a growler of a homebrew IPA in the fridge-here we go!

[SnoopyCool]

Definitely stay safe.

[Scanner]

Hey DS. . .I am aobut an hour closer to the beach than you along the same latitude, a little outside the evacuation zone.

A couple of branches hit my roof, small, probably no damage.

I am worried though - there is a dead branch pretty big above my kitchen that I never had trimmed away. . .can an homeowners policy null and void me for not keeping it trimmed?

Otherwise, it's just a little windy, rain, and some gusts here.

[disneysteve]

Right now, we're only seeing 15-20mph winds. Nothing major. But storm is still a couple hundred miles south

[Scanner]

Yeah, I just received a smart-butt email from a Floridian. I shot back that every 5 years we have to bail their butts out from a hurricane.

Only I didn't use "butt"

[creditcardfree]

My DH is in Virginia (south of the capital) riding out the storm in a 3rd floor apartment. Gusts in his area up to 60mph. He has been without power for about three hours. I think the worst of it is about over for him.

[disneysteve]

Winds up to 35 or so here in NJ and rain heavier

[jpg7n16]

praying for you guys. be safe

[snafu]

Stay safe, everyone here is upset that travel plans for business and vacation has been cancelled. They are so unsure about what happens to hotel resevation, sport events, family celebrations etc. We can't imagine NY City shut down

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by snafu

Stay safe, everyone here is upset that travel plans for business and vacation has been cancelled. They are so unsure about what happens to hotel resevation, sport events, family celebrations etc. We can't imagine NY City shut down

I know some football games and baseball games got cancelled or postponed. Philly airport is closed until tomorrow afternoon. NYC airports are probably down too. All of the Atlantic City casinos closed late yesterday. The entire public transit system in Philly AND in NYC have been shut down. That's unprecedented. Never happened before.

News says this is only the 3rd hurricane in history to make landfall in NJ.

[krantcents]

Stay safe East Coast. I think I was in one the other Hurricanes that hit New Jersey in the 1950s. I remember my parents lost a tree, but no real damage!

[creditcardfree]

It is sunny where DH is now. Still no power. Things seem to be manageable and ok. I hope everyone else makes it through well.

[disneysteve]

Storm is gone except the wind. Other than some water in the basement, which happens with any heavy rain, we really avoided any real harm. The forecasts were greatly exaggerated (what else is new?). We didn't even lose power. And the water that came in wasn't any more than we've gotten with many other lesser storms. I hope everyone else was just as spared though I know there is some flooding in areas close to rivers and creeks.

[creditcardfree]

Glad to hear things worked out well for you, Steve.

[Scanner]

Honestly, the Noreasters do more damage here.

Nor'easter - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by Scanner

Honestly, the Noreasters do more damage here.

Nor'easter - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Yep. We got lucky. It wasn't nearly as bad as they predicted.

[Like2Plan]

We are just south of DC. It is a beautiful day now--just a little breezy. DH and I took a walk this morning. Not much damage in the neighborhood--just a couple of instances of major limbs breaking off of trees.
I got home from work around 6pm last night (work is further west of home and was further from Irene). Rain picked up in intensity the closer I got to home--coming down in sheets by the time I hit my driveway-I was glad to be home! We lost power about 7:15pm last night (We had just finished dinner ) Power was restored a short time ago. Luckily, DH bought some ice before the storm for the ice chest to put perishables from the fridge part (left everything else in the freezer--which ought to be okay).

So, Irene did not hurt us as much as Isabelle which the center came much closer to us.

[photo]

It's good to know you guys in the path were not harmed at all. The storm, especially the farther north it went, seemed to be more of a nuisance than anything, but still, lots of damaged trees and debris.

PS Images from Vermont are emerging on the web. They have some terrible flooding, and it looks like many people from North Carolina won't have their power restored for awhile. The storm didn't have a heavy casualty of human lives, but it looks like the physical damage is quite awful in some places.