Hurricane Sandy

[DanielJones]

For those of you in the path of Hurricane Sandy, please take the proper precautions. I know power and other utilities will be out for a while in some parts so you can't chime in quickly. Just know that you are being thought of and that we care.

Be safe and chime in when you can.

Cheers!

Dan

 

[sheeplady]

Yes, please do. I live far inland and we have been told to prepare for a significant amount of ice, snow, power outages, and wind damage (and this would be after the hurricane is much much reduced). I am very worried about the people on the coast who are in the direct path. Best wishes and please stay safe.

 

[LizzieMaine]

It better wait till Tuesday to hit us, at least. I need to get my washing hung out.

 

[Amy Jeanne]

Apparently It's gonna take a left turn at the Delaware Bay and slam South Jersey/Northern DE/Philly area. NJ and Wilmington are already under States of Emergency and evacuation starts tomorrow in some areas.

Me....I'm always skeptical. These storms are always hyped. I'm sure they are serious in some areas and I'm not downplaying that, but in this area we ALWAYS end up with just heavy rains/winds, and some minor flooding.

 

[Atticus Finch]

Thank you. Sandy is still well south of us, but the wind has freshened noticably during the last several hours and it has been raining since mid morning. I notice that the point of landfall is currently forecast to be somewhere just south of the Delaware/New Jersey state line. This puts the strong, right side of the storm coming ashore in a very populated area...including most of New Jersey. Though Sandy will likely be only a Cat 1 on arrival, it is a huge, slowly moving storm. I'm comfortable that she won't prove catastrophic in the Katrina or Camille sense, but I fear Sandy will cause great inconvenience in the coming days.

AF

 

[Gregg Axley]

Agreeing with Daniel Jones on this one.
Please use caution and check in when possible...

 

[Old Rogue]

Sandy is passing by off the NC coast. Just peeked outside, it's windy but not terribly so, raining steadily but not a driving rain. Temp is 64. Best wishes to all of you in the direct path of the storm.

 

[JonnyO]

I can assure all that NY, NJ, & PA are very well prepared, especially NY. NYS Office of Emergency Management has been preparing for the better part of a week about now and has activated the Emergency Operations Center. The current track of Sandy has it going straight up PA and NY from NJ, MD, & DE. Please do not take this lightly as other have said, and be prepared for the absolute worst.

 

[Tomasso]

Me....I'm always skeptical. These storms are always hyped.

I agree, the over-hype only serves to desensitize the public to the reality of a hurricanes' potential for devastation.

 

[countryclubjoe]

Hi Folks

The casinos in Atlantic City,NJ are asking folks to evacuate and are expected to close down on Sunday early evening.
My home is surrounded by trees, so my biggest fear is an old oak tree comes thru the roof.
A quick check list of items that will come in handy.

1- Candles
2- batteries/flash lights
3- Water/canned food-
4- Propane stove
5- ice/cooler

I have plenty of potato chips and bread, peanut butter, potatoes, good wine- LOL
Also do not leave items like lawn furniture or any thing that can become a projectile on or near your home.
Another good idea in planning is to take pics of your personal belongings and keep the number for your home owners insurance policy etc available. Lets pray its not needed.
Stay focused, keep the faith and try not to panic.
Best regards
CCJ

 

[DanielJones]

Good list to have CCJ. Also for those inland that will get the increased cold weather, stay safe, warm and dry as well. Keep the wood dry for the fire place too.

Keep on chiming in.

Cheers!

Dan

 

[Delthayre]

I live in Harrisburg on the first floor of an apartment building about a block from Front Street, beyond which is Riverfront Park and, uh, the Susquehanna River, so I'm a little bit concerned about what might happen. In fact, the building that I live in was erected on land where the existing houses has been wrecked by an earlier flood. At least it was thus built to withstand flooding and despite being on the first floor, that's actually raised a fair way up from ground level, so I'm hopeful that if the waters come, it won't rise above 'noteworthy inconvenience' for me.

 

[Yeps]

I agree, the over-hype only serves to desensitize the public to the reality of a hurricanes' potential for devastation.

Seconded. I tend to expect just a lot of rain. If there were any trees around here, I would expect a couple to go down. However, I know that this one could be the one that actually lives up to the predictions, so gotta be prepared.

 

[LizzieMaine]

We got hit hard by Hurricane Bob in 1991 -- I broadcast 24 hours straight with evacuation announcements and had to climb up on the roof to lash down the Associated Press dish to make sure it didn't blow away (it ended up in the middle of the street anyway) -- so nothing that might happen will surprise me.

We're starting to get wind and drizzle, but they still don't expect it to hit for real, in whatever form, until Monday night. A "State of Limited Emergency" has been declared, which basically means all the outa-staters are lined up at the Shop N Save buying duct tape, sabbath candles, and batteries, which they will forget they already own the next time a State of Limited Emergency is declared.

 

[KilroyCD]

I'm about as ready as I can be, except for making a trip to the ATM to get some extra cash. If power is out, those places that are open and doing business the old fashioned way sure won't be able to process credit / debit cards.
I have my generator all primed and ready to go, two full gas cans and batteries galore for my flashlights and battery lamps. Last weekend's tornado showed me how woefully unprepared I was for a sustained power outage, and I was without power for only 9 1/2 hours. Even though I had a generator at the time, it had stale gas in the tank and I probably wouldn't have been able to get it going very easily. Likewise, all my battery lanterns had dead batteries. Not any more.
While on the subject of batteries, people are going nuts around here looking for batteries. A customer of mine was telling me of the sight she saw yesterday morning at a local dollar store, where two women got into a knock-down, drag-out fight over a pack of D-cell batteries. Bloodied, both were led away in handcuffs by the police. Crazy.

 

[Gregg Axley]

Things can easily get out of hand for those that aren't prepared. As Kilroy pointed out with the D batteries account.
From Spring to Fall we CAN get strong thunderstorms that turn into wind storms. The last great one was in 2003, nicknamed Hurricane Elvis.
People were out of power for at least a week, during the middle of June (temps 95 humidity 85-90%).
Since then we and hopefully many others have learned to stock up, and rotate that stock of dried rice, canned beans, batteries, candles, etc.
And you'll need something to cook on, if the power goes out. I've got a brain and some money, so I'm not eating cold beans and rice!
Then again, we'll have people looting the stores as usual no matter how prepared they should be....

 

[Atticus Finch]

Sandy's impact here has been minimal, so far. Only about three inches of rain...total...and the Trent river is only about as high as would be expected in a typical spring nor'easter. We're close enough to the coast that our local rivers respond to both storm surge and rainfall. Evidently, both have been moderate to minimal with Sandy. The wind has been gusting to 30-35 knots or so...but nothing near the 65 knots + sustained that we see in hurricanes. Only a year ago Hurricane Irene paid us a visit with sustained 80-90 MPH winds, so most of the trees that would fall in a tropical system fell then. As a result our power lines are still up and we've had no significant power outages that I know about.

I pray that Sandy's impacts north of us are as light.

AF

 

[Quigley Brown]

I've got all my camera batteries all charged up!

 

[sheeplady]

I live in Harrisburg on the first floor of an apartment building about a block from Front Street, beyond which is Riverfront Park and, uh, the Susquehanna River, so I'm a little bit concerned about what might happen. In fact, the building that I live in was erected on land where the existing houses has been wrecked by an earlier flood. At least it was thus built to withstand flooding and despite being on the first floor, that's actually raised a fair way up from ground level, so I'm hopeful that if the waters come, it won't rise above 'noteworthy inconvenience' for me.

In 2011 the storm that everyone thought was nothing (Tropical Storm Irene) flooded the Susquehanna River really badly in the southern tier. They had gotten the 100 year flood in 2005 and the 500 year flood in 2006. Entire towns (notably Owego) were under water.

So I am hoping that it doesn't happen to you, but also I am hoping it doesn't happen to poor Owego either.

 

[TraditionalFrog]

Looks like even here in Indianapolis, 800+ miles inland we're going to be impacted with some wind and a rain/snow mix off the back side. I'm going to store the deck furniture and move the car away from the tree out front. I'm not expecting any power cuts here, but am prepared just in case... never know how the power grid will be affected.

My thoughts and prayers are with all who are facing the brunt of this monster. I pray everyone stays warm, safe and dry!