OT: Hurricane Irene: Wishing y'll the best!!

ushere wrote on 8/26/2011, 2:26 AM

and i suppose here we go again, oil on troubled waters...

http://blog.al.com/live/2011/08/deepwater_trouble_on_the_horiz.html

amendegw wrote on 8/26/2011, 4:14 AM

Gazie,

Thanks so much.

Earlier this week we had an earthquake. This weekend we're getting a hurricane. What's next? Locusts? Wait! Do stink bugs count? {chuckle - those of us in the eastern US know all about the Stink Bug Invasion }

Seriously, we're just west of the most recent projected path. Home is about 10 miles from the Delaware Bay, on a hill, with no large trees within falling range - so, if we can keep the roof on, I think we'll be okay.

I'll post back after Irene goes thru - maybe some pictures/videos. That is, if we have any electricity for net connection.

...Jerry

craftech wrote on 8/26/2011, 5:54 AM

Thanks Grazie.

With all the rain we have had, the trees are waterlogged and not rooted as firmly as they should be, so inland the falling trees will probably cause a lot of damage and some power outages. It's a really wide storm.

John

fldave wrote on 8/26/2011, 7:38 AM

Yes, stay safe! Food that you don't have to cook, water for a week, and a manual can opener!

Steve Mann wrote on 8/26/2011, 8:13 AM

The storm has shifted West a bit since this screen capture, so it looks like the eye will miss us.

Which is a shame because I was going to record the passage. I was in Hurricane Carla in 1961 and when the eye passed over us it was like someone threw a switch and in seconds the wind stopped, the sun came out and you could hear birds chirping. And a few minutes later, someone turned on the weather switch again.

Former user wrote on 8/26/2011, 8:59 AM

"The storm has shifted West a bit since this screen capture, so it looks like the eye will miss us."

Take it from someone who lives in Louisiana and has been there, being on the east side of a hurricane can be worse than right in the path of the eye. The rain and wind field are intense. The only real "advantage" in your case is that the hurricane path being more west (or inland) the storm will have less resources for fuel (warm ocean water).

But, that being said, please be safe and our thoughts are with everyone in Irene's path. Good luck!

BTW - Here's a link to an excellent on-line hurricane tracker I've been using for a few years.

Jim

Steve Mann wrote on 8/26/2011, 10:02 AM

"Take it from someone who lives in Louisiana and has been there, being on the east side of a hurricane can be worse than right in the path of the eye."

That's because Hurricanes in the Northern Hemisphere spin counter-clockwise, and the typical path to Texas and Louisiana makes the eastern side much worse because of the storm surge being pushed landward. On the east coast, it's the northern end of a northbound hurricane that has the landward storm surge.

In the Southern Hemisphere, reverse everything....

Did you know that no hurricane or cyclone has ever crossed the equator?

richard-amirault wrote on 8/26/2011, 12:03 PM

I was in Hurricane Carla in 1961 and when the eye passed over us it was like someone threw a switch and in seconds the wind stopped, the sun came out and you could hear birds chirping. And a few minutes later, someone turned on the weather switch again.

I remember the same thing (I remember going outside in the eye) ... not sure which hurricane, but I think it was Bob. I'm just outside of Boston.

Hulk wrote on 8/26/2011, 12:19 PM

I'm on Long Beach Island in NJ and our mandatory evacuation started at 8AM this morning. I also happen to be the Lifeguard Captain in Surf City. The waves are chest high right now with quite a bit of power. There is also a very strong longshore current. We're starting to see the ground swell from Irene build. While much of the town has cleared out there are still quite a few people on the beach. I have a small crew of guards helping me patrol the beach and urge people to get off the island. As an emergency response I'm here until the Borough tells me to go. I guess if it gets bad enough I can row one of the lifeguard boats to the mainland!

- Mark

kairosmatt wrote on 8/26/2011, 12:28 PM

Irene survivors here, the eye went about 4 miles to the east of us yesterday. Bad winds, but the whole island was prepping for about 2 days so everything went really well. Very little structural damage here, just trees down everywhere. But the southern Bahamas got hammered really bad.

Winds were recorded around 115 max I think. Communications are not all up right now-just good old VHF, which everyone has been using for the past two days. Love it!

Got some footage, nothing really great, but small things really. All else is safe.

kairosmatt

ushere wrote on 8/26/2011, 8:39 PM

pretty impressive:

http://gizmodo.com/5834843/awesome-full-image-of-earth-gives-you-an-idea-of-how-huge-hurricane-irene-is

farss wrote on 8/27/2011, 5:47 PM

I just caught up on this on the local news.
New York and hurricanes? Never figured NY as a place subject to hurricances, yikes. Mandatory evacuations! I hope everyone gets through this without any losses.

Bob.

amendegw wrote on 8/27/2011, 6:02 PM

Irene is now (7:00pm EDT, 2011-08-27) over Norfolk, Virginia - about 250 miles away. Some rain , but little wind as of now. We're just about 30-50 miles west of the path. Worst is going to be about 3:00am. Some of the forecasters are predicting 12" of rain.

Once the rain started, I found out my gutters were clogged - darn. Hope my basement doesn't flood.

I'd hoped to take some videos of the event, but it looks like all the action is happening late at night. Maybe I'll venture out tomorrow and see if I can video some of the flooding/damage.

On the other hand, some are predicting we'll be without power for several days. Sigh!

...Jerry

amendegw wrote on 8/28/2011, 7:53 AM

Just a quick update... Irene is on her way out - up to NYC.

Rain has pretty much stopped, although there's a band of rain to the south that may catch us in an hour or two. Winds topped out at 48 mph, but the TV forecasters say we may get some higher gusts on the backside. I don't think we got the 12" of rain predicted, but I haven't seen an accurate number yet.

I've got a couple of vids that are less than dramatic. Hope to get our later today to get some flooding footage, but right now there's a ban on driving. Maybe in a day or two I'll have something to post here.

Also, we've only lost power for a few minutes, but with continued high winds predicted, we're not out of the woods.

...Jerry