Another one bites the dust

[eibbil_libbie]

We're down to occasional wind gusts and drizzle, and the bitch has now made landfall, so it's time to update the list.



For the most part, this was wind and flooding. The rain was nearly never-ending (3 days of straight rain sucks) but it wasn't the unrelenting tropical downpours Irene brought. The house made it through with the usual wind driven rain through the north facing door and one water spot on the bedroom ceiling/wall from rain being whipped up under the eaves. We get those all the time from these storms.

Doesn't look like much in the way of damage in my neighborhood, either, but we're not in a flood zone. I'll see more driving in tomorrow, especially along the Elizabeth River.

All told - it could have been a shitload worse around here, but it wasn't. Rough to go through but we dodged a major bullet. If Sandy had tracked maybe 100 miles closer to shore, this would be a much different post.

So. That said, time to update the list and I won't be nattering about it anymore.

Gordon 1994
Allison/Felix 1995
Bertha/Fran 1996
Danny 1997
Bonnie 1998
Gustav/Kyle 2002
Isabel 2003
Alex/Bonnie/Charley/Ivan 2004
Barry 2007
Alberto 2006
Hanna 2008
Irene 2011
Sandy 2012


And now, some hurricane comic relief:

Comments

[imaginarycircus]

We're supposed to get this through tomorrow and rain through Thursday. FUN TIMES. Our power was out most of the day. It's back now. Glad to hear you're OK! <3

[eibbil_libbie]

The thing that makes me happiest is that I don't have to listen to the forecasters and their predictions of OMG WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE every five minutes.

[imaginarycircus]

I have to say all the weather reports have been so bombastic I've been laughing at them. There was a warning last night that was so overblown I could not stop laughing. Of course if I were in lower Manhattan right now I would so not be laughing. I know this storm is causing a lot of damage. There are trees down everywhere. The storm surge hasn't gotten bad here yet.

*squish*

[eibbil_libbie]

Normally I don't give a shit about them making a rainstorm sound like a monsoon - but when you're already phobic about named storms, hearing them feed your worst fears doesn't help.

*squishes back*

[imaginarycircus]

No. I can imagine it DOES NOT HELP AT ALL. D:

But we're rarely in the direct path of these storms up here. We're affected, but it always passes to one side or the other. Every once in a while they slam us, but as you know usually they hit south of here.

[eibbil_libbie]

Yeah, it's the opposite of helpful. I usually try to look mostly at NOAA because they tend to be just the facts.

Actually its the same here - they usually curve out to see or NC get the brunt of landfall. Every once in a while, though. Boom.

[tryslora]

Glad you're safe and sound! We're just starting to get the outer edges.

[eibbil_libbie]

Hope you guys make it through okay!

[tryslora]

I think we'll be fine... according to projects, Sandy is going to pretty much do a giant lap around NY so we'll get rain and wind for days... although right now there is no rain, and the wind is freaking creepy. I just stood outside in it and I have only once before been this creeped by a windstorm. We're at about 30ish mph gusting right now. The real fun I think comes tomorrow... we'll see. I'm just waiting and watching.

[eibbil_libbie]

Nothing quite as fun as those gusts that come out of nowhere and just shake the house. Welcome to my last 3 days =)

Stay safe, sweetie <3!

[tryslora]

And we're good this morning. It looks like the wind was coming mostly from the east (swirling around and all) for us and the mountains there (the Berkshires) broke a lot of it up. Which is good luck for us. I'm not sure what we'll get of the remnants since Sandy's cloud cover still stretches over most of the east coast. :p But we're out of the chance of anything really bad, and who knows, the kids might even get to trick or treat tomorrow.

[imaginarycircus]

It's going to be an interesting night here in the northeast. I hope you stay safe and dry!

[tryslora]

I take it you're another northeasterner? *peeks* Ah, I see, someone from my old home stomping grounds. I think we're getting the weird but easy version of this so far... loads of wind, little rain, and just a freaky heavy feeling from the sky. I don't like it. I don't like being outside where the weight wants to fall on me. It feels like waiting. On the other hand, that's just it... as it moves into PA and NY and starts to circle around us, we'll see what we get next. Going to be a fun week!

[imaginarycircus]

It's pretty quiet here in Cambridge/Boston, but it's supposed to kick up again later. The news out of NYC is devastating.

[tryslora]

You guys got it worse than we did, because you're closer to the coast. We ended up being protected from the Eastern winds by the Berkshires, thankfully. In other words, we got lucky.

I was in tears last night watching the news out of NYC. Seeing highways and roads that are very familiar to me (I used to work in the financial services industry for 14 years, and had to go down there often) under water was just horrifying. By the time the pics of ground zero came out, I was actually numb. Now I'm just worried about friends, and hoping things can be rebuilt.

[imaginarycircus]

I know. *squish* I grew up right outside NYC and I went to grad school in the city. I worked for a lit agency in Harlem and in NoHo. NYC will always be home for me in some ways. And my heart is just broken. I wish I could help somehow.

We're fine here. The T is back up, if delayed. Power seems to be fine here. Just branches and trees to be cleaned up. Some people on the Cape probably had a rough day and some flooding.

[tryslora]

...I am weirdly giggling because you grew up in NY and ended up in MA and I grew up 30 minutes out of Boston and ended up in NY... strange synchronicity, hm?

I've talked to other folks in Cambridge/Somerville who lost power for a while and got it back fairly quickly. The folks I want to hear from are the ones who live on the Vineyard, because yeah... island... storm... not necessarily a great combination.

I'm glad the T is back up. That area is paralyzed without the transportation; I don't even like to drive in Boston if I can take the T, and I grew up there!

[imaginarycircus]

Boston.com reported Plum Island and the Vineyard got hit pretty hard, but no word on what the damage is like on those islands. My brother runs a marina in Block Island and I know they've had some damage, but I don't think it's too bad.

I grew up in NY, then lived in CT, then NM, and then here in MA. Went back to NY for a couple of years, but my husband is NOT a New Yorker. So we moved back up here.

[tryslora]

I've done a little poking around and it looks like my friends aren't on the coastline, so while they had no power at least at some point, they weren't flooded, thankfully, so they and their animals were safe. Which is good to know.

My dad's family is in CT (a very large family) so it's a frequent visiting place for me, but I've never lived there. I managed to avoid moving west (my mom's family is between TX and AZ) because I'm a northeasterner born and bred and can't really imagine being anywhere else. My husband grew up right here in the capital district, and always wanted to move to MA, but when we realized that we were both really settled here, my parents moved here (and out of MA) instead to be closer to us. So it seems like we're entrenched here, and I like it, so that's cool. I came here for college, then grad school, and never managed to leave again.

[imaginarycircus]

I went to NM for undergrad. I do love it there, but it wasn't the sort of place I could stay after graduating.

I really hate CT. Everything bad that every happened to me--happened there. I'm very biased about it. And bitter.

I do love Cambridge/Boston though. My husband grew up in Wellesley and he is happy here. Cambridge is a very liveable and liberal city with lots of cool people. I'm pretty happy here. I have daydreams about moving back down to NYC, but that is never going to happen. Thankfully my husband is happy to visit there.

I don't know that area of NY well at all. I grew up in Rye, right on the sound and I lived in the Bronx during grad school because I was at Sarah Lawrence and living in Brooklyn would have made that miserable.

[tryslora]

Your husband and I were neighbors. :) I grew up in Natick, and spent some time in Wellesley. And Cambridge is AWESOME. Lots of great fandom around there. I miss going to Arisia.

I once dated a guy who grew up in Hastings-on-Hudson, and used to go to Lunacon down in Tarrytown, so those formed my views of Westchester County. Loads of kids who went to Union (my undergrad) grew up in and around that area.

[b_radwick]

Glad you're okay!

[eibbil_libbie]

Thanks, hon <3

[b_radwick]

You're most welcome.

Also, that's an unnecessarily large number of hurricanes to have been through.

[eibbil_libbie]

Not all of them have made landfall where I live - some came ashore south of us, some passed over and then reintensified right on top of us (Bonnie and Danny), some hit the OBX and then came to party at our house. But yeah, those are all the storms I've gone through.

That's the fun of living on the coast. June 1 to November 30...you get used to checking weather underground a few times a week to see what's up in the tropics and how many D batteries you have (and no, not kidding, there is not a single D battery left in all of Hampton Roads.)

[b_radwick]

You know I adore you but, that's crazy. I much prefer the 3 1/2 months of ridiculous heat to massive storms that destroy everything in their path.

[eibbil_libbie]

The adoring goes right back to you, sweetie.

Frankly, I'd rather the ridiculous heat since I loathe rain and love desert, but this is where we were when my husband retired from the Navy and where he found a job after that. So...we make do with what we have.

And, really, it takes a high Cat 4 or Cat 5 to destroy everything. Cat 1 and 2 just mess shit up. The really hard part is the waiting. These things take forever to make landfall sometimes.

Imagine being put under a tornado warning...but the tornado will take 4 days to get there. And there's nothing you can do. You can't just pick up your house and move it, you just have to sit there and watch it creep towards you at 6 miles an hour. There's the funtimes.

[b_radwick]

D'awww *blushes*

Yeah, that sounds completely miserable to have to deal with that kind of thing once a year. It's like horrible Christmas.

[eibbil_libbie]

Some years are better than others. Sometimes we get one, sometimes we get none. Then sometimes it's 2004 and we get lots. <3

[rainpuddle13]

Thankfully we just got brushed by this monster. So far we've been lucky here. The power hasn't even flickered and from what the news has been saying VA Dominion has been on the ball resorting power quickly when it does go out.

I just feel for all the folks up north. Apparently most of NYC is without power now and all the underground subway stations are flooding.

[eibbil_libbie]

I don't even want to think about what it would have been like if she'd come 100 miles closer. 3 days of that? Norfolk would be a memory.

[emberfire]

Glad that Sandy wasn't worse to you. We're getting decent wind gusts here, nothing like what the East Coast is getting now but I know enough to feel for ya.

[eibbil_libbie]

So am I. We dodged some serious hell with this monster.

What bothers me is with all the hype and scare-talk...then we basically got some really gusty winds and rain? The next time they go ape-shit, no one will believe them.

[emberfire]

That is exactly it. The excess scare talk leads to people not believing real warnings and then having issues with staying put - forcing first responders to go in after them. *humpf*

[misscake]

Thought about you yesterday! Glad to hear you made it through okay. We lost power for all of two minutes, which pleasantly surprises me.

[eibbil_libbie]

I was amazed we didn't lose it for this one; we didn't even lose it for Irene (which was worse down here.)

Just glad it's over, and glad you made it through <3