Wishing all our east coast players a safe weekend

[carlosjuero]

Most of the worst seems to have gone on by finally - some flooding [sump pump is putting in overtime keeping the basement semi-dry] and a few roads not far away have almost been washed out, but power is still on and we haven't gotten the heavy heavy winds here yet [NW CT, Litchfield County] - as the eye passes through that may change though. East side and coastline of the state have taken the heaviest beating - 600,000 folks in total without power, lots of trees down, lots and lots of flooding.

Hopefully a few more hours will see us in the clear, folks to the north should be ready for heavy winds and rain but Irene is dying down slowly - just under Tropical Storm strength now. You folks in Canada [east coast side] can thank the US east coast for taking the beating for ya... ;p

[Thorsvin]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oc-P8oDuS0Q

[TrainedTurtle]

I'm in Brooklyn, New York and the damage wasn't extremely substantial in my area, but it's ridiculous that so many people wished otherwise. Ignorance left and right with people on facebook saying things like "give us a better hurricane next time" -.- ah well, people will be people i guess. I hope everyone else is alright up and down the east coast..

Tell 'em to move to South Florida. I've seen leaves and sticks stuck in concrete/glass after a good hurricane, trees stripped of all bark from the sand in the wind. My house was built to weather a cat 5, so we always stayed, looters were more of a threat than the storm. Once had to collect our water-heating solar panels form the opposite side of the neighborhood when they got ripped off our roof, though.

Honestly, being in the kind of hurricane they want would probably give them nightmares. That howling sound, like demons crying and laughing. Going without fresh food and water for weeks. No electricity for up to a month even in urban areas. And the still, hot, wet air left behind afterwards. Nah, I don't miss it.

[djheydt]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oc-P8oDuS0Q

"Good night, Irene" is also a song. Older than I am.

[Spacmanbobr]

I'm in Brooklyn, New York and the damage wasn't extremely substantial in my area, but it's ridiculous that so many people wished otherwise. Ignorance left and right with people on facebook saying things like "give us a better hurricane next time" -.- ah well, people will be people i guess. I hope everyone else is alright up and down the east coast..

Yea, I thought it was pretty bad when tornado warnings were issued for the Philadelphia area, but still, the strength of the storm was never the issue as people say "Oh it's not that strong, quit making it out to be dangerous!", it's that it was so big and most of the Northeast has already had record-breaking rainfall amounts this month. Flooding was and still is the main issue, and I'm pretty sure most areas by rivers right now are flooded with 8 feet of water in the Philadelphia-Southern New Jersey areas. I'm pretty sure Brooklyn and lower Manhattan are flooded right now as well.

[djheydt]

Yea, I thought it was pretty bad when tornado warnings were issued for the Philadelphia area, but still, the strength of the storm was never the issue as people say "Oh it's not that strong, quit making it out to be dangerous!", it's that it was so big and most of the Northeast has already had record-breaking rainfall amounts this month. Flooding was and still is the main issue, and I'm pretty sure most areas by rivers right now are flooded with 8 feet of water in the Philadelphia-Southern New Jersey areas. I'm pretty sure Brooklyn and lower Manhattan are flooded right now as well.

Yup. It was only a Category 1, but it was a Mucking Great Category 1. I hope everyone within reach of my keystrokes is safe and keeping their feet dry.

[Glamdrhel]

My family and I have been sending out all our best wishes and safe thoughts to those in the path of Irene.

We huddled down in the face of tropical cyclone Yasi earlier this year and while we managed to stay safe with little damage, can understand the fear that such a powerful force of nature can bring.

Wishing you all a safe return to life as normal once it's all said and done for

[ShireDweller]

North of NYC, we had a lot of heavy rain but the wind wasn't as bad as I feared. The power blinked and dimmed a few times here but didn't go out. Flooding is the main problem at the moment.

One of my neighbors on lower ground had water come inside, there is a pile of soaked carpet and carpet padding outside their door now, and they've got pumps and wet vacs going. No trees down that I can see, that was my biggest worry.

I hope everyone affected is safe and well tonight.

[Meerborn]

Also in Brooklyn. It was a solid storm here, and nothing more; quite mild in some areas, given the scope and the size of it.

I don't think anyone wants a real hurricane in place of our teapot tempest, but the overreaction by the Mayor and the department heads was absurd enough that many people need to vent. Warning the people and moving those at greatest risk is good planning; shutting down the entire transit system, including surface transit and key bridges, more than 12 hours before the storm was anywhere close, was sheer arrogant foolishness. That's not urban response, it's pure politics.

The City's response to flooded areas and storm damage has been excellent, so far as I hear. And in the grand scheme of things, I would surely rather have a little inconvenience than a landscape of ruin. Even better, though, would be a rational, measured response rather than an across-the-board need-it-or-no shutdown of services. When people talk about a better storm, I think they mean a better Mayor.

Edit: Brooklyn and downtown Manhattan are not flooded, incidentally, as intimated above. There were very minor incidents of flooding in the city, none on any kind of dangerous scale and none outside the projected areas. I went in to downtown Manhattan this afternoon to turn on our company servers; no damage, no floods, no broken windows.

[Nosdracir]

Well, you would've done better to stay inside yourself ... but I agree, it's hazard pay for you and tough cookies for him. Now STAY INSIDE till it's over.

I only popped out to get it because the wind died away leaving the chair 10 feet from the front door and there are no trees on that side of the house. I won't seize an opportunity if it means taking a chance.

Needn't have bothered though. All the nomadic lawn chairs ended up trapped in the adjacent woodlot. Neighbor across the street and I collected and divvied them up at sunset when the wind had dropped to blustery N.E. Fall levels. Did some swapping so we each ended up with 4 matching chairs and 1 odd one. We joked about tonight's leaf lottery, when the cool winds will dry all the fallen leaves and send them into a pile in the wind shadowed corner of someone's lawn.

Not a bad storm at all in this area. We were well prepared, so now we're all set with canned goods etc. and don't have to lay in stock in case of a bad blizzard or ice storm this winter.

Hope everyone else is in equally good shape after this.

[Solien]

West of Boston here. We had some wind and heavy rain, some leaves and small branches down. Luckily we didn't lose power at all.

One would hope the overplanning doesn't lead to people becoming jaded and ignoring government directives when a more serious storm hits. No one wanted to be Bush right after Katrina again. Certainly some media outlets were ramping up the sensationalism (*cough*theweatherhchannel*cou gh*), and I'm sure some would have enjoyed roasting any politician who "didn't do enough".

[Kiratom]

Hoping for the best for all who get hit by the storm.

[MRNot]

Irene has now officially passed the Washington DC area with nothing more than a bit of rain and a bit of wind. Power blinked a few times, but nothing else...

Eh.. Haven't read further, but just to get it out there, you are correct on the weather, but not on the aftermath. There is a helluva lot in our areas still without power 36 hours post-storm. I live a few miles east of the east quadrant of the capital beltway. I was disturbed by the power failure in light of how not monumental the tropical storm was as it passed, but there you have it.

[Reianna]

storm went by and everything here is okey! i actually spent time during the height of the storm working on my warden! we didnt loose power or anything. we were lucky