Hurricane Irene

[Kevin Seitzer]

I was surprised two days ago that this hurricane wasn't getting more attention in the media. Now it seems like it might be a little overhyped. I do think it's wise to take precautions, prepare for evacuations, etc., but I also wonder whether people understand that we're only talking about 20% and 30% chances of various specific disasters this far out (North Carolina excepted at this point). People seem to want to know either 0% or 100%.

[Hammer]

GSP in NJ is being closed southbound from exit 98 tonight at 8PM

all mass transit in NY/NJ shuts down at noon tomorrow.

[B-Fly]

Luckily our hometown of Montclair is higher elevation and doesn't have any major waterways, so while I expect some basement flooding from the saturation level in the ground around the foundation, I doubt we'll have much road flooding. The biggest risk for us in a hurricane, though, is falling trees. It looks like the worst of the storm will be during the day on Sunday, so we'll stay off the top floor and toward the center of the house. We briefly considered just booking a room in the Poconos and driving the family west until the storm passes, but decided to stick it out. We have lots of bottled water, flashlights, non-perishable food items, etc, but I hope we won't need to use them and that most of the debris will be cleaned up on Monday.

My Mom evacuated our family's summer house on Long Beach Island last night and a contractor was supposed to board the house up today. We'll see how much damage that house sustains.

[swampdragon]

Luckily our hometown of Montclair is higher elevation and doesn't have any major waterways, so while I expect some basement flooding from the saturation level in the ground around the foundation, I doubt we'll have much road flooding. The biggest risk for us in a hurricane, though, is falling trees. It looks like the worst of the storm will be during the day on Sunday, so we'll stay off the top floor and toward the center of the house. We briefly considered just booking a room in the Poconos and driving the family west until the storm passes, but decided to stick it out. We have lots of bottled water, flashlights, non-perishable food items, etc, but I hope we won't need to use them and that most of the debris will be cleaned up on Monday.

My Mom evacuated our family's summer house on Long Beach Island last night and a contractor was supposed to board the house up today. We'll see how much damage that house sustains.

I live about 10 minutes from b-fly and have lived here for over 20 years. Trees have a life span and when you live in an area with a lot of 80+ year old trees they will come down.
I have new neighbors who have not moved in completely yet - here is hoping the one ancient tree leaning right at their house stays put.

[B-Fly]

New York/New Jersey getting earthquakes? Hurricanes? Maybe Harold Camping was off by three months?

And now the Derek-Minka breakup. The end is nigh!

[ShadeEagle]

Not sure of where it's going at this point; it doesn't look like we'll be in for much other than one heck of a rainstorm here, but then again, I was in Orlando when Charley came through a few years back and I thought that'd pass me entirely. I don't have a ton of bottled water, but I think we'll have enough advance warning here that I can empty out some bottles to fashion together emergency backup fresh water. Phones will charge overnight and I'll pull electronics from anywhere near a window if the worst of it turns this way. There are a couple of older trees in the vicinity, but they're toward the front of my apartment building, not the side. My biggest concern is the bleached cow's skull making a beeline for my window.

I'm not super-confident in my plan, but I do feel a bit comforted that our power lines here are underground and I have a gas stove if things really blow up in a bad way. Plus, I can get to windowless areas if needed.

[Judge Jude]

I'll be out all day Saturday looking to see if Bergen County (B-Fly lives within a couple of minutes) is in a mad panic. My sense right now is that the Jersey Shore and Long Island will fare a lot worse than North Jersey on Sunday, but we'll see.

[joncarlos]

Jessica and I both have family on Long Island, nowhere near the shore, they're totally not worried but we're a little worried for them.

[ironfist]

I'll be out all day Saturday looking to see if Bergen County (B-Fly lives within a couple of minutes) is in a mad panic. My sense right now is that the Jersey Shore and Long Island will fare a lot worse than North Jersey on Sunday, but we'll see.

I really hope you're right. I have three huge trees out in my backyard that are making me very nervous about this storm.

[umjewman]

We jetted out of hudson county and made my way to my parents in bergen. Not that I think anything will really happen to my apartment, but we are in a flood zone, so what the hell- up to slightly higher elevation.

My wife didn't like the idea of kayaking down the street in jersey city. Oh well.

[Judge Jude]

In the mid-1980s, when you were in diapers (not a good look for a 5-yr-old, lol), there really were rowboats in downtown Hackensack. Life did go on.

[Long John]

Yeah, those of us old enough to remember Gloria aren't nearly as panicked as everyone else it seems. I was out in Central Jersey yesterday and the panic had fully set in on all the stay at home moms. Interestingly enough, I went to Home Depot, Stop n Shop and Target yesterday - every one of them was out of D batteries at 10am. Walmart was already sold out of bottled water.

Stay dry, everyone.

[Bob Kohm]

Drove home from NYC last night to get here before the storm. Right now it's rainy and windy but nothing earth-shattering. Bigger stuff supposed to be here a bit later tonight though so we shall see. I'm guessing damp basements, some downed trees and blackouts are probably the damage upshot here in NoVa/DC/MoCo. Storm surge will probably give Old Town Alexandria along the Potomac and Annapolis a bit of a worse time.

[Judge Jude]

No surprise - North Jersey residents out and about today dissing the "media hype." They bought their extra supplies and took the patio furniture off the balcony and such, but plenty of people were still shopping at 6 p.m. (hadn't started raining hard yet here).

Of course, the frightened ones were inside watching Weather Channel bunnies getting aroused at the chance for 'big numbers.' Maybe they get a piece of the action if the ratings increase or something.

One guy conceded, "If I go more than 24 hours without power, I won't be able to put milk in my coffee."

#toughcrowd

This was an actual quote from Governor Christie at a press conference yesterday (which was a beautiful, sunny day): "I saw some of these news feeds that I have been watching upstairs of people sitting on the beach in Asbury Park," said Christie. "Get the hell off the beach in Asbury Park and get out--you're done, it's 4:30--you have maximized your tan, get off the beach, get in your cars and get out of those areas."

lol

[Piney Boy]

Well this has been a fun 1 day AFTER the hurricane. Power was on all during the hurricane until 11 am yesterday. Power in the rest of thr town went out around 5:30 pm. Still out today and it is reported to be out for another 4 to 7 days. This sucks.