Hurricane Irene

[Erik]

Evaluating a storm based on wind speed and nothing else is like evaluating a pitcher based on fastball velocity and nothing else.

[Judge Jude]

Still 220,000 without power in NJ - down from 750,000 on Sunday. I'll take my 6-hour outage on Sunday night like a man!

A portion of Interstate Route 287 (which goes from Westchester County NY almost to PA, then loops back to the Jersey Shore) fell into the Rockaway River in Boonton, closing the northbound side.

My 15-minute commute to the office became a 40-minute effort just to go 1 mile. I was over an hour into the trip, still plenty more road closures in my way, when they told me to turn around because of a bomb scare in the office (wtf?).

75 people rescued today, mostly in boats. Almost a dozen rivers just crested today, so we may see some floating homes on TV tonight, amid gorgeous sunshine today (and yesterday)...

[Steve]

Evaluating a storm based on wind speed and nothing else is like evaluating a pitcher based on fastball velocity and nothing else.

Hurricane Irene is the Nola Ryan of hurricanes?

[Judge Jude]

I see what you did there...

[willthethrill]

My office is still without power so I get another work from home in my underwear day.

[Hammer]

My office is still without power so I get another work from home in my underwear day.

I hope theyre clean at least.

[ironfist]

My office is still without power so I get another work from home in my underwear day.

We were without power but looks like it might have just come back now... I didn't have cable so no internet for me either - I got two free days off.

[Judge Jude]

1-minute video of the flooding in NJ, a couple of miles from me (I'm fine):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qV-xrRpaLs8&feature=youtu.be

[Bob Kohm]

It amazes me that anybody can get a mortgage in Wayne or Passaic if their house isn't atop a hill.

[willthethrill]

I hope theyre clean at least.

They were when the week started.

Office power came back this afternoon. Back to the salt mines tomorrow.

[Piney Boy]

The flood in Boonton was due to someone leaving a valve open in the retaining wall. heard this on nj101.5.

[Judge Jude]

There are plenty of million-dollar houses in Wayne, on the dry side.

Sort of inevitable, how it plays out: middle-class people would kill for their kids to go to stellar public schools (New Jerseyans spend more per student and the highest HS graduation rate, etc, iirc). But how can you afford to live in that town? Answer, you can get a home at a reasonable price if it's, oh, on the banks of a river that overflows a lot. The family rolls the dice, figuring if they get lucky, they get high-end schools on a mid-end budget. 566 municipalities in NJ, home rule, little to no regional planning, fewer than 10 part-time town council members in the towns, each making a few thousand dollars a year, making multi-million dollar decisions about prime real estate near NYC. A perfect storm, long before the winds and rain arrive.

Nobody's gotten lucky around here for several years now.

My 15-minute commute each way was 55 minutes each way today, due to extensive road closures of major highways. That should ease tomorrow, but when a river typically floods at the 7-foot mark and then it peaks at 14 feet yesterday - the result is not pretty. Rowboat makers are getting an economic stimulus around here.

President Obama coming to Paterson Sunday. I work about a half-mile up the hill, and it sure is all downhill in struggling Paterson. Irene chose no particular socio-economic class - she pounded 'em all in North Jersey, from homeless people to six-figure incomes (check that, the millionaires mostly stayed dry, I imagine. Location, location, location. A number of NY Giants FB players live in the well-off neighborhoods in the affected area, btw. The Jets tend to live slightly west, where their practice site is, and which fared better).

[GwynnInTheHall]

Is CBB Eric Cantor?