Hurricane Irene

jme22 · Post by **jme22** » Sat Aug 27, 2011 9:13 pm

11 PM EST -

Worse part of the storm is bearing down on us here in suburban MD. (DC suburbs) The wind has finally kicked in with fairly strongs gusts from time to time. We typically lose power, so it's a wonder that I still have electricity. We'll see if that is the case in the morning. The winds are expected to be sustained for the next several hours. I'm going to sleep down on the first floor tonight as I have many large, old trees in my yard that could topple from the saturated ground and high winds. Will be sleeping with one eye open tonight!

Good luck to those north of here in Irene's path,

Julie

Polly · Post by **Polly** » Sun Aug 28, 2011 6:12 am

We made it! Lots of strong gusts this morning - up to 50 mph. We didn't lose electricity (hallelujah!) although almost 600,000 Marylanders did. Tons of leaves and limbs everywhere. We have 3 and 1/2 inches of rain so far. I am really tired today. Didn't sleep much because electricity kept flickering and I would get nervous every time I heard that "cracking" nose from a broken limb. But it's all good here! Mother-in-law (age 95) is here but was very confused yesterday. Don't know if it is from the stress of being ecacuated or if she had a small stroke. (??).

Anyway, thanks for all of your good wishes (Tessa, mi querida amiga, it is wonderful to hear from you) and good luck to all in Irene's path.

Love,

Polly

Post by **tex** » Sun Aug 28, 2011 8:41 am

Polly,

Thanks for the update. I hope the storm will wind down, and you've seen the worst.

Love,
Tex

sarkin · Post by **sarkin** » Sun Aug 28, 2011 10:09 am

Irene was diminishing through the night - we woke up around the hour when the storm was supposed to be at its worst, and could kind of hear that it was already winding down. All's well here - there are lots of downed branches and flooding in lower-lying areas, but where we are, the storm has so far been less destructive than unnamed big rains a few weeks ago. Phew... (The local news was all storm, all the time, and some folks were more seriously affected, but in many parts of the city, people were basically calling in and saying, "pretty normal here," - not the most exciting coverage, but a relief!) All of us who walk dogs have been out and about ;) and on my neighbor's block, folks were sitting out on their stoops chatting over coffee.

Nancy, I hope your daughter and son and their homes and loved ones are all doing OK...

Hope those without power get it back soon - and Polly, hope your MIL is OK.

Best of luck to those further north - I think this storm has calmed down, but can still do some real damage.

Love,
Sara

mbeezie · Post by **mbeezie** » Sun Aug 28, 2011 10:53 am

Glad to hear everyone is doing well and that it wasn't as bad as expected. Wish you could magically send some of that rain our way!!

Mary Beth

starfire · Post by **starfire** » Sun Aug 28, 2011 11:20 am

I wish so too Mary Beth...... *sigh* I know it's desperately needed.

Glad to hear the good reports and hope everything that is in doubt works out fine.

We had flash flood warnings here today. "my" creek (the one that goes through my driveway) came up but not an awful lot. I was relieved because the bridge still has damage to be repaired from the spring storms.

Love, Shirley

sarkin · Post by **sarkin** » Sun Aug 28, 2011 12:29 pm

Shirley, which is your creek? My husband paddles a couple of PA creeks, when the rains are up, and is hoping the waters will be *down* enough by Tuesday... he's watching the gauges.

Hope all remains well, and you get no floods. Branches are still coming down here - the winds keep dying down and then kicking back up again.

And yes, wishing we could share some of this rain, towards Texas...

S

Martha · Post by **Martha** » Sun Aug 28, 2011 12:56 pm

I'm glad to hear that those of you in Irene's path did not have as much damage as predicted. I'm sure it was scary, though.

Polly, sorry to hear about your MIL, but glad you got her out of Ocean City to be on the safe side. I saw news reports from Ocean City.

Sara, dog-owners aren't daunted by downed limbs, wind, and flood, huh?

My brother, on the Chesapeake in Churchton MD, lost power, but had no damage.

Love,
Martha

sarkin · Post by **sarkin** » Sun Aug 28, 2011 3:00 pm

Martha,

Glad your brother had no damage, and I hope the power comes back for them soon.

Dogwalkers are daunted by dogs who don't get a little fresh air and outdoor-time... Our dog doesn't know that pooping in the back garden is an option (actually, it isn't an option, and we like it that way!). He was a little spooked at first, but soon got interested in his surroundings, so I took that as a good sign. (Yes, it's a little strange that I trust his judgment in just about no other arena... but if he says the weather's OK, I believe him.)

Winds are still kicking here - the worst is definitely over, and I think the local stations are regretting committing the whole day to the storm, because there isn't that much left to say, fortunately.

Hope the cleanup to the south goes well, and hope the storm continues to weaken as it heads north and east. I heard from a friend on Cape Cod, and they were out in the sun - now that the storm is landlocked, it should continue to lose power, hopefully.

Sara

Gloria · Post by **Gloria** » Sun Aug 28, 2011 5:05 pm

So glad to hear that many of you suffered little to no damage. I'm guessing that others who haven't posted may be without electricity at the moment. I hope that you're over the worst of it.

Gloria

Joefnh · Post by **Joefnh** » Sun Aug 28, 2011 7:24 pm

I'm glad all have made it through ok. We did get the gusting winds to about 50Mph and about 4 inches of rain and did loose power for most of the day.

Overall it looks like just a bunch of yard cleanup needed, other than that the lawn got watered.

Was it just me or did the news types make too much of this?

Joe

jme22 · Post by **jme22** » Sun Aug 28, 2011 7:56 pm

Lights just came back on...hooray!!!!

Not too bad overall, though a bit scary last night with the howling winds. We have broken limbs that will need attention. But, otherwise, it was just a lot of yard clean up today. There are many dark intersections, which is always a hassle for what is an already terribly congested area. Many of the school systems are closed tomorrow because of the extensive power outages.

Hopefully we'll be back to normal in a couple of days.

Hope everyone else faired well!

Julie

sarkin · Post by **sarkin** » Sun Aug 28, 2011 8:35 pm

Joe,

Good luck with the yard cleanup... and I do agree - I think it was fine that the media focused so much attention before the storm, to make people aware that this had the potential to be serious, and we needed to respond and prepare. But all day today, the news was all about the non-news that, basically... it had rained a bunch, and some tree limbs were down. That was the main story around here - my heart goes out to anyone injured, and to the fellow whose car was under that tree limb, and to everyone without power or otherwise in need, but the endless media focus from dawn till dark was just odd - I had the sense some of the local reporters were almost embarrassed (one of them mentioned puddles... really, puddles?).

Gloria, I'm sure you're right that we'll hear in the next few days from some of our members who are now without power - hopefully not for long, and hopefully all are well.

Julie, glad you're through your power outage!

MaggieRedwings · Post by **MaggieRedwings** » Mon Aug 29, 2011 4:53 am

Morning All,

Sorry I wasn't checking in but we lost power from 8:00 PM on Saturday and just got it back this morning. Frank will be tossing the fridge and freezer today. We had no damage other than that but the winds and rain were really bad. Coatesville where I live received 11+ inches but we held tight in our over 55 community and everyone helped each other out. Must say I never knew that many people had generators but some need it for their medical needs.

Now time to clean up. A number of communities but us are still without power and large downed trees.

Love, Maggie

starfire · Post by **starfire** » Mon Aug 29, 2011 6:41 am

Sara......... That "my" creek statement was a bit of a joke. I doubt it even has a name.. if so I've never heard it. It starts from the top of the big hill (or mountain, depending on where you grew up - haha) behind my house so it doesn't travel a long distance. However, it collects plenty of runoff when it rains hard or for rains for hours & hours. It can go from a trickle to a raging torrent very quickly, but recedes almost as fast once it stops raining.

"my" creek dumps into a larger, longer one called the "Wappasening". Here is the Wikipedia description: "Wappasening Creek is a tributary of the North Branch Susquehanna River in New York and Pennsylvania in the United States.
Wappasening Creek flows out of Bradford County, Pennsylvania into New York to join the North Branch Susquehanna River approximately 9 miles (14.5 km) above the borough of Sayre, Pennsylvania."

The Wappasening actually joins the Susquehanna River in Nichols, N.Y. It isn't known all that well as far as I know so I'd be surprised if your husband had heard of it.

Do you go with your husband? It sounds like fun.

Love, Shirley