Hurricane Irene

If preparing for it can be called as being affected then, yes I am. Today, we spent almost whole day running among stores to grab ready to eat food, water, drinks, fruits, bread, batteries, flash lights, car chargers and what not. :)
 
Yes, I'm in western Connecticut, we're expecting a visit from Irene on Sunday. I spent the last couple of days stroking up on the essentials and moving my patio furniture and pretty much anything else the could possibly become a wind blow projectile into the garage or basement.

Most of my neighbors are looking at me like I'm nuts, but I was here for hurricane Gloria in '85 so I'm not taking any chances... I'm hoping for the best and planning for the worst. :)
 
I'm in NYC and there is a first mandatory evacuation of close to 400K+ people with the public transit closed at noon so you can imagine how crazy this is going to get.
 
There's not an awful lot of TV coverage of it here in the UK at the moment. From what I have seen it looks like it's still a big unknown as to how bad it will be.
 
Yesterday, went shopping. The Stop & Shop looked like it had been hit by looters. No bread, the entire aisle was stripped bare. The water aisle was similarly naked. No batteries, no flashlights to be found. Today, spent most of the day on a treasure hunt for items. Found a few cases of bottled water, some deli bread (looks good, fresh, but not cut just full loaves). Wal-Mart, Radio Shack, Staples and Home Depot all were devoid of batteries and flashlights. (Kinda funny to see the weary look on the store clerks face when they say for what must be the ten thousandth time that they are out of these items). So, it looks like candles, cell phones and Ipad are going to be my light source if we lose electricity. I have a propane grill, so I should be set with steak, ribs (two kinds of pork)!, pork chops, and chicken if the stoves don't work.

Just moved all the extra stuff from outside (trash cans, bicycles and grill) to the shed. I am in Central CT, so hopefully the wind won't be so bad by the time the eye hits. I am thinking it will be flooding in places and power outages as the major problems here.

Hope everyone is safe!
 
wondering if the power outages are because of the storm itself or is the power being shutt-off by the power-plants as a precautinary effort ?
 
One of our members is right in the middle of it. Seems to be doing ok at the moment.

The heavy rains is his main concern i.e. no where for the water to go.
 
Yesterday, went shopping. The Stop & Shop looked like it had been hit by looters. No bread, the entire aisle was stripped bare. The water aisle was similarly naked. No batteries, no flashlights to be found. Today, spent most of the day on a treasure hunt for items. Found a few cases of bottled water, some deli bread (looks good, fresh, but not cut just full loaves). Wal-Mart, Radio Shack, Staples and Home Depot all were devoid of batteries and flashlights. (Kinda funny to see the weary look on the store clerks face when they say for what must be the ten thousandth time that they are out of these items). So, it looks like candles, cell phones and Ipad are going to be my light source if we lose electricity. I have a propane grill, so I should be set with steak, ribs (two kinds of pork)!, pork chops, and chicken if the stoves don't work.

Just moved all the extra stuff from outside (trash cans, bicycles and grill) to the shed. I am in Central CT, so hopefully the wind won't be so bad by the time the eye hits. I am thinking it will be flooding in places and power outages as the major problems here.

Hope everyone is safe!
Same thing here in Southwestern Connecticut... In addition to bread, water and batteries, I don't think there's a store in this area that has a generator, power inverter or bag of charcoal left on the shelves. Even our local hardware store sold out of old fashioned hurricane lamps and lamp oil!

If nothing else Irene is giving the economy a boost. :rolleyes:

Edit: We've started seeing some occasionally heavy rain here, no wind yet though.
 
The folks at @wunderground on Twitter are going a good job keeping the updates coming. They've had staff on for 24 hour with updates.

Some friends of mine were within two blocks of that F3 tornado that hit Goderich, Ontario, and with all the power outages and other problems they had, one of the only ways they had to communicate was via Twitter.
 
The power went out here from winds/rain and a tornado. The tornado was so close to my house, I could hear it. I'm waiting for the eye to pass by now. It's supposed to be within 20 miles away.
 
It's closing in on midnight here at Central Park. I can't remember it ever being any quieter and more peaceful. Barely a car outside, almost no wind and a whole lot milder than it was a few hours ago.
 
We seem to be in a bit of a lull in Southwestern Connecticut, we've had about 6" of rain so far with wind gusts in 40+ MPH range. Not much damage that I can seen in my neighborhood, a few small tree limbs down, the lights have blinked a few times but we still have power here... Last I heard there were about 350,000 power outages state wide.

Just heard a report saying the storm has picked up speed and is moving north at around 25MPH so it's going to be out of our hair sooner that originally forecast.
 
Any updates from the east coast of the usa?

Besides the tornadoes, not much happened here. The calmest wind occurred when the eye went passed us. It seems that the only real danger is flooding. The highest wind gust I recorded was 40 mph.
 
APTOPIX Irene_Norm(4).webpHurricaneIrene.webpIrene New York_Norm.webpIrene_Norm(9).webpIrene_Norm(10).webpIrene_Norm(12).webpIrene_Norm(13).webpIrene_Norm(16).webpIrene_Norm(17).webpIrene2.webpIrene3.webp

THE WEATHER SEEMS OK IN NYC 11:13 AM:)
 
I'm in uptown NYC and the weather is now clear. No rain, no wind. Looks like it's gone.
Thanks Andy, I'm about 70 miles more or less northeast of you and it's clearing here too... The rain is down to a drizzle, we're still seeing wind gusts in the 20-30MPH range though.
 
Top Bottom