BS: NA coast hurricane season 2011

Subject: RE: BS: NA coast hurricane season 2011
From: katlaughing
Date: 29 Aug 11 - 11:27 AM

My daughter's power was back on by 3a so no troubles there. She was kind of surprised when it went out a bunch of neighbours went outside and were having a gay old time. I wonder if it was because they could finally see the stars well without all of the lights on.

It is so sad to see old trees ripped out. I have some pix from Bob which ripped out sidewalks with roots of huge old trees. The destruction was awe inspiring.

kat

Subject: RE: BS: NA coast hurricane season 2011
From: GUEST,999
Date: 29 Aug 11 - 11:05 AM

Good to see everyone posting. Hi, Maeve.

Looking out the back window, I figure the Chateauguay is up between a foot and two feet and the flow rate looks to be 2 1/2 times normal. What's your take from where you are, Ad? I think from where you are you could estimate it better than I. The rain in town wasn't bad, but from time to time gusts would bend some trees and the tops would move five feet or so.

If anyone wants that in metric, here ya go.

http://produtools.com/download/unitconverter.php

Subject: RE: BS: NA coast hurricane season 2011
From: Bettynh
Date: 29 Aug 11 - 09:19 AM

Janie, I'm a city girl in southern NH. The two rivers here are big enough and were low enough that we'll probably not have flooding. Damage is mainly from a few downed trees.

As dramatic as all that footage from Brattleboro is, the lasting damage looks to be the roads. The Kancamagus highway, main route through the White Mountain National Forest, is closed. Route 9, the major route across southern Vermont, is gone in some spots, undermined in many, and has several ruined bridges. This is going to take time to fix. Aside from simple transportation, these are the main leafpeeper routes, bringing NH and Vt many millions in tourist dollars every fall (it's a weird thing to be observed by busloads of tourists speaking Japanese at the local farmstand but it pays many bills.) My apple tree still is loaded with apples, so I assume the orchards in the local towns are ok (we've been growing apples in this area for export since the early 1700s).

Maeve, I'm so glad you're ok. Any chance of getting a local logger to take the pines? Beautiful as they are, they're dangerous anywhere near a building. Around here, the understory can be oak, which will come up quickly with the pines gone and are good for a century or more before they become dangerous.

Subject: RE: BS: NA coast hurricane season 2011
From: maeve
Date: 29 Aug 11 - 08:31 AM

Fine here. As gnu told you, we lost quite a few good trees, and it was, shall we say, interesting to lie in our bedroom-to-be wondering if the beautiful old pine would be joining us.

That section of Vermont and corresponding parts of New Hampshire have major flooding every time there is a storm. I used to live over there; beautiful countryside and people.

Subject: RE: BS: NA coast hurricane season 2011
From: Bettynh
Date: 29 Aug 11 - 08:26 AM

Gnu, These are costly, but great. Plug them into an unused wall socket. When the power goes off, the flashlight comes on. No hunting around to find the danged thing.

Subject: RE: BS: NA coast hurricane season 2011
From: gnu
Date: 29 Aug 11 - 07:53 AM

The wind is whoopin here but only up to about 95 kph max. Gonna die down the afternoon.

Mum was getting a drink of cold water out of the fridge at 4:16 when the power went out. Later today, there will be a batteryless flashlight in every room in he house.

Power should be back on within an hour... we are in a major shopping district.

Subject: RE: BS: NA coast hurricane season 2011
From: Beer
Date: 29 Aug 11 - 07:52 AM

Some rain and wind. Sun is out had a look around and counted the leaves that fell.
Hope those affected can recover with not to much loss. I hate to see century trees uprooted because they can't be replaced. What a bummer Joe. Not fair if you ask me.
ad.

Subject: RE: BS: NA coast hurricane season 2011
From: catspaw49
Date: 29 Aug 11 - 07:23 AM

For all of my life I never thought about Vermont and hurricane in the same moment. Florida certainly but Vermont?   Geeziz, what's next? Earthquakes in Virginia?..............................wait a minute............


Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: NA coast hurricane season 2011
From: gnu
Date: 29 Aug 11 - 04:39 AM

Joe... I would take that a atep further. If THEY cancelled, they should pay, no???

The power went out here about an hour ago. No time has been given for one of two major outages to be repaired. I hope we are the one that says about an hour and it will be back on.

Quite windy but no rain. I see on the US radar there is little rain anywhere. I was just outside and it was cool to see the stars so clearly with the power outage.

The post made possible by Canadian Tire Power Pak.

I am going back to bed.

Subject: RE: BS: NA coast hurricane season 2011
From: Penny S.
Date: 29 Aug 11 - 03:03 AM

Still thinking of you all. Thanks Maeve for that update on windows - I have to admit the reason I remembered it was because it seemed odd. The houses with the gable ends seem to have lost them because they had no trees filtering the wind, as the identical ones which did had no damage. (This does not stop the owners wanting us to cut them down!)

And on trees, and I don't think this one is dubious, after '87, there were warnings for amateurs trying to clear trees with chain saws. Apparently a windthrown tree has energy stored in twisted branches in unpredictable ways, and can whip dangerously when that energy is released on cutting.

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: NA coast hurricane season 2011
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 29 Aug 11 - 02:04 AM

echoing kat's wishes

& thanks to all for your reports, we don't get so much detail here

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: NA coast hurricane season 2011
From: katlaughing
Date: 29 Aug 11 - 12:53 AM

I always told my kids when something didn't work out like a route to a destination or such, it was probably because we were being protected from something worse, i.e. car crash or something, and it was better to just go another way or time. Sorry about Ireland, Joe, couldn't you claim it as an "act of God" and get some kind of insurance to cover it?(only half-joking.:-)

I posted this in the decluttering thread:

My daughter in CT said they haven't had too much rain, but lots and lots of wind. 91% of her town is without power. She was lucky, hers didn't go off until about an hour ago. Her beau is stuck in Essex where he works, at least until sometime tomorrow, maybe longer depending on when the roads get opened. There are so many little roads which will be covered with downed trees. My thoughts go out to all who are in the dark and to the crews who are out there working to bring back some light.

My Rog, who is a native of NH, and i were looking at the VT videos, places where we used to visit, and he reminded me those mountains collect water which must run down. It is so terrifyingly swift. Reminds me of Hurricane Gloria, I think it was, which flooded the CT river. My brother and I were driving over the bridge between Northampton and Amherst when the radio announced the bridge was being closed. We were in Mystic when Bob came to town; that was incredible what it did to the trees, etc.

May all be well and safe throughout the night and coming days.

kat

Subject: RE: BS: NA coast hurricane season 2011
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 29 Aug 11 - 12:41 AM

Oh, bummer for you, Joe. But, as you say, worse for those elsewhere... thinking especially tonight of Vermont places that I know that are in trouble.

~ Becky in Tucson

Subject: RE: BS: NA coast hurricane season 2011
From: Joe Offer
Date: 28 Aug 11 - 11:42 PM

Well, it cancelled my trip to Ireland. The travel agent keeps talking about how we should have had travel insurance. I thought if the trip was cancelled by the company, we would get a full refund.
Oh, well. It was only a vacation. A lot of people have lost a lot more.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: NA coast hurricane season 2011
From: Janie
Date: 28 Aug 11 - 11:35 PM

Oh. My. I can barely stand to watch the videos of those rushing Vermont flood waters. Brings back terrible memories.

Bettynh, how are you faring in Maine?

Any word on other New England folks in our Mudcat community?

Mario?

Please stay safe, all of you, from Tinker, north, (I think Tinker is the southern most of our Mudcat community to be impacted by flooding, at least so far.) As Bill noted, water runs downhill. Irene tracked up the western side of most of New England. Is flooding predicted in coastal areas as the waters rage down from the northern Appalachian mountains and foothills?

What about our Canadian friends?

Subject: RE: BS: NA coast hurricane season 2011
From: Alice
Date: 28 Aug 11 - 11:05 PM

The blue building I mentioned is in Brattleboro... just watching a report again of the CNN news on it. It was is a building of offices and artist studios. The water has eroded the bank up under the building and it is tilting over the rapids.

Subject: RE: BS: NA coast hurricane season 2011
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 28 Aug 11 - 10:46 PM

re Brattleboro video: it is probably not a good idea to sit on a metal guardrail which is located under power lines which may be undermined by racing floodwaters any minute.

I'm just saying...

Subject: RE: BS: NA coast hurricane season 2011
From: Alice
Date: 28 Aug 11 - 10:46 PM

more video of flooding in Vermont from CNN

Subject: RE: BS: NA coast hurricane season 2011
From: Alice
Date: 28 Aug 11 - 10:41 PM

Yes, I've seen video of Brattleboro and other locations on the news, including the large blue building, can't remember the town, that is undercut by water and hanging half over rapids, about to fall.

The video I linked to earlier was just the best one I could find at the time I posted it.

alice

Subject: RE: BS: NA coast hurricane season 2011
From: Bill D
Date: 28 Aug 11 - 10:35 PM

I saw some of those videos on TV earlier. That is beyond scary. ....and there will be raging water for many hours as rain water does what it knows....head downhill. I hope people stay safe there.

Subject: RE: BS: NA coast hurricane season 2011
From: Bettynh
Date: 28 Aug 11 - 09:32 PM

Alice, that was at 11 AM. This is what it looked like a couple hours later in Brattleboro.

Subject: RE: BS: NA coast hurricane season 2011
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 28 Aug 11 - 08:16 PM

We were without power for about 6 hours, but everything seems fine now. We did try to drive around a bit once the rain and wind abated, but huge trees were down on the Nelson/Harrisville road, so we headed back home, hoping no more would decide to land on our heads! The wind is still gusty but the air has changed, and it's clear that Irene has moved on.

Our dear friends in Vermont, however (Newfane) , as well as those on the Deerfield River in western Mass (Shelburne Falls ), are not so lucky. My heart is with them.

Subject: RE: BS: NA coast hurricane season 2011
From: Janie
Date: 28 Aug 11 - 08:14 PM

Whoa! Lots of rain in mountains spells trouble for sure!

Subject: RE: BS: NA coast hurricane season 2011
From: Alice
Date: 28 Aug 11 - 06:15 PM

Watching incredible footage of raging torrents in Vermont that were just brooks before the rain came from Irene.
Take care.

http://youtu.be/gGkVPF5uXfc

Subject: RE: BS: NA coast hurricane season 2011
From: Janie
Date: 28 Aug 11 - 05:39 PM

Highway 12 at Rodanthe was breached and several hundred yards are torn up quite badly. The Sound side storm surge was historic on both the island and mainland sides. Probably more damage was done inland by the wind than on the Outer Banks.

The East Coast really is fortunate that Irene was not a major hurricane when it made landfall. Think of how far up the coast it went without much degradation. Here in North Carolina, we were pretty impressed with the execution of Emergency preparedness plans, by the high numbers of people who headed the call to evacuate, and how smoothly the evacuation plan went. Resources were in place, agencies coordinated well, and personnel knew what to do. The post incident recovery and rescue efforts also appear to be responding quickly and in a coordinated manner.

The Incident Command System, developed by FEMA in partnership with many, many governments, agencies and emergency organizations seems to have come of age, at least in North Carolina. I think the key ingredient is Drill, Drill, Drill. North Carolina made a commitment to do so, and it paid off.

Was recently at a Hospital Incident Command System training. The instructor was part of a team sent to the Gulf Coast after Katrina. He said one of the biggest problems with dealing with the aftermath of Katrina was that in the state to which he was deployed, they had done minimal training and practice at the State level, and all was confusion.

Subject: RE: BS: NA coast hurricane season 2011
From: SINSULL
Date: 28 Aug 11 - 05:36 PM

Nothing going on here - no rain, little wind. Cats are annoyed that I won't let them out.
Not exactly a false alarm but false enough to make people complacent next time around.
The storm is going west into upstate NY.
We'll see.

Subject: RE: BS: NA coast hurricane season 2011
From: gnu
Date: 28 Aug 11 - 05:28 PM

Just got an e from maeve. Here is some of it in case she doesn't get a chance to report...

We've lost many trees and branches. Winds continues to strengthen here, with stronger gusts taking down trees. Power is off and on, expect to lose it completely soon. Lost a maple, aspen, black cherry, quite near; many others across the street and in the close woods. Apples and pears are falling. BIG white pine outside the back of the yurt is dropping big limbs. The worst is yet to come, but we're ok so far.

Chooks are fine, though cross at being kept inside the chicken house.

Subject: RE: BS: NA coast hurricane season 2011
From: Janie
Date: 28 Aug 11 - 05:08 PM

Thanks for the info re maeve, gnu.


Do you have sump pump in your basement Tinker?

Subject: RE: BS: NA coast hurricane season 2011
From: Bettynh
Date: 28 Aug 11 - 04:33 PM

We lost power here for about a half-hour, it's still a bit gusty but the rain seems to have stopped. My son stopped by to do a walkaround the house (everything seems ok) and report that his brother's workplace (the food co-op in Brattleboro, Vt.) has flooded. They're constructing a new building which is a bit higher and further from the stream that flooded, but from the youtube videos, it looks like it's underwater, too.

Subject: RE: BS: NA coast hurricane season 2011
From: gnu
Date: 28 Aug 11 - 04:13 PM

I just checked power outages in Maine. The road maeve lives on has an outage reported so I assume she is without power. The radar indicates the rain there is letting up and they may have none shortly and for some hours. The forecast for a city not far away says : South winds 30 to 35 mph with gusts up to 55 mph...Diminishing to 20 to 30 mph with gusts up to 40 mph after midnight.

I hope they and the chooks are doing okay.

And everybody else too, of course.

Subject: RE: BS: NA coast hurricane season 2011
From: gnu
Date: 28 Aug 11 - 03:23 PM

It's peltin down here. But, by the look of the radar, I expect to get my evening walk in. Wind is only suppose to be 40 gusting to 70 kph; 35mm of rain tonight. 60/90 kph and 60% POP tomorrow until early afternoon.

Just like the last one... "The storm that wasn't."

I just hope my southern neighbours are okay.

Subject: RE: BS: NA coast hurricane season 2011
From: GUEST,tinker
Date: 28 Aug 11 - 03:06 PM

No power a tree branch took out a transformer ...about 16 inches of water in the basement. Still pretty windy... on husbands phone...all okay,but no idea when power will. Be restored
Not very good at mobile posting...good luck to those up north..

Subject: RE: BS: NA coast hurricane season 2011
From: GUEST,999
Date: 28 Aug 11 - 03:05 PM

It's raining (from the NNE because of the counterclockwise swirl of Irene) and that seldom happens here in Ormstown. The river--Chateauguay--has risen a bit judging by the disappearance of some white water, now replaced by steady and faster flow. Winds up a bit and I expect some trees in the general area will lose limbs and a few will come down.

However, the 72 hours of rain we received about two months ago was worse than this. Of course, those who are in the path of the area around just around the eye will have substantially more to deal with. The normal safety procedures should be observed and followed by anyone outside in this type of weather. All downed power lines must be treated as live until your power company repairman/woman says otherwise. It's not a good day to canoe. The rain is not keeping a cardinal, mourning dove, two blue jays and a half dozen sparrows from the feeder and the area beneath it where the squirrels toss all the seed that is of no interest to them. That's all the seed except sunflower seeds.

It's not a good idea to take a drive just for the heck of it, either.

That's about it from your man on the spot in beautiful downtown Ormstown, Quebec, Canada.

To my American readers: would you please petition your government to drop the NAFTA and we'll take your inclement weather?

Subject: RE: BS: NA coast hurricane season 2011
From: fat B****rd
Date: 28 Aug 11 - 02:37 PM

Like the other UK people said. We're thinking of you.
Charlie.

Subject: RE: BS: NA coast hurricane season 2011
From: SINSULL
Date: 28 Aug 11 - 02:15 PM

Somew trees down in WEstbrooke as well as flooding. The worst of the storm is still a few hours away. Hope the trees stay upright. Now for a nap.

Subject: RE: BS: NA coast hurricane season 2011
From: artbrooks
Date: 28 Aug 11 - 02:10 PM

Although I still don't know if Amtrak will be running tomorrow, all of this makes my travel disruptions seem so very minor. All of you take care, and keep dry.

Subject: RE: BS: NA coast hurricane season 2011
From: Bill D
Date: 28 Aug 11 - 01:30 PM

I thought we had dodged the bullet totally....but lost power about 4AM (wife was awake)....and just got it back at 12:30 PM...so 8½ hrs outage. I guess we are lucky...freezer not defrosted. I made coffee this morning on gas stove by lantern light.

   The general Wash. DC metro area was not terribly hard hit, but there are trees down and some wet basements. (My basement stayed dry...it rained for hours, but no super downpours)(It seems the 'bands' of wind/rain curled up and over and around us. There was heavier rain & wind in central Penn. last night than right here closer to the storm.)

Now, southern VA. and parts on N. Carolina seem to have got the worst of it, and several deaths from fallen trees reported..(including one in MD)

You guys up north will still be getting rain and such as I type this... I hope it's just a nuisance and not bad.

Stay dry, folks!

Subject: RE: BS: NA coast hurricane season 2011
From: gnu
Date: 28 Aug 11 - 01:16 PM

Im am sure your students will understand.

Anyone get/ting any lightning?

Subject: RE: BS: NA coast hurricane season 2011
From: Susan of DT
Date: 28 Aug 11 - 01:12 PM

We cancelled our monthly sing for this afternoon, but now it looks like we could have held it. Irene has been and gone (central NJ), with only some moderately heavy rain.

We did have ten inches of water in the basement this morning - not nice, but not a disaster. A plumber will replace our unhappy sump pump tomorrow.

I am happy that we have not had any electrical problems (yet - a tree could still fall over onto a power line), since I am teaching an online course that started last night. It would not be cool if I could not communicate with the class.

Subject: RE: BS: NA coast hurricane season 2011
From: CamiSu
Date: 28 Aug 11 - 01:09 PM

Actually just checked the NOAA website. I guess we will get a direct hit. See ya later!

Subject: RE: BS: NA coast hurricane season 2011
From: CamiSu
Date: 28 Aug 11 - 01:03 PM

It has been raining here for 13-14 hours. I let the chickens out, but only opened one side of the chicken house. The sheep have a shelter, though I cannot remember how it is attached to the ground or even if it is. (Among the many things I wish I could ask David) Freezers are too full to add anything to keep them frozen, so they should not have a problem. The track looks like it is going straight through Lebanon, NH, which is about 20 miles from me. I can't close the barn entirely. The back door (12'x14') blew off years ago... The outdoor cat just came in--very wet. One dead tree between the house and garage will probably fall. Just waiting here. My biggest worry about the house is that I have never gotten the hardware on the skylights after the fire... Oh well. I will let you know when it is all over.

CamiSu

Subject: RE: BS: NA coast hurricane season 2011
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 28 Aug 11 - 10:14 AM

There is a tree fallen on power lines and on my Mom's roof. She still has power. Also has 3 leaks.

Subject: RE: BS: NA coast hurricane season 2011
From: Charley Noble
Date: 28 Aug 11 - 10:11 AM

We're just expecting gale force winds here in Maine today, with lots of rain.

Tomorrow should be a great boating day, assuming the Whaler doesn't sink today.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: NA coast hurricane season 2011
From: JJ
Date: 28 Aug 11 - 09:36 AM

Wind and rain, but no real problems this morning in Morningside Height, NYC. Reports say no one in Manhattan has lost power.

Subject: RE: BS: NA coast hurricane season 2011
From: Bruce MacNeill
Date: 28 Aug 11 - 08:20 AM

Still windy here this morning but I don't see any real damage a little chainsaw work can't clear. My wife, an RN, was released from captivity at the hospital at 1 this morning and the roads were open and I didn't see any flooding but we've been in a drought so the soil may have just absorbed the 8 inches or so of rain we got. Wondering how my friends who live on the water made out but they all evacuated so will ahve to wait until they come back home to find out. I think flooding is the biggest threat up toward New England but haven't heard from family up there yet this morning.

Subject: RE: BS: NA coast hurricane season 2011
From: catspaw49
Date: 28 Aug 11 - 07:48 AM

Thinking of all of you........the pictures and the news descriptions are simply unbelievable. It boggles the mind to imagine what a Category 3 would have done.............


Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: NA coast hurricane season 2011
From: Janie
Date: 28 Aug 11 - 06:28 AM

And an update from Annie at about 5:30 this morning, also on the Delmarva, in Maryland - Too dark to see, but she didn't hear anything that sounded like a downed downed tree. Her friends in town lost power yesterday afternoon, but other than some brief interruptions, she has kept hers. Because of the saturated soil and continued strong wind gusts she'll stay inside until later today - yard full of trees and limbs still falling. She's hopeful that all she will have is some damage to shingles from tree limbs that have hit the roof.

Subject: RE: BS: NA coast hurricane season 2011
From: Bruce MacNeill
Date: 27 Aug 11 - 11:08 PM

Just a report from the eye of the storm. I'm on the Va. part of the Delmarva and we've been in it all day. The eye is just off shore of me now, finally. We've had a lot of rain and some fair winds but I'd guess nothing above 60mph. I have lost one tree, a pine that appears to have broken about 10 feet off the ground and missed my LP Gas supply by inches but it missed. Lots of small branches strewn around and a few hit the house but no broken windows. Here it is 11 at night and it's been going on since 4 this morning. It's not a strong storm but it's a big storm and most of the damage will be along the coasts and from the storm surge into rivers and harbors etc. I'm on relatively high ground, about 30 feet above sea level and glad of it. If you're closer to the water, get out of there. Otherwise you're just in for a lot of rain. Best of luck to those north of me.

Subject: RE: BS: NA coast hurricane season 2011
From: katlaughing
Date: 27 Aug 11 - 10:44 PM

My daughter and twin grandsons in CT are just on the line of places which have mandatory evacuations ordered. So far, she is able to stay home. Fortunately, the shelter they would go to has crates, food, and water for pets as well as cots, blankets, and hot meals for their owners. She found all of her cats' vaccination papers and has plans on how to get them all there if need be. She has also emptied the closet under the stairs for them all, kids, cats, and her, to get in if it gets really bad. She is on a slight rise in the land which may keep things from being worse, I hope. She's also got great neighbours, everyone helping each other. Her boyfriend has had to spend the night at work, taking care of special needs patient in a care home.

Tink, stay outta that basement!:-) I hope the power company is wrong and you don't lose power at all.

Maeve and TL, I envision you snug as bugs in a rug in your yurt. Thank goodness you have it. May there not be too much damage from wind, water, and trees.

May you all be held in the light of love, free of fear, calm in the knowing it will pass, as Sinsull says.

luvyakat

Subject: RE: BS: NA coast hurricane season 2011
From: gnu
Date: 27 Aug 11 - 09:23 PM

"... complete with lid..."

"He said.... good idea." (From the movie "Never Cry Wolf.")