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| AP photo from NBC News |
I live in the Hudson Valley region of New York State and we are under a tropical storm warning as hurricane Irene draws near. I grew up on Long Island and the worst storm I lived through there was Gloria, in 1985, which was the last time a hurricane of such strength hit the region.
We live in a world where the news perpetually screams histrionics over weather to the point where it usually amounts to "crying wolf" that the sky is falling only to see little happen after such fanfare. I worry that this has caused complacency among us and that people won't take the warnings about Irene seriously, especially in New York where people are fairly blithe about everything. If this thing hits The City full bore, the aftermath may be tragic and epic. Wherever you are, if you are at all in Irene's predicted path, please take the warnings seriously and prepare as best as you can, because it is better to be safe than sorry.
Kevin DuJan at HillBuzz makes an impassioned plea for people to take this thing seriously, I implore you to read his post, HERE. Be sure to check out the comments section there as well because HillBuzz readers always have additional great information, anecdotes and links!
Bob at Boudica Weblog BPI has lived through many a nasty storm and uses his experience to advise folks about being patient should you find yourself sitting in the dark due to power outages. Read it HERE.
I am surrounded by wetlands where I live, and floods are common, but my house is on high ground so my biggest worry with the water is that our roads will be shut down due to flooding, which is not unusual during regular heavy rains so if Irene comes here, isolation will be likely. My biggest concerns for my home are wind damage because I am surrounded by large trees, and power outages, because when we lose our electric, we also lose access to fresh water because we are on a well, and I will only be able to use my stove top, not my oven, to make food. Ideally, I would be prepared by storing water, and having lots of batteries and non-perishable food on hand, but I am tapped out and cannot get these vital supplies without assistance. If you are of a mind to help a blogger out, please visit my tip jar:
My region is currently under a Tropical Storm Watch, and the Governor has declared a State of Emergency.
My mom and sister are on western Long Island, where the storm may directly hit, so I am worried for them, but as I said earlier, we've been through this before so I am hoping that all will be well with them. They know the drill: tape your windows, get supplies, ready the sump pumps and hunker down. Irene is supposed to be the worst storm to strike the area since Gloria, as I said earlier. I was in eight grade and home with my family when it happened. I remember watching a huge maple tree get ripped from the ground across the street from my house and laid on its side; it dug up the entire sidewalk and big chunk of the street pavement with its roots when fell! Our street looked like a river. Everyone got flooded, but we were blessed with great neighbors and everybody on my block pulled together and helped each other out so we got through it all just fine. All of our houses were on little hills, so the house flooding was in our basements and garages, which were downhill at the bottoms of driveways. It could have been worse, and through a kid's eyes, it was a great adventure. When the eye of the storm passed over, we all went out into the sunshine to have a look around before our folks ushered us back inside to wait out the tail end of the hurricane.
You all please be careful and stay safe! Here's some music in honor of the coming storm...
Goodnight Irene by Huddie Ledbetter, AKA, Lead Belly:
Rock You Like A Hurricane by the Scorpions, accompanied by an orchestra:
Buy Ad Space
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11 comments:
Hey Zilla,
Good post. I also live in the patterson area (Great Swamp is not far) but I also am high on the hill. I believe it's all hyped out and whenever the MSM can find a meme that is off BHO when he is down, they flog it helplessly. This may be a bad storm but not worthy of the apocalypse they are preparing for.
Hi neighbor! I am not one to buy into the media hype about anything, and I think we'll be OK here but for some inconveniences, however, I am worried about my family on Long Island because while it is not often that the Island gets hit, it is BAD when it does! As I said, it is better to be safe than sorry, and I'd prefer to be prepared, if I could. Central Hudson just robo-called me to let me know that the power may go out. They do that for people who are disabled or are known to have young children at home, I am both.
Hi Zilla! I hope you and your family all stay safe during this hurricane.
This might help you out, I read this morning.
http://lifehacker.com/5834705/keep-tabs-on-hurricane-irene-with-tracking-maps-and-smartphone-apps
If I could afford a smart phone, I'd get it, for sure.
I Google Earthed your place and saw that you live among the trees. I hope they aren`t near enough to hit your house. Good luck !
My previous shop was hit by the remnants of Opel in `95 and my last shop was hit by the remnants of Francis and Ivan two weekends apart in `04. We learned in the first one that mud can be moved with squeegees when it`s wet, so in all three, we moved it out the next day. Not so lucky for the folks in downtown, where the police and nat`l guard kept storeowners out for nearly 2 weeks (4 wks in all). It was like trying to dig a foot of concrete when they were finally allowed in. NOT good planning on the officials` part. Of course, my shop was hit by a foot of water and an inch and a half of mud; downtown got 8 ft of water....twice.......and much more mud and damage. It changed the region for a long time to come. I could talk about it for hours !
Prepare, prepare, prepare !!! If you are in the storms path, PLEASE, take no chances ! Even tropical storms drop LOTS of rain and still topple trees. Floods kill !
Good Zilla folk, you can relax now ! I just heard that pResident Obama is going to end his vacation one day early ! ALL WILL BE WELL!
I hope you and your family will be out of harm's way.
Thanks, Bunni, I think we'll be OK aside from the concerns I stated in the post above. I have a dumb phone, it only works like a phone and a camera. But thank you, maybe some of my readers can use it!
My computer has a Weather Bug program which I like, it chirps when severe weather is imminent and also gives detailed info any time I need it on local weather.
There is a website for it here: http://ww2.weatherbug.com/aff/default.asp?zcode=z6164&gclid=CLnlh8mh7aoCFUff4AodpGRYOw You can use it without downloading anything too and I think it might have an app for mobile devices as well.
Lifehacker is somewhat like www.stormpulse.com/ , interactive with "cloud cover" and "radar" settings. The one I use and prefer is www.livewxradar.com/ . It is more interactive and like Google Earth, you can zoom in on your house with the cross hairs, zoom back out and get a really good pic of real-time action. Stormpulse won`t let you zoom in nearly that close ! My weatherbug widget shows an "alert" tab, but doesn`t ping me ! Maybe that`s just my preferences settings !
You didn`t tell me if you downloaded Google Earth ! The price is right !
All I can do to prepare really is bottle up some water, unless I get my hands on a few bucks for batteries and food! I'll do some cleaning around here today, just to make it a bit less miserable when we're sitting in the dark.
LOL That's all we need is to have him come back and getting in front of the cameras again. I wish he'd stay away for good!
Thanks, me too! I'm not too worried, just concerned about wind damage and losing power/water.
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