Being from Louisiana, I've been through a hurricane or two. My advice for the east coasters is first of all, stay safe. Hurricanes will throw out just about every type of violent weather you can think of. A friend of mine lives in Va and had her five pound dog picked up by the wind. Luckily, she was able to literally catch her dog in the air. And just because it calms down a little, does not mean its over. If you're in the pathway of the eye, be EXTRA careful. If you do lose power, do your best to stay cool. When La. was hit by Rita a few years back, we lost power for over a week and the worst part was not having any AC. If you have a gas stove, you are very lucky. Find the biggest ice chest you can and fill it with stuff from your fridge. If you are lucky enough to have a generator, please do not run it inside your home. They release carbon monoxide and will kill you if ran inside. It happens down here everytime. Charge your phones. The hurricane may not affect your cell service, I can't remember ever having any problems with mine. Try not to be alone. Hurricanes can be very scary and a little company doesn't hurt. I'm sure that some of this has already been said, but its just a few things that help out when goin' through somethin' like this. We're all prayin' for everyone who will be in this storm's path.

Please all near the east coast: be safe and take necessary precautions! Kansas may be my home, but I have many of you as friends! btw: I have two spare rooms if you need or want to move west!

ks-

NYC Update
 

Thanks to all on this thread for your good wishes and helpful info.

Jennifer and I are safe at home with a fridge full of food thanks to her superior grocery shopping skills!

It's been raining on and off here in Manhattan. The bad stuff is coming tonight.

So far so good.

BBinNYC

Mare and I went shopping for the second time just to make sure we have what we think we'll need. It's raining here now, but the heavier stuff is coming tonight. I just heard it reached Cape May.

I am so not looking forward to this.

While other suckers were buying up all the water...
 

Virginia update
 

I'm riding out the storm on a 14 hr shift at work. I work as a security director for an outlet center. I live in Manassas, which was having power outages when I left for work around 4. We are expecting 30-40 mph, heavy rains and flooding. So far no major damage here.

Current news http://www.newser.com/story/127064/s...ane-irene.html claims 5 deaths already. Millions are without power from NC to VA to MD. Flooding and tornadoes are occurring. No flights in or out of these areas and NY. Evacuate if you still can and need to otherwise stay in and be safe. This storm is not a joke. God bless and keep safe everyone in this hurricane's path.

We had a lull in the rain for about an hour, so I went out to the garden and picked every tomato that wasn't completely green. Time to make more sauce!

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-C...U/tomatoes.jpg

Nice tomatoes babe.... :grindevil:

Almost as nice as your melons.

Did your daughter make it out of Marshfield? I just got an email saying they're suspending all MBTA services starting at 8:00 tomorrow morning.
http://mbta.com/about_the_mbta/news_...2&month=&year=

I'm from Florida. I'm not laughing and no one else here is either. I went through hell with the three hurrricanes that pummeled florida in 2004 (Charlie Frances, Jeanne) Frances went back and forth across the state four times. Parts of it were over Florida for FOUR DAYS! Had my shingles and part of my siding blown off along with other damage totalling almost $40,000.00. I would never wish that on anyone. Took almost a year to get the inside of the home fixed because contractors were so busy. Looking at falling down ceilings for a year is depressing as hell.

But nothing compared to what folks went through with Catrina. When Catrina bounced off the Southern end of Florida before she headed to the Louisiana and Mississippi gulf coast, she did significant damage to Miami (you never hear about that when Catrina is discussed.) Following Catrina I heard many Floridians say that they wished Catrina had stayed in Florida rather than go on as she did. Florida is pretty much sand (it's one big sand dune, with excellent drainage) We would not have suffered the devastation that was wrought in New Orleans and elsewhere by the flooding. Far from laughing at them, we would gladly have suffered our own losses rather than have them suffer what they did.

I was watching Rachel Maddow ... what she actually said was that she figured that West Coast people were laughing at the east coasters over the earthquake for what they might have considered to be over-reaction by easterners to what is a frequent occurrence on CA. Also that Floridians who have frequent exposure to hurricanes might be snickering over more northern folks panic over the hurricane headed their way.

We cheered all those energy company trucks coming in to FLorida to help us out. We sent lots of our own to help out after Catrina.

We are not snickering. We are worried about y'all. Hope everyone is OK.
Smooches,
Keri