Hurricane News & Other Helpful Info

[Dominique]

WOW! this morning I saw footage. You can not rebuild historic. I live near the three rivers of Pittsburgh and have seen the waters rise and the damage that has happened. BUT NOTHING LIKE THIS. The PEAK will occur tomorrow.

[Heart]

For many, it's not over as waters keep cresting for another day or so. Vermont and the Catskills of NY, among others, have devastating flood damage.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/29/ny...y.html?_r=1&hp

[NJFemmie]

Fortunately, we didn't lose any power. The lights flicked now and then, but otherwise, it held up pretty well.

We have some water in the basement, but thankfully, we were able to contain it and must have dumped out about 100 gallons of water. If we didn't have power, it would have been much worse.

The flooding throughout NJ is awful. The surrounding towns are flooded out due to the Rancocas Creek - and houses in those areas are under a lot of water. Even our town is flooded out, but because we are on higher ground - our streets are clear. (Thank God).

I've been hearing on the news that a lot of people are complaining that too much hype was broadcasted about this storm. I'm infuriated about that. They should take a look at all of the flooded areas. I guess more people should have died or more damage should have been caused for people to not complain. It just shows how ungrateful and unthankful people in general really are.

[NJFemmie]

The news would broadcast morons standing on unstable piers during high winds - "surfers" trying to take advantage of a surge ... people trying to drive through ten feet of water ..... WTF?!?!?!?

One elderly woman in NJ called 911 when her car got stuck in a flooded street. Minutes later, they lost contact with her only to have found that she unfortunately drowned in her car in 16 feet of water.

Some dingbat in Massachusetts decided to walk out on a flimsy dock when the hurricane hit. He's okay, but wtf was he thinking??? People always seem to underestimate the power of Mother Nature.

[Scorp]

Thankfully we made it through this.

Today is absolutely gorgeous here. The sky is as blue as can be and not a cloud in it and the sun is shining bright. You would have never know there was a Hurricane. Then again, we have tons and tons of leaves all around our yard. Last night the winds picked up again and were horrendous. We were bracing ourselves after we thought it was over a little earlier. Luckily there wasn't any damage to our house.

Earlier I picked up a limb that was blown off one of several of our trees amongst many other branches. I moved all the lawn furniture, patio stuff, decorations out of the shed (and from in our house) back to where everything belongs. Dumped the water out of the planters, all that stuff.

Our garden with our tomato plants and other veggies and herbs is lopsided from the winds and rains.

Crazy, crazy weekend and thankful our lives here are going back to normal now. I can only hope that this is the case for everyone else affected and still going through the clean up and getting electricity restored and any other damages that may have occurred.

Thinking of everyone,

-Scorp-

[NJFemmie]

Mare laughed when I told her that one of our tomatoes from our garden was found in the middle of the street. One lonely green tomato that tried to make a run for it ... lol .... but seriously, it unnerved me a bit.

Our front lawn has a lot of leaves and partial tree branches - but thankfully, no trees came down in our immediate area that I know of. We were concerned about that because we are surrounded by huge trees - some of them seemingly old.

It is gorgeous outside though... and the rest of the week is supposed to be nice which will hopefully help in clean up efforts. I've heard that Red Cross volunteers from the west coast will be making their way over here to help - as well as some volunteers from down south.

I'm still stunned that we experienced an earthquake (albeit minor) and a major storm in a matter of a few days. I was tempted to keep my eye out for the four horses, but refused to give it that power.

[Dominique]

Originally Posted by NJFemmie;408059One elderly woman in NJ called 911 when her car got stuck in a flooded street. Minutes later, they lost contact with her only to have found that she unfortunately drowned in her car in [B

16 feet of water.[/B] Last week, 2 days before the earth quake reverberations, we had two horrific storms blow though and dump two inches of rain in 40 minutes (we get about an inch a month) anyhow, our storm drainage system couldn't handle the water. Streets flooded(at rush hour naturally) and one roadway in particular, flooded 9 feet deep. Horrible scene. Somehow, some got away on their own, 11 were rescued on the roofs of their cars. An elderly lady was sucked down the sewer system (yes drowned) and found the next day in the river and a mom and two of her daughters were stuck inside in a mini van. The water pressure so fierce they couldn't open the doors to get out, while a young man hung onto to the top of a tree for dear life while striking the side window of that mini van with a pair of pliers to break that window and get them out. The water wisked him away, he grabbed another tree top and was rescued. They never found the mini van until the water receded. Too late.

Some dingbat in Massachusetts decided to walk out on a flimsy dock when the hurricane hit. He's okay, but wtf was he thinking??? People always seem to underestimate the po wer of Mother Nature.

Yes, we saw this too. Unfortunately it was used as a reminder of what happened here last week. How dangerous fast moving water is, and don't PLAY around.

You wonder, do they think? When I saw that I thought
*Stupid Tourist*.

[NJFemmie]

Originally Posted by Yellow band

Yes, we saw this too. Unfortunately it was used as a reminder of what happened here last week. How dangerous fast moving water is, and don't PLAY around.

You wonder, do they think? When I saw that I thought
*Stupid Tourist*.

I think people gauge response to personal circumstance. In other words, if their home wasn't damaged, or someone in their family didn't die, then it was all hype or overblown coverage. Yet, I find it interesting that these are some of the people who boarded up their homes and businesses and evacuated. The arrogance of people fascinates me ....

The media warned the public all weekend long - the ground is saturated and we can't handle an inch of water, let alone a foot. Water will rise and streets will flood - but that didn't stop the thrill seekers out there looking to have "fun".

You can always count on the stupidity of people.

[LaDivina]

Originally Posted by NJFemmie

I think people gauge response to personal circumstance. In other words, if their home wasn't damaged, or someone in their family didn't die, then it was all hype or overblown coverage. Yet, I find it interesting that these are some of the people who boarded up their homes and businesses and evacuated. The arrogance of people fascinates me ....

To say nothing of how much worse the damage could have been (i.e. lives lost) if people hadn't evacuated!

We saw on the news this morning how one guy had to be rescued by the coast guard because he tried swimming to his boat that had come loose off its moorings. So stupid....

[AtLast]

Originally Posted by NJFemmie

I think people gauge response to personal circumstance. In other words, if their home wasn't damaged, or someone in their family didn't die, then it was all hype or overblown coverage. Yet, I find it interesting that these are some of the people who boarded up their homes and businesses and evacuated. The arrogance of people fascinates me ....

The media warned the public all weekend long - the ground is saturated and we can't handle an inch of water, let alone a foot. Water will rise and streets will flood - but that didn't stop the thrill seekers out there looking to have "fun".

You can always count on the stupidity of people.

Sure can!

Of course we are hearing pissing and moaning post event. And if the worst had happened- without the kinds of responses initiated, there would be that pissing and moaning. Let us not forget how many lives could have been saved if FEMA and municipalities had done the kind of "pre" positioning and warning that was not done during Katrina. People, especially those without the means, could have been bused out early and been a lot better off. If the NYC subways had flooded as was possible, people would be thanking authorities for shutting them down. Well, in about 2 weeks after they had electricity back and the damage was fixed. By the way, it takes a good 8-10 hours to shut down systems like these- you don't just flip a switch.

The coverage I watched had quite a few stories about aiding the elderly, homeless and moving fragile patients out of hospitals to safer places.

Probably will get some flack here- but I did feel the coberage was skewed toward NYC. I love NYC, but, there were thousands of areas under threat including urban centers.

These kinds of responses will never be perfect- these kinds of storms just change as they go.

Maybe I am just reacting to the bitching and lack of gratefulness. All of those public employees worked their butts off all weekend to keep people safe- no matter the degree of winds and floods, 24/7.

Of course politics gets involved- these are public works that have to utilized. People might want to thank a public works employee today....