Ernesto

[withm]

I live one mile from ocean at about 5' elevation. Yesterday we had a hard, steady rain (upwards of 8" depending on which newscast you believe) and about 24 hours of sustained ENE winds at 50mph+. Today my neighborhood looks like a war zone. There are trees, limbs, and branches down everywhere. I have standing water in the back all the way up to my back steps. The side yard is about 6" deep. The front yard is underwater. My street is flooded out. The pond across the street has flooded its banks. There are trees down everywhere and 6x6 landscape timbers are floating down my street. I could get my kayak and go for a paddle around what is usually my back yard.

The winds howled and the rain poured till around midnight I guess. My power went out at 9:30 and though I could still use my laptop, my wireless router needs electricity, so I was done being online. I read by lantern and flashlight for a 1/2 hour but it was too hard so I just went to bed. Debated taking a quick shower by candlelight while I still had hot/warm water but took my chances and decided to wait till morning when power would be restored. It came back on around 4am I think. Since all I have are digital clocks it's hard to figure out when power gets restored. Don't seem to have a single analog electric clock in the house. Do they still make them?

This was much worse than we had from Hurricane Isabel 3 yrs ago for which people actually boarded up their houses and evacuated. It was not expected come through here with such intensity. Most of the flooding is a function of the sustained NE winds, but a lot from the rain as well. I don't know when the rain stopped but it was a constant steady wind driven rain. Never had any thunder or lightning though.

I feel sort of shell shocked and yet don't really have any damage (well can't go out and look at the roof - might have shingles missing) but there will be a lot of clean up once the water goes down.

Even today it is still a little breezy - blowing around 17-19kt. Cloudy, and drizzly. The beach cam is showing a pretty confused ocean. Waves were supposed to be 18' last night. Must have been cause the buoy is reporting
14' seas right now. I see by the magic of the internet that lots of people are down on the boardwalk to look at the ocean. I'll go over there later and check it out.

I was supposed to do a charity bike ride today, in a town about 25 miles from here. Much of the (truly beautiful) route was on the banks of the Nanticoke River, and featured a ferry ride across as well. Since it they typically flood over there after much smaller storms, I decided to bail on the ride figuring riding through standing water was probably not a good idea. I'm sure some people went and if I had a lesser bike with fatter tires I might have reconsidered. I doubt the ferry was even running.

Here's a pic of what I woke up to this morning. The yellow barricades indicate where the road is. Everything in the foreground is usally grass. My house is elevated enough so at least I have no flooding inside though there is standing water right up to the house in some places.

I have a new appreciation for the devestation experienced by the millions of hurricane victims in Florida and the Gulf Coast. We just never expect to get so much way up north like this. It is an eye-opener.

I did go out a little while ago to survey the damage around town, and drove my regular 30 mile bike route. There are a lot of big trees down, but the roads have all been cleared of the big pieces - the numerous tell-tale chain saw cuts suggest that many of the roads were at least partially blocked. There are still a lot of small branches and debris in all the shoulder areas. Biking over the next few days will require extra vigilence to watch for debris in the roads and bike lanes.

So much for a glorious long weekend at the beach.

[ladyfish]

Wow! You got lots more flooding than us. Here in N. VA we got lots of wind and rain and lots of trees and branches down. I sort of live on a hill, so no flooding. I should check out the creek below us, I guess.

Stay safe and I hope the water goes down soon!

PS: love your avatar!

[emily_in_nc]

Wow - that is an amazing photo. I am so sorry you had to go through that! Cleanup will take awhile. I'm in central NC where we expected to get a lot more rain than we did. My area only got about 2" of rain and much lighter winds than what you got (sustained 15-20 mph, gusts to 35 or so). After living through Hurricane Fran, which was still a cat. 1 hurricane when she passed over our central part of the state (unusual!), Ernesto was just a blip on the radar here.

I'd be amazed if the ride you were supposed to do wasn't cancelled. It could have been unsafe to ride with flooding, branches down, etc.

Good luck with the cleanup and getting your life back to normal!

Emily

[mtnmunch]

Wow! I didn't realize that area got hit so bad. That sucks for your weekend.

Here in CT, we've spent most of the day without power and steady winds for 24 hours. I'm just waiting for the power to go out again. I'm grateful it's not winter as we'd be very cold right now.

[withm]

Oh I LOVE the sound of chain saws in the morning!

Water has receeded a bit, but it will be a couple more days before the road in front of my house is dry. The yard, well that's gonna take longer. Sigh. Yesterday I drove my regular bike route to check for damage, didn't look too bad save for lots of leaves and pine needles on the shoulders. I think I will try to ride it (cautiously) today.

[tygab]

it is raining hard here right now, with gusty winds. our plans were to watch our friend's first triathlon (Boston) but the whole event got canceled. On the scale of things not a big deal, and it was the right decision, but both the competitors and organizers must be disappointed.

I am very sorry to hear of the damage done to your home and neighborhood. I hope you will be back to normal soon. don't be shy to use any help offered to you.