Sandy, aka here we go again...

[withm]

Sigh,
I've brought in all my deck furniture and plants. Done laundry, run the dishwasher, charged up all my electronics, cleaned out anything questionable from the fridge. We rarely get power failures, and winds in the 75 mph range should be ok. Yeah, trees will come down, and I'll just have to hope one doesn't land on my house. I'm evacuating in the morning.

The big threat for me is serious flooding. I live at about 3' above sea level. I'd thought about parking over at the bike shop where the elevation is about 5' and walking home, but then there is this pesky mandatory evacuation order to deal with and they don't issue those capriciously. Then again, who wants to be the one that said, sure you can stay home, no problem.

I went over to the ocean just at dusk to see what was going on. The wind was gusting to 30kt easily, and it was high tide. Or should I say, extremely high tide - to the foot of the dune and the waves were easily 8' or more in the surf zone, and forecast to build to 19' over the next couple days. A couple days of that will make the high tides really interesting. The rain has just started, and I guess it's going to rain for the next 3 days. Oh joy!

[azfiddle]

Be safe everyone.

[ny biker]

Don't forget the full moon making the high tides higher than usual.

I'm far enough away from the Potomac, and up on a hill, and on the second floor of the condo building, so I don't have to worry about flooding for my home.

I went grocery shopping yesterday before the insanity hit the stores. I have lots of batteries for flashlights (and my bike headlights, which can double as rather bright flashlights ), plus a new lantern that I picked up after the big power outage in July. I've also got the smartphone with the really good battery that I bought in July, and I kept the old smartphone so I can use that to play solitaire and removem without draining the battery on the new phone.

Tomorrow I'll fill up as many pitchers and water bottles as I can fit in my refrigerator and freezer. I'm running the dishwasher tonight and will do laundry tomorrow. I'm also meeting a friend for lunch tomorrow, and will fill up the gas tank and hit the ATM on my way home.

My real concern is my parents up on Long Island. I expect the main roads in their town will flood. They're on a hill so they'll be dry, but they will be cut off in the event of an emergency.

[Crankin]

Cleaned up the leaves, so nothing gets caught in the drains in our yard (we live on a hill). Took down the wind chimes, whirly gig, and checked the yard for anything that needed to be done.
Did laundry, got cash and groceries. Running the dishwasher now. We have a supply of batteries to last a lifetime. Got the cell phone charger for the car out of DH's car and put in my car.
Made sure I have enough canned food and stuff I can heat on the stove (I have gas) and am making some turkey meatballs. Dug out the manual can opener.
Will fill up the car later, but I probably will go up to my office in the AM, which will use up gas, so may fill up again. I have to get some billing stuff done at the office, but the rest of day is my clients who live within 12 miles of my house. We are getting mostly the wind effects and some rain, according to the weather folks. We are on the edge, thankfully, of the really bad stuff.
Glad I no longer live in a house with a well. At least I can flush the toilet, use the water if the power goes out. We have a municipal utility in Concord, so if the power goes out, it's usually back within a few hours. Last year, in the Halloween snow storm, our power was out for 4 hours and the surrounding towns were like 4-7 days.
But, I wish DH wasn't away.

[tealtreak]

Don't forget the full moon making the high tides higher than usual.

I'm far enough away from the Potomac, and up on a hill, and on the second floor of the condo building, so I don't have to worry about flooding for my home.

I went grocery shopping yesterday before the insanity hit the stores. I have lots of batteries for flashlights (and my bike headlights, which can double as rather bright flashlights ), plus a new lantern that I picked up after the big power outage in July. I've also got the smartphone with the really good battery that I bought in July, and I kept the old smartphone so I can use that to play solitaire and removem without draining the battery on the new phone.

Tomorrow I'll fill up as many pitchers and water bottles as I can fit in my refrigerator and freezer. I'm running the dishwasher tonight and will do laundry tomorrow. I'm also meeting a friend for lunch tomorrow, and will fill up the gas tank and hit the ATM on my way home.

My real concern is my parents up on Long Island. I expect the main roads in their town will flood. They're on a hill so they'll be dry, but they will be cut off in the event of an emergency.

With you on the concern for Long Island- I have a son at Kingspoint....... (USMMA)

[jyyanks]

Manhattan is closing down the transit system as of tonight. Schools are closed tomorrow, as is my office. In the burbs, I know we're going to lose power so determining now whose house we should go. Biggest concern for us are 4 giant pine trees on my neighbors yard that are sure to come crashing down on us so trying to clear the upstairs of any valuables and hope for the best.

[PamNY]

There's talk of a pre-emptive power shutdown in lower Manhattan to protect equipment, so I'm filling water jugs just in case. We have food and batteries, and my apartment building staff is very good. I think we will be okay.

Taking the dog out will likely be a problem, but that's minor in the great scheme of things.

Hope everyone stays safe and comfortable.

[thekarens]

As someone who has been through a couple of hurricanes I feel for y'all. Stay safe!

[Koronin]

Good luck to all. The rain here has stopped, just the wind which will last through Tuesday and the gusts here are no worse than any other regular storm. I have seen some pictures from the Outer Banks of NC, mostly of Hatteras Island and there is a lot of flooding there. Milo Beach (Rodanthe, Salvo, Waves) appear to be taking the worst of it (which is typical as this is the smallest strip of land). There has been 1 definite house collapse into the ocean. It's the 2nd house from what is referred to as the S-Curves which are totally flooded. This house was condemned after Irene last year and no work was done to it, so no one was in the home. Anyone who watched the movie Nights in Rodanthe, this house at the time was the 3rd home from the S Curves as Serendipity was the first, but was moved father south 3 years ago. This area is prone to flooding with a minor storm, so the flooding was expected and the only evacuations were called were for visitors to please leave since they would be stuck on the island if they did not. No evacuations called for residents. I hope those who are still in her path will be safe.

[cranfordrd]

I'm on LI but more worried about DD who is at UDEL in path of the storm
, wishing she had driven home when they told them school was closing and they should go home...

[ny biker]

I'm on LI but more worried about DD who is at UDEL in path of the storm
, wishing she had driven home when they told them school was closing and they should go home...

I hope she's okay. I have nephews at Univ of New Haven and SUNY Farmingdale, and both are home with their parents on Long Island because their schools were closed. The UNH nephew is a volunteer fireman so I imagine he will be at the firehouse for the next few days to be ready for whatever happens.

My parents are in Bayville, where the storm surge will be bad. Once again I'm glad my grandfather chose to build the house up on a hill instead of near the beach.

[Serendipity]

Hope everyone is safe and that the Mammoth Storm turns out to be less than predicted.....!

[IBrakeforPastry]

I hope she's okay. I have nephews at Univ of New Haven and SUNY Farmingdale, and both are home with their parents on Long Island because their schools were closed. The UNH nephew is a volunteer fireman so I imagine he will be at the firehouse for the next few days to be ready for whatever happens.

My parents are in Bayville, where the storm surge will be bad. Once again I'm glad my grandfather chose to build the house up on a hill instead of near the beach.

Did you grow up in Bayville? I'm from a few miles from there. My friend lives there now, and they always evacuate during big storms. I just read that Bayville Ave has partially washed away. I hope your parents aren't stranded! I'm pretty sure the rest of my family on the north shore is just without power, although there is always concern for the big old trees.

[ny biker]

Did you grow up in Bayville? I'm from a few miles from there. My friend lives there now, and they always evacuate during big storms. I just read that Bayville Ave has partially washed away. I hope your parents aren't stranded! I'm pretty sure the rest of my family on the north shore is just without power, although there is always concern for the big old trees.

I hope your friend's house was not damaged.

I did grow up in Bayville. I think it was West Shore Rd in Mill Neck that partially collapsed. But the Bayville Bridge is closed because Shore Rd is closed. For a time during the storm Bayville Ave was flooded at the other end of town so everyone was cut off, but that road is open now so it's possible to get in and out of town through Locust Valley. I did read that the causeway was blocked and there's no access to Center Island.

And I've seen photos of shrimp floating in flood waters on the roads. I had no idea there was shrimp in Oyster Bay until today.

I spent a fair amount of time this afternoon searching news sites for information about storm damage. I even registered for Newsday's website using my parents' subscription. My sister has to work tomorrow (she's a nurse) so I was checking road conditions for her commute since she has no electricity or internet. She also needed to know if one son's college was open tomorrow (it's not) and if the other would be able to drive back to his school in New Haven (looks like he can since they re-opened the bridges). I was also texting information about closed roads to my parents, for when they want to try to leave the house.

Everyone in my family that was affected by the storm is safe, though some cousins had some problems -- two had houses on the south shore of LI that flooded, and the restaurant where one worked was damaged by fire. But for the most part the news has been good.

I also had some sad non-storm news today -- there was a fire in one of the condos in my neighborhood and one man died. I knew him, and I'm friends with the women who lives in the unit below his. She's now displaced due to damage to her home.

I've been working from home but I had to take a long break this afternoon. Between the anxiety from the storm and the awful news about my neighbors I was just tired. So I wound up working until 10 pm to make up for the break.

I'm glad everyone so far is okay. I'm concerned about Pam and her dog, though. I hope she's just muddling through the power outage and we'll hear from her soon.