Irene
 

On another thread, Mai asked:

Don't buy just out of panic, but do think through a plan, what if you don't have running water for three days? Very unlikely in DC, or in Boston where I live, but I've got 5 gallon jugs in the basement which I will fill tonight. Most of us wouldn't starve if we couldn't food for a few days, (thank God, and of course, do rememeber that this isn't true for most people in the world, or many in the US) - we'd eat that old rice and pasta at the back of the cabinet, and be OK.

This may be the biggest storm you'll ever see, but it will not be anything like what people saw in Katrina.

My thoughts are with those of you facing evacuation and damage - good luck!

Thanks Abby, Good thought. Water, I have some and some can food.
Pray for everyone to be safe.
Mai

No truer words have been said. Katrina was REALLY bad. I don't think that New Orleans will EVER fully recover.

I just hope that Irene isn't as bad on Raleigh as that bitch Fran that blew in here back in '96. She demolished many an old oak tree, power was out for a week, and schools were out for a week. She made a beeline straight for Raleigh.

I really am hoping and praying she blows out to sea but that isn't very likely at this point. If she makes her way up to NY it's going to be very nasty indeed.

Looks like it's getting weaker, just downgraded to Cat 1. Still, I'm picking up another 5 gallons of gas for the genny in case we lose power for a while. Stay safe, everyone.

Regards,
Michael

Mai
 

How are things in DC? Is the first time you have been through one of these things? We have cousins trying to get back from Maryland to SoCal and are probably stuck until Mon or Tues.

I remember a couple hurricanes blowing through when I was growing up in Alexandria. At that time the technology was so limited that everyone just hunkered down and waited to see what happened. One in particular one, (late 70s I think) was especially damaging. Lots of flooding. The Potomac river (which is tidal) was at least 15 out of its banks and then the next day it flowed the otherway and was at least 15 lower than any low tide anyone had ever seen - is was kind of spooky.

Been thinking about VaBeachGirlNYC...both those places in the line of fire; hope all is okay with you!

Pam,
Irene seems weak now. We just have a lot of rain and a bit of win. However, last night my husband told me that a boy die in VA Beach. A tree had fallen on the apartment. He was in bed with his mother. It's very sad.

Mai, glad to hear you are okay. Thanks for checking in to let us know.

How did everyone fare? I got two feet of water or more in my basment which wrecked a whole lot of havoc and we lost power for three hours, got it back and lost it again for an hour and a half so no sump pump. The ngenrator didn;t work tho 2 o four friends tried to get it going. We had an 85 yer old man (my f-i-l) and a 14 year old (neighbor's kid) helping me, DH amd DD bail out. The water hit my hot water heater so we now have no hot water and since we have too much stuff in the basement, we will be cleaning for days, if not a week or two. But no life or limb was lost thank God. Now we're trying to see if my f-i-l can get home.

Hope,
Sounds like you got hit pretty badly! I'm so sorry, but gladded to see that no one was injured. Hopefully at least the electricity is back on. Good luck getting every thing cleaned up - my best wishes are with you and your family.

Hope, I am so sorry that you are hit hard by Irene. I can't even imagine how hard it is to clean up a flooded basement.
Glad that no one hurt.
Take care,
Mai

Thank you guys. You're so sweet and i appreciate the support. We are still cleaning tho I pulled my back and knee out bailing water. Got our power and hot water back. Really feel for people in Katrina and real disasters. Ours was just a hassle; it was a bummer to lose some precious momentoes. But we're OK and that's what counts.

Sorry to hear about your loss, but glad it wasn't worse. We didn't even lose power at my house, but many did and there was a little flooding and tree limb damage.

My boss lost power for a couple of days so I lent him my genny since we didn't need it (this time). Hopefully there are no more big storms on the horizon!

Regards,
Michael

You are generous with lending the genny; our friends came over and tried to get our generator working to no avail. our house and yard still look like a rummage sale. we are still trying to get the layers of mud off the floor and sorting and bagging possessions to recover, donate or toss. and i am taking aleve on a regular basis since this is literally back breaking work. on the up side maybe I will burn a few calories!!! that is, if i can stop stress eating (not from this)

how did people deal with losing everything? amen to no more storms.

Thank you.

Some parts of the beach got hit pretty hard, some not. I did have damage but am still lucky compared to others who lost their lives and those who's homes were destroyed by one of the tornado's the hurricane caused.

I hope everyone else came through ok.