Hurricane Sandy Check-In

Sorry y'all the "Sandy's Coming" thread has reached enough posts that I can't get my phone to post to in.

So I'm checking in here. If anyone else on the East Coast wants to check in here & let us know you're ok please do.

So far it's just raining here. We're supposed to get around 4 in of rain between now & Thurs. No snow. It's not allowed to.

Mt. Pleasant is positioned well for this storm. We're kind of cupped by the mountains so I don't think it will be too bad. Winds may hit 60mph. But that's a Pittsburgh prediction.

Stay safe everyone.

Thanks Heather for more manageable length thread. I posted on the Sandy's coming thread (http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1285729) for us all to continue to check in here as darkness begins to fall and electric service flickers!

There is some hope that Sandy will move more quickly through our areas and thus less devastation. My hope, too.

Jan, I forgot that you are a baker as you were first to volunteer to bake a cake for Queen Sally's Swap!

This message was edited Oct 29, 2012 4:14 PM

We're hanging in there in Vienna, VA. Power flickers but nothing out for more than a few seconds. Terrified about trees coming down. Hoping for the best but we've "moved" to our own basement. I can't stand watching the trees and wind outside -- it's too scary and I can't do a thing about it. My thoughts and prayers go out to others who are suffering through this, and let's hope we stay dry, warm, and safe.

WTH?!?!? My daughters school district just posted a 2 hr delay. I'm going with the benefit of the doubt here & guessing it's b/c of the mountain kids. 7 springs is getting a rain/snow mix apparently. Our district brings those kids in.
Coleup thanks for the forward over here. :)
The news tonight is going "storm panic, no transportation, storm panic, murder, storm panic, halloween is cancelled, storm panic cut to commercials of political ads" I have a headache now. This is why I NEVER watch the news.
Holy destruction in NJ! Hope everyone is allright! Same with DE looks kinda rough there.

Well I am a ways away from most here ,and we will be having 30 to 50 mph winds from the back inland side of sandy and the weather pattern You all stay safe as possible are hopes and prayers to you that it becomes no more severe than it is.
Storms like this are becoming redundant, but does not say much when your the one they are coming down on.
As said, luck and hope with the Human factor to you all effected of such.

Some serious wind gusts here, supposed to be making landfall between 6-8pm

lol Hartzell, we went thru storm panic (news sells) storm panic, a little bit of useful info, etc...now we here are in the middle /thick of it and brunt to come next 12 hours. They had to move the staging area for hundreds of out of state utility workers from BWI to a safer location.

Have heard that Chincoteague is under 3' water. Wonder if the ponies were evacuated? My heart goes out to all those critters and creatures going through the brunt with us and just trying to hang on til it passes.

Juhur always good to hear your perspective..will you get some much needed moisture out of this or just wind?

Betsy, good for you moving to your basement level...I have yet to do so as computer is up here!

Jen, we've had 76 mph gusts almost the same as the eastern shore

Hang in there trees, we need you!

Judy

This message was edited Oct 29, 2012 5:09 PM

Amazed we still have power here. Sandy has made landfall. Just watched our governor give a press conference. Love his straightforwardness. He is appalled at the Atlantic City mayor tell his people to stay in the shelters on the island instead of leaving with the mandatory evacuation and who now need rescuing. One shelter is in a school a block from the bay. It is too dark now to send in first responders and will wait til morning. Very foolish of that mayor.

DH just went out to check our rain gauge. 5 1/4" of rain so far. The next few hours will be interesting! Continuing to think of all affected and that is quite a few!!!!!

Yep, we have baked goods for a few days. Had our 85 yr old neighbor over for dinner. He wanted to get back home before it got dark. He has a generator to keep his sump pump running if and when we lose power.

Power went out at 2:45. The refridgerator is plugged in and so is another extension cord for a lamp. Wind is howling. Reading a good book. Safe and warm.

We still have power, thankfully, but the wind is really howling now. One small tree down already :( but no other damage.

Sandy in downgraded from hurricane to no'reaster now (I think I butchered the spelling). High winds & lots of rain. Won't be getting our brunt for a few more hours. The special needs school I work @ is on 2 hr delay now. Hopefully they don't have to close. The whole campus has beautiful trees everywhere. The drive lined with trees. I hope they don't lose any.

Still have power. Snuggled in bed with my pup & a good book. With all the panic generated by the media I'm just really meh. I think it's being blown out of porportion for our area. Time will tell. I love a good storm & we should get a doozy. Glad I get to sleep in tomorrow. :)

winds terrible here now... surrounded by huge oaks... going to basement now.

No internet down there so hope to check back in tomorrow am and all is well with every one
Signing off

Judy

Checking in... (thanks for the link coleup)

Hubby and I have been hunkered down all day as we were both off. We have winds up to 50mph now but not constant. Our apartment faces south and we are not getting hit head on from our perspective... the other side of the building is taking a more direct hit. Still have power! Enjoyed a great dinner and glass of wine... watching movies on Netflix. Hubby will have to work tomorrow night :( I am blessed that I can work from home tomorrow.

Hope everyone else is doing well! Take good care!
Karen

Well here in Odenton we are having plenty of rain, wind gusts are getting fierce, Benny the cat is kinda concerned. Can really hear the wind howling. Nice and cozy inside and no work tomorrow.

9PM...

At this moment--things seem to have calmed down a bit.
Still a lighter rain and a bit less wind. Does that mean we are in "The Eye"??????

Gonna hit the sack soon. Hope I fall asleep before anything major comes again.
IF there is more to come. I am sure it is not over....
OOPS--just heard another gust of wind......
Gita

Checking in, we're fairly sheltered here & getting some rain & wind - the 40 foot tree in the backyard keeps leaning closer & closer to the house...hmmm wasn't so bad when we could see it, now we can only hear it & it's eerie...still have power, we're on a newer Novec grid & hardly ever lose power - stay safe everyone!

I thouht it was calming but also now hear some good roaring again.

My cell phone rang an hour ago. Oldest son's buddy calling from the driveway said he had an accident and could he come in? Oh lord of course! He had been at a friends house near here and on his way home, rounded a curve and got a tree across the roof broke windshield too. Poor kid. So thankful he was completely unhurt.
And yes he is too smart to be driving in this but when youre 21 you do stuff like that. Once.

Thinking we are in the eye right now!

Glad to hear everyone's ok!!! Wind is something...glad the tree line behind my house is flexible!!!!!

Sheesh glad he was ok, Sally
2 deaths in Jersey so far were 2 in a car that was hit by a tree

lights flickering all night
some wind gusts, 1 shook the house(wonder what the mph was on that one?!)

oh yeah and going to sleep now I'm beat

Living near Roanoke, we've only had winds occasionally gusting to 30-40 mph. It rained last night and there were a few sporadic sprinkles today and think I saw a few stray flakes in the grocery store parking lot this morning. Our situation is nothing at all like the devastation you folks in the NE Corridor are facing.

Now there's a lull, with hardly a breeze and the wind chimes are eerily silent.

Ya all stay safe!

Seems like it is mostly past here, still a few wind gusts but mostly quiet. I never lost power all night, things seem ok for now. Still raining.

Hope everyone is safe.

I am *never* up this early. Fell asleep at 9ish last night tho.

Our school district is closed & the surrounding ones all have 2 hour delays. The one I work for is just on delay. :/ I was hoping for a day off. More rain today & the post tropical storm Sandy is supposed to dump it on us all day. Possibility of high winds until around noon but not hitting 60mph like last night closer to Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh got a bit of a nasty hit. At least that's what it sounds like from the news. Lots of people lost power 75000 for one power co. I can't remember what the Duquesne (pronounced: due cane) Light figures were. Connellsville & the mountains have snow (not us thank heaven!).

Well since I don't have to be in until 1030 (unless we close please!) I'm going to snuggle up with the hubster & the puppies. :) Might get that book finished this morning.

Hi! Wanted to thank all of you for helping to calm me through all of this. Just reading this thread yesterday/especially last night....kept my mind off each wind howl, window vibration etc. So I was able to hunker down with James Patterson/NYPD RED and off to sleep. Have not looked out yet, but just had a little water come in under the back door. Light did not even flicker. this area has had repeated floods, but recent new drainage holes and new streets seemed to have helped. Do have concerns re neighbor's gigantic trees across from my backyard.

Hope all of you are safe. And thank all of you for being you!

Checking in. My thanks to Judy for the email. Hope everybody is safe and well.,

I came back to Baltimore on Sunday, expecting heavy rain on Monday. As it turned out, there was a late email on Sunday telling us that we could work from home. Oh well. Now I am stuck in the apartment, listening to wind and the sea.

We still have power, although about 200k BGE customers have lost power. Power restoration will be a long process. We have repair crews from other states to help us, including crews from New Mexico. It will be a big job.

Good morning, all!!! We went to bed last night whilst in the eye and it was sooo eerily calm. Woke up a few times in the night to the wind. Also woke up to the top of a maple tree down. Other than that no damage outside. We never lost power for which I am thankful. That means the sump pump will work. YIPPEE!!

Praying for everyone.

I haven't been on DG forums much lately..put all my flowerbeds to bed for the winter a few weeks ago. Thank God we didn't lose power. All our lines are underground but that doesn't mean we still can't lose power. We didn't lose power, only damage we had was some flashing came off the eaves of the house. I have dumped a total of 11 in. of rainfall out of the rain gauge since Sunday when it started raining.

Holly, how are you getting to the VI? I haven't listened to the local news here yet but did see the damage and destruction Manhattan, Atlantic City got. All these insurance companies will be paying out a lot of claims like they did after Hugo and Andrew and then will jump everybody's rates..Think of all those cars, RV's I saw under water in NYC and elsewhere. Jan23, I was thinking about you but it appears you are safe..I forgot about the other NJ gardening friends..forgive me FlowJen and others.

We were to go down to Stuart, Va. to a friend's grave site with our son but we cancelled our hotel reservations on Sunday morning..never heard of a hotel/motel having a 72 hr. cancellation notice before but they understood and sent us a cancellation confirmation right away..

The neuro-surgeon that we've been waiting 2 months to see had his staff call people and let them know that the office would be closed yesterday. Hope they call today and reschedule soon. DH is living off Advil and Vicodin to ease the pain of the spinal stenois..The staff member that called didn't say if their office would be closed today though so hopefully somebody from his staff will be calling. I will call myself in about an hour. We would take us about 10 min. or less to get there. Government and public schools are closed so that makes less traffic on the roads..(hopefully). Just called my sister over in another county and her answering machine picked up so guess she didn't lose power. The other sister who lives in Howard County where their power lines are underground must have power because you get " Sorry but your call didn't go through" I've dialed her number 4 times..she has cell phone but will not give out her cell phone # and won't keep it turned on even in the car..it's called not knowing how to do the technology..almost like us..both are widows but has family nearby.. have not tried to call my kids yet..The storm back on June 29 left my daughter without power for 5 days..our son lives in Prince William County and I haven't checked on him yet either.

Everybody stay dry and safe..Coleup, thanks for starting these threads.

Regarding all these people looking for generators..I know one storm we had about 9 or 10 yrs. ago; a neighbor's son-in-law had to drive as far as Richmond to buy one.

I really feel for the people in the hard hit areas, especially NYC..Atlantic City..but those states will bounce back..just like they did after 911..Loved how NJ Gov. speaks so frankly..he tells it like it is..Sometimes you have to speak in those terms to get people to listen! I was just reading about the New York Univ. hospital generators failing and they had to evaculate their patients..almost like Mercy hospital in New Orleans during Katrina..People do not realize how dangerous some of these Hurricanes can be..I grew up in rural NC near the Ocean and we were used to them but they are all different. Hurricane Hazel in 1954 had winds of 120 mph..I pulled a 24 hr. shift in a local restaurnt in our neighborhood. We had State Highway patrolmen staying in all the motel rooms and the owner had a generator that helped give us power and we were the only place that was opened and had power as far as Myrtle Beach which is 68-70 miles further south from us..I can remember walking home the 1/4-1/2 mile with my legs so tired it hurt to move them to take the next step. Feet swollen from being on them so long.

Just a normal rainy day for us today. No work. Library branches closed.
No early voting today.

All OK here too----Power is on, no major damage anywhere.
Back yard is littered with small-medium dead branches down from the maples.
Saves money having to pay someone to cut those off......;o)
I will cut those up and my back yard neighbor will burn them in his fire pit.

Getting to sleep was hard--took a couple hours--all that howling and rattling against the house...

I am scheduled to go into work 12-5:30. Will do that--as i am sure the store will be busy.

Glad all this is over! Gita

The power is still out here - no eta on restoration. My parents got a whole house generator installed after the summer storm when we were without power for a week. My dad was grumbling about the price, but in their elderly situation, it is a comfort factor knowing that they don't have to deal with prolonged outages which always seem to come with a heat wave or extreme cold. I called him as soon as the power went out yesterday and said "aren't you glad you got that generator now?" He said the lights had flickered, but he still had power and that it must just be out on the line that comes down to our house. He called back a few minutes later and said the generator was on after all - he didn't even notice the automatic switch over LOL. No trees down near the house or driveway this time, but there were two big ones down across my parent's driveway that Mike cut up and moved out of the way this morning. I had a nice warm shower up there, so I'm feeling pretty good. Hope everyone made out OK.

Good luck Gita! I can hear it now "No we don't have generators. No we don't know when we'll get any. " They should start all calls with a recording like that!!

LOL your dad Terri. I agree its wonderful that he got the generator. Takes pretty good care of you NOT needing to buy one.

Morning all.

Slept in camper van as basement was taking on some water in one corner and I just didn't want to deal with it. One good thing about paper route is that I have a good supply of papers to soak up dampness and then I can still recycle them. I hate slippery sleeping bags! Good thing as I tossed and turned last night I was level parked or I'd be in the Bay by now.

No damage to house or adjacent trees/neighbors. All feral cats showed up for morning feed. Hurray.

Didn't lose power either. Amazing how tightly my giant oaks have held their leaves...they just weren't giving them up for antthing! It's not only willos that can bend. Seems like the wind switched directions numerous times last night.

Good to hear from everyone and that our chatter had a calming effect,,,good antidote to panic.

Sally, glad your castle could be a port in the storm. Says volumes about you and Mark that this young man came to you for shelter. Hugs to him.

I'm off to deliver the papers I couldn't get to yesterday.

Judy

Not much damage here either. I worried a ton over the night, but other than a door ripping off a Rubbermaid shed and one of the tarps pulling off the front hill we've been planting (we covered it so it wouldn't loosen and slide into the road).

All is well with us - power on & the birds are getting their feed outside & singing, it's a tad chilly & wet

Little branches and a few pines in my backyard. We just got power back this morning. A few are still without power unfortunately the sewage plant is without it and dumping 1 million gallons of sewage into the middle or little patuxent river so that is the number one priority in howard county.

Hope everyone is well and warm.

Happy to here all the good reports.
Yup Ho Co made Fox News and I recognized that that was a sewage plant by the river, seeming inoperational. (How nifty that my college eddication (UMCP) enables me to recognize aerial view of sewage treatment plants.) Course we children of the seventies know that Dilution is the solution...A whole lot of stuff everywhere got washed into rivers, and a lot of dilution too. The bay scientists will be busy looking to effects of this.
We're betting that Patapsco, our dogs favorite swimming hole, will look drastically different, as it did last summer after that big rain, which we though would be a long standing record rainfall LOL

Naah, speaks volumes about being the next closest known house in a terrifying situation! Still we felt honored to be his refuge. 2004 Mazda gonna need roof, sunroof, windshield, and upper side panel, maybe whole door...ugh. Its funny that I had actually picked up and straightened and vacuumed my son's room two days ago so that our guest could sleep here without walking on dirty socks and last semester books.

I can't believe we never lost power! And the big oak still has most of its leaves. I don't quite understand how that happened.

We have 2 8-foot tall arborvitaes that need to be replanted. They were very recently transplanted, and the shallow roots couldn't support the trees in the wind.

One was leaning at about 45 degrees and one was on the ground, partially uprooted.

When would it be dry enough to work the soil and replant them? I have mucky clay that takes a *long* time to dry out. I'd hate to work/walk around wet clay and damage the structure of soil that's already poor.

Will the trees be okay not being fully planted for a couple of days? Or longer?

Gloriag from Floyd, VA sent me this dmail

"Thanks for inquiring about Sandy. My sister lives one or two feet above sea level in VA Beach, VA.
I called yesterday and begged her to get to higher ground. She's never run away from a Hurricane.
But Sandy is different. I hope she is OK. She's stubborn.

Here in the Blue Ridge we have skimpy snow, but it is supposed to get heavier over night. Our temps
are above freezing. I will welcome the snow as a slow release water for my garden.

I have a generator which is new; I think it will see me through the next couple of days. Gloriag"

Thanks to all for checking in. Onewish and Luvsgtdanes (Philly) have reported ok on Northeast check in thread http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1286297/.

Thanks for the reports all. I haven't yet looked at any of the links that anyone provided, but will do so shortly. Jen asked if anyone had seen snow. I have been seeing flurries all morning, but nothing is sticking at our place. The small mountain range behind our house is covered with snow though. I had to go in to town earlier and it was interesting to see the mountains covered like that and not have anything substantial down lower. It is not over for our area. There is warning of activity until 8 PM. The wind is still howling here and still sprinkling water from time to time. Our rain guage is broken and I haven't been listening to any local news, so am not sure how much rain we have had. Amazed by the eleven inches that Pippi reported.

John commented earlier that as far as down trees are concerned, most probably came down in July. The roads are covered with leaves and small branches all over the place. I too am among the grateful to still have power. A bit after 7 last evening I was online making a Christmas purchase and the computer shut down on me and then ran a maintenance type of deal that I had never seen happen before. This morning it seems to be working, so no damage done thankfully. Need to go back and see if I lost the order I was working on though.

Here is hoping that the worst of it is over for most of us. Wanted to welcome jsxtiger and tell her/him that we are a really good group of folks who do look out for each other. I was without power for seven days during July and unable to communicate with my Dave's Garden friends. After a few days I called another Dave's friend and asked them to report in that I was okay but without power and would definitely return asap. When I returned in July I saw that our friend Coleup had asked about me on several threads due to worrying about me. I might add that the day of the Virginia earthquake, she also called me to check and see how I was too and I felt really blessed to know that she was thinking of me and was concerned for my safety. That is what Dave's friends are all about. There for each other in times of need.

Becky, so glad that you reported in and the report was that things were okay at your place. I am looking forward to more good reports from you girl. All others....enjoy your day. Thanks for being here.

Ruby