Hurricane Sandy Check-In

We are ok in s. central Pa. We never lost power & the storm is on the way North, now. It is very cold outside (41) but no snow and I have to put my banana to bed. Our thoughts & prayers are with all the people in the midatlantic states who have had to leave their homes & evacuate and also to those who have no power. This storm, from what I hear, is long past overdue and I, for one, am glad it is over.

We didn't loose power here and had a little over 4 inches of rain...Still having some rain and a little wind today. Guess all the water I have stored up I will use to water the house plants as that takes gallons each week.. God sure was protecting the most of us on this forum.

Hi all we are back on line. Lost power last evening. No real problems with any of us and only our neighborhood lost it's power. I think it was a neighbors tree that was the culprit. Kept flashing on and off for quite a while and then went out. We were out touring the neighborhood, not much damage, no trees down or houses that looked damaged. But there is a lot of flooding. I got some great pics of small streams that turned into raging rivers.
Pippi, We are heading out very early on Sat Nov 3rd. Flying out of Phila. I am sure they should have things going by then. At least I hope they will.

This is normally a small stream maybe 12ft across and only knee deep. Second pic is where it branches in to a larger Creek a few miles down the road at this spot. The road is flooded for about a mile and the bridge is underwater as well as the road. This isn't just a low lying road. The bridge is normally about 15/20ft above the creek surface.

This message was edited Oct 30, 2012 3:51 PM

Hey, Holly, watch the ole Susquehana! She can be full of surprizes as she was a year ago..when everything was flooded out of Harrisburg. We ate at Hoss's in Hummelstown last month when we were there and they have the water mark so noted on their walls where the water came to into their restaurant a year ago. They had to remodel and they have pictures of the inside afterward the flood. Good place to eat if you've never tried it. Between Rutherford Hgts. and Hershey. They have a creek that comes up at edge of their property and when the old Susquehana let lose it filled that restaurant almost to the ceiling. People don't realize how strong raging waters can be..

Hope you're able to get out Nov. 3rd. and can enjoy your vacation. Is Ric going with you? I just saw a YouTube video on planting tomatoes in those 5 gal. Home Depot buckets..very interesting video. The person that made the video did a great job at explaining it and show how every step is done. Even I understood it.
If somebody shows me something, I grasp it better than trying to read the instructions.

Betty

Thanks rubyw, and all of you. Even though I did all the prep, in the end the only thing we can do is be safe and pray. But sometimes the nerves/anxiety/media hype gets next to you. Sharing that with others helps tremendously! joyce

Agree totally, Joyce! I love my DG family

We only have sporadic sprinkles and belated breezes left. I have no idea how much rain we actually did get. Yesterday at 2pm we only showed 2"s, since it was coming down sideways, I'm not sure it was that little. I was down to the greenhouse at 4am and the 5"gauge was overflowing and now it was back up to 2"s. Our outage was local and only 16-18 hours. Our greenhouse did real well and the gas heater I installed does not require power, but is much more efficient with it. Not everyone had dry feet this am. Ric

Power is restored. Turned on the TV and saw the devastation in NYC and the Jersey shore. Grateful that all is well here.

Our power went out around 7PM Monday night. Wind made dreadful noise in the trees and it rained heavily through the evening. Awoke this morning to light rain and wind. When we took a recon walk around the yard we found little damage beyond small to medium branches down. With the power still off we fired up the generator and ran cords in to the freezer and fridge. Around 5 PM today the power came back on but would cut off briefly every so often for the next couple of hours. Our local internet service finally came back up just a little while ago, so with electricity, a hot meal in our bellies, toilets that flush and internet service we are considering our life pretty much back to normal. :-)

SO good to hear everyone's doing ok!! Back to work tomorrow...

Terribly sorry about the devastation of New Jersey.

Let it remind me in the future that even if I am over prepared, it leaves the extra ice, generators, etc for those that will need it much more.

I neglected to check the college website again this AM, drove there and found AACC closed for power outage. Many lights on Ritchie Highway blinking or out below Pasadena, police in place with side roads blocked .

Coleuslover123 dmailed this to me earlier


Mount Laurel, NJ

Wed, October 31, 2012
12:49 PM
HI,
Everything is ok here. I was lucky. I didn't lose power, but a block away they did. It helps to have wires underground. Stream got high but didn't flood very much. A couple of big branches down in back but no property damage. Both my kids and their properties are ok but they are without power. In my daughter's neighborhood there was a lot of damage. I'm much closer to the shore than she is, and not as much damage. She is between reading, pa and allentown, pa. Blocks and blocks of down trees tangled up in wires. They said it would be at least a week before they could restore power. For her no power means no water, since they have to pump it. They do have a generator, so they can get a little freezer cooling and a little sump pump action and a little water pumped. Hard tho, with a family of 6.

My heart goes out to all those effected. Cannot stop crying when I watch the news.

hi guys, I didn't realize you all were over here! I just posted on the other thread

glad coleouslover is ok too. I have to tell her I LOVE LOVE LOVE the inky fingers from her garden and have a dozen or so cuttings under the lights. they brighten up any stormy weather

just wanted u to know we're all safe and cozy here

Yay, two more jersey girls okay!!

Heavens to Betsy, here I've been posting all over the place and I forgot to check in here, ACK!!! All's well and safe here, we only ended up losing power for just under 3 hours here, and that was on Monday afternoon before things even got bad. No downed trees, not even a drop of water sneaked into the basement under the back door.

So thankful to see so y'all safe and sound here already... is that everyone? Have we missed anyone?? Gosh, my thoughts and prayers continue to go out to everyone in Jersey and New York, so so sad. =(

Our thoughts and prayers go out
for all without power, cold, stranded, hungry, homeless, thirsty, awaiting evacuation, lonely
for those concerned for family and loved ones not heard from,
for those buried in snow or sand or water or debris
for those who have lost family and friends in this storm.
for those who have lost homes, businesses.entire communities, everything they own
for all emergency responders,utility workers, hospitals, insurance adjusters
for all animal shelters and rescuers and all creatures great and small
for all world wide in similar situations

May we all be cared for and find the ways and strength to resecure the ties that bind.

The dmail blast went out to 59 and we have heard from 37 so far. There are many more who have visited our forum or are DG members in our area I didn't reach out to via Dmail. Hope everyone is up and running soon.

Lou C I love you and others from afar who care for the whole earth as if it was their own back yard!

Judy

Well said

Jan, how is your son and family down here doing this storm round? Sorry, forgot to ask earlier.

Here there were less trees down than last two times. Consensus seems to be that those that were going to go have gone....

Curious that BGE crews are repairing lines in at least three of the same exact places they repaired in last two storms (and this is after tree and branch removal.) Evidently, when one transformer blows it can blow a number of other transformers, too, unlike the circuits in our homes where if one fuse blows, the other circuits stay on. There are new transformers that take themselves out before blowing and effecting other transformers but they are not widely installed. Wonder, too wether the "smart meters" we were almost forced to have installed had any usefulness in this latest round of outages?

Hey donnerville I'm thinking about you...if they let you have a few hours off stop by Sallyg s tomorrow for a liitle r + r! Is your home snowed in?

Thank you, Judy. I'm usually on Texas and/or Tropicals but move around a bit. I have been through 3 tornados and will never forget it. They are bad, destructive killers but nothing like "Sandy". Dense populations are scattered like dots across the state of Texas, not so close to each other as the Eastern Coast. Matters not, the point is we are all God's children....members of the same family. Just thinking about what is ahead for so many is overwhelming. I know we are a strong people and we will recover but the pain is still here today. As I strolled my flower garden (mostly Texas wildflowers) this morning I "had a little talk with God". Thanked Him for the relatively small number of deaths and injuries. Every single person is important and not to be overlooked but the tragedy could have so much worse. This new social media has proved to be a blessing in times like this. How else could I know all of you.

Father, we thank you today for all of our blessings.

It really warmed my heart to hear from Lou and some others in different areas who came here to check on us. Thanks every one.

Ruby

Just checking in real fast. We had power thruout the storm but no internet or phone, today we have phone but lost power a high line came down, eta on repairs not till Nov 9th! Lost a big tree branch but no house damage. Generator up and running for now

Praying for you, Jen. Hoping you get hooked up before the 9th

Judy, thank you for asking, he and his are doing fine. Usually they lose power at the drop of a hat, but didn't this time. Weird. No damage to their house from either wind or trees. DDIL's mom and brother were down from Boston for the weekend. They had traveled by train, however had to fly back yesterday due to train track damages.

I also appreciate DG family checking in on us from other regions.

Power came on in the middle of the night but bad news our coffee maker died :(

Good morning.

Good morning Lou,.. bad morning for Jen... =( Just picked up my coffee cup as I read that; you're NorthEast of me, right Jen? Hang on, let me put some Saran Wrap on the cup and I'll start warming up my pitching arm. =)

Still checking on you-all (Texas slang) everyday. Crazily my thoughts turned to the wildlife this morning. My flower garden is abuzz with honey bees, butterflies, caterpillars, birds and the everlasting ants. How does a catastrophe such as "Sandy" effect these creatures? And the mammals and sea life........

flowAjen OH NO!!! Not the coffee maker!!

.........and can you imagine being on a sea cruise during Sandy? (ie: Disney) I wonder if they realize how blessed they are?

I can!!! I was on a liberty ship when a giant wave happened years ago., I was hanging on the side of a cafeteria table watching people go sliding past as the ship surfed sideways like a surfboard out of the wave.
Needless to say I do not do the ocean vessel rides anymore!!!! The USS Buckner named for the Marine General killed at Iwo Jima

Found out our old house (my parents bought it in 1957)then we bought it when they retired and moved to GA in 1991, was flooded we lived 4 blocks from the river and backed up to a lake, the brackish water of the river met the lake for the 1st time.
Hubby drove that road today and everyone's water logged furniture is on the curb
1 main highway about 20mins north of here EVERY telephone pole is down
CRAZY and then the gas rationing started today(not in my county though, no lines or wait around here, thank God)

Ouch !! that's bad!!!!

Trying hard to put a dent in the Photo Contest judging. Only have until Nov. 13th.

Done 4 categories already. Mma Mia! The Annuals and Perennials had 365 entries!
Skip that if you want to save time.

Gita

So hard to pick just 3!!!!! at least it's a bright spot in the week looking at pretty pictures

Jen--

I kind of like the process....of elimination, once you have chosen your favorites.
When it gets down to your favorite 4 or five--it gets hard.

I have so many pet peeves about the Contest entries--I could write a book on what
NOT to do to your pictures. Might be an interesting idea for a Thread.....

Like--STOP spraying your roses with water and then posting---
"Such and such Rose after a morning shower". UGH! That gets me....Dah! The leaves next to it are dry!

OR--
"Stop posting these super macros of the inside of the Rose bloom"--other than
proving it is good close-up photography--to me it is an automatic "Skip this one".

OK! I have a store meeting at 6AM. So i will not write more....

Gita

Jen, really sorry to hear about the issues you or those close by you are having to contend with. I kind of close my eyes and ears and see or become too very concerned over matters that happen elsewhere. Something has to be sitting in my lap before I try to find out details. I have seen some of the headlines, but not done a lot of reading or watching reports of all that is occuring north of me. I know that none of this is much fun for any one involved, and I just hope that things will get turned around soon for every one who has been affected by this storm. Hang in there.....'

Ruby

News you most likely won't hear about. We have a friend that is a member of Texas Baptist Men. They have several tractor trailers outfitted for emergencies such as "Sandy". They left here (Dallas, TX) several days ago. Now stuck in a parking lot in WVa. because the unions will not allow them passage. (This in the United State of America?)
They maybe forced to return home with the trucks full. Everything is free....labor, food, water, clothes, blankets....no charge, just love of mankind. What right does a union have to stop a mission of mercy?

This is beyond my understanding.

(They do not go to preach...only to give)

Were they going to WV or farther? Can they just go around WV? There are a lOt of things that make me wonder sometimes.

Their ultimate destination is somewhere in NJ. What union could this be? Truckers?