KILLSTORM 2011! (Hurricane Irene)

[Civil War Man]

Today I stocked up on ice cream, in case Irene knocks out the power.

[Patrick Degan]

Ironically, Irene means peace. Maybe they could have picked a better name...

It just happens to be the "I" name that came up this time around. In alternating years, it would be a male name (e.g. "Ivan"). The only time a particular name for a hurricane is retired from the lists is if it proves to be a particularly deadly and destructive storm (Agnes, Betsy, Camille, Katrina, to name a few). There was a Hurricane Irene six years back —same year as Katrina.

[MKSheppard]

Today I stocked up on ice cream, in case Irene knocks out the power.

Does not compute.

If the power's knocked out, wouldn't the ice cream spoil pretty fast?

Anyway, getting in some quick posting, in case Irene knocks out my power tomorrow with high winds/rain and shitty PEPCO tree trimming.

[Kodiak]

Today I stocked up on ice cream, in case Irene knocks out the power.

Does not compute.

If the power's knocked out, wouldn't the ice cream spoil pretty fast?

Anyway, getting in some quick posting, in case Irene knocks out my power tomorrow with high winds/rain and shitty PEPCO tree trimming.

I think the idea is that ice cream provides a delicious thermal mass that would keep the fridge/freezer cool.

[Civil War Man]

Actually, the idea is that when the power is knocked out, I get to eat ice cream.

It's been a tradition in my family since hurricane Bob.

[Patrick Degan]

Eric Cantor, who just has to be a perfect prick about everything at all times, announced through his office that any disaster relief spending resulting from damage wrought by Irene must be balanced by spending cuts elsewhere in the Federal budget.

[Molyneux]

Evacuating to higher ground in a few hours. I'd rather stay with my house, but...for the sake of my parents' peace of mind, I'm not kicking up a fuss about it.

[Patrick Degan]

Evacuating to higher ground in a few hours. I'd rather stay with my house, but...for the sake of my parents' peace of mind, I'm not kicking up a fuss about it.

From very bitter experience of six years ago, I can tell you you're making the right choice.

[Dalton]

Eric Cantor, who just has to be a perfect prick about everything at all times, announced through his office that any disaster relief spending resulting from damage wrought by Irene must be balanced by spending cuts elsewhere in the Federal budget.

It's just more of the same political opportunism from a shameless ideologue. Cantor is pond scum.


In other news, wife and son are holed up safe at home - we're not in an evac zone and above the flood plain, and we've taken precautions, stocked up, stowed any loose stuff outside and have a tank full of gas. Unfortunately I will be splitting my weekend between 30 Rock and the Hilton hotel.

[Broomstick]

I have a niece in Boston and nephew in NYC - talked to my sister tonight and reminded her the kids are very sensible. They've both taken precautions to hunker down, ready to spend a few days without power if necessary, and their mother reminded them to fill up their gas tanks. I suggested the kids have some cash on hand as well - they're both used to using plastic for everything and the ATM's and credit card swipers don't work if there's no power. Neither is officially in an evac zone, and I expect they'll be OK but, well, you always worry a little about family, don't you?

[FSTargetDrone]

LOTS of rain out here in the Philadelphia suburbs. The Schuylkill River which runs roughly southeast into Philadelphia is expected to crest at 15 feet and that hasn't happened since 1869. I live just a mile from it, so I'm heading over to see tomorrow after this rain clears. Facebook is also keeping me up to date with friends and family in New Jersey and New York. Winds aren't too bad, but may worsen. We keep checking around our apartment's first floor for flooding. The building sits slightly downhill and on a slab, but we're still dry here at the moment. Hope it stays that way. I can deal with no power, but flooding would be a real problem. Been there, done that with Floyd in 1999 and that was enough.

UPDATE: A tornado has damaged about 15 homes in Delaware and tornado warnings are popping up in various nearby (to me) towns and parts of Philadelphia. Reports of hail. SEPTA is running free services in the limited routes still open in the city until midnight. Various tunnels and highways have closed.

[TimothyC]

I just got a call from Simon_Jester. He's doing ok, and is riding out the storm. He lost power about two and a half hours ago.

[Imperial528]

Well, here's hoping a tree doesn't crush the house -making all effort of cleaning the yard of projectiles in vain- tomorrow afternoon (or was it evening? Meh, too tired to check.) when it hits.

EDIT: It hits tomorrow morning, not noon.

[The Romulan Republic]

Eric Cantor, who just has to be a perfect prick about everything at all times, announced through his office that any disaster relief spending resulting from damage wrought by Irene must be balanced by spending cuts elsewhere in the Federal budget.

Considering his state is one of those being hit, I wonder if this will play as well with his voters as he probably hopes.

[MKSheppard]

Lost power at 1 AM on Sunday. Still don't seem to have power back, despite everyone else around us having it.

Typical.

(Typing this from a Library)

[FSTargetDrone]

Lots of rain overnight, lots of wind. Never lost power. I stayed up as late as I could watching for flooding downstairs. The clouds have all cleared out and it's turning into a beautiful Sunday evening. Much flooding in Philadelphia, however.

[Imperial528]

High winds and lots of rain, power flickered at around 2 or 3 in the morning, and then went off at 4 I hear, but when I woke up it was back on. Lots of small debris in the yard. Other than that it's been just a regular drizzly day.

Most of my town and the town that supplies my town's power have lost power though, so I guess we're just lucky.

[Alferd Packer]

Man, that was a pig-fuck. But only a few inches of water in the basement, and the pumps made sure that all the big ticket appliances were saved. Thankfully, only a few blips as far as power goes, but the flooding nearby is insane. People who have lived here 40 years say it's never been this bad.

[LadyTevar]

It seems that flooding is the real damage from Irene, as it's hit the whole Eastern Seaboard. WV got a big fat Nothing. Sunny skies, light cloud cover, not a drop of rain all weekend. I guess the Appalachians blocked most of Irene's outlying clouds.

Thankfully the Death Toll was low, and looks to remain so. Some of them are Darwin Winners, doing things that they knew were dangerous like surfing. My condolences go out to the families of all

[White Haven]

God dammit, Irene, you couldn't even flood Richmond, and we're right on the James River. Pathetic little *mutters*

Just got power back, overall damage was fairly minimal. Some trees down, saw one poor bastard who had the second floor of his house bisected perfectly by a falling tree.

[darkjedi521]

I'm up in the Albany, NY area. Epic level flooding is being predicted on parts of the Hudson and Mohawk rivers. Both are predicted to exceed the major flood stage, some places the record for flood height. There was concern earlier that a dam on one of the reservoirs feeding NYC over in Schoharie county may have burst, but it was merely crested by a record high flood.

[White Haven]

Also, seriously, the electric grid has seen zero significant upgrades in how long? Seriously people, buried lines and mesh topology. </rant>

[Zaune]

Also, seriously, the electric grid has seen zero significant upgrades in how long? Seriously people, buried lines and mesh topology. </rant>

The British government looked into buried lines around about the time they were soliciting new pylon designs. Turned out they'd cost about twenty million quid a mile and would involve digging up a stretch of land roughly the width of a dual carriageway.
As for mesh topology, it's a major undertaking with a couple of dozen PCs and a file server; achieving it for the US national grid would probably cost more than your last five wars combined.

[Molyneux]

Back in my own house! We just spent the night at a family friends' on higher ground; quite a few trees down and our garage/laundry room flooded, but our home is OK, and so are we.

[darkjedi521]

ABC's news segment/video showing some of the flooding in upstate NY/VT. Lots of roads and bridges washed away or weakened to the point of might as well have been washed away. Loose barges are also playing havoc with some of the major bridges over the Hudson and Erie Canals.