Irene support thread

[Divemistress of the Dark]

Sheez, we just get done with the quake & shake, and now I'm reading the East Coast is getting ready to get smacked - hard.

Anything anyone doing to prepare? I'm worried about you, folks.

[ltwoman]

Thanks, Dive. Here we are waiting. Just waiting so far.

I have the important furniture turned over on the porch and doing odds and ends inside (locate flashlights, still need D batteries, want to bottle some extra water, where are the important papers, etc.). I'll go to the store later. Ugh. Here we go again (still, it's pretty exciting. Not snow, but...)

Waiting...

[luna_virgo]

I don't live on the coast, but I've been through plenty of inland hurricane side effects from Opal, Ivan, Katrina etc. Even if you don't have to leave home, do your laundry and dishes ahead of time in case you lose power/water. Have some sandwich stuff and snacks on hand in case you can't cook. Make sure you have prescriptions filled and pet supplies. And please stay safe!

[sockii]

We could get hit pretty bad where vespa and I are at, so I am going to do a little emergency prep today and tomorrow. If we lose electricity, we lose water, which really sucks - and being pretty far out in the hicks when ours goes out, it can be a while before we get it back. So I'll be filling the bathtubs and getting some extra bottled water, batteries, tape and some plastic sheeting in case we need to reinforce the windows. Also moving a few things around in the basement in case we get any flooding or our sump pump craps out.

Not especially excited about any of this.

[ltwoman]

Yeah, this could be really bad...

[samburusunset]

You're near Williamsburg are you , ItWoman?

We've got our company picnic tomorrow and the Norfolk peeps have pulled out.
They can get out in the morning but may not be able to return in the afternoon.

I think I'm pretty well set, although I could use some batteries. Got plenty of water and kitty food.

Dreading the thought of possibly having to wet vac my father's basement, though. OY!

Good luck to all you coastal Nutters!!

[63falcon]

Well, I'll let ya'll know when my folks give a report-since they are heading right down to Washington County NC TODAY!!!! The NC side of the Family has the yearly reunion Labor Day weekend-in Tyrrell Co., 2 counties 'in' from the Outer Banks.
Tried to talk them out of it.........

[ltwoman]

You're near Williamsburg are you , ItWoman?

We've got our company picnic tomorrow and the Norfolk peeps have pulled out.
They can get out in the morning but may not be able to return in the afternoon.

Yep, I am Williamsburg, SS. Old Dominion University, in Norfolk, is already cancelling classes for Monday. Your co-workers have got that right: they may never be able to get back down 64 East . Worst case is the lanes get reversed, but that probably wouldn't be until Saturday. Give them a pass.

Stay safe, guys!

[Kim]

Well we were supposed to go to the Jersey Shore this weekend. We will be hunkering down here instead. Stay safe everyone!

[luddite lady]

All I can think to say to all you Irene threatened Nutters is, "Stay safe." It's a lame expression since there's only so much one can do to stay safe in a situation like this. And it's not as if anyone was planning to do the opposite: grow reckless!
Nonetheless, STAY FREAKIN' SAFE! I'll be thinking of you all & keeping fingers and toes crossed.

[sockii]

As of today there were no C or D batteries to be found in South Jersey. Ooops. Guess I'd better hope our few lanterns and flashlights hold out, or else I'm raiding vespa's matchbook collection this weekend.

I'm fairly certain we'll lose power as we're prone to anytime there any kind of storm in our area. Plan for tomorrow is to keep all phones and laptops fully charged as long as possible. Oh, and this is all quite fun to have to plan for and around when I've got DragonCon I'm supposed to be getting ready for NEXT weekend. :-/

[luna_virgo]

Everybody please check in here when you can and let us know you're okay! Hoping for the best for all of you.

[ltwoman]

It's 5 AM in Williamsburg and there's a tornado warning in Chesapeake, about 50 miles southwest of us. Something to look forward to! Moderate rain. But the 5AM update for Irene is good news, at least for Virginia, as the hurricane has lessened in intensity and is going to stay off shore (we are about 50 miles inland).

sockii, there are no D cells in Williamsburg, but I wish I'd known you needed some Cs as I returned a large package yesterday having gotten home and then realized my lantern took Ds. I could have gotten on the road and been to your house by daybreak!

At any rate, after I realized I needed Ds, and having committed to finally buying batteries, off I go, which I said I wouldn't do, driving all over creation looking for the damned Ds. Zip. Last night I was alternately looking for an extension cord, and trying to stuff something in an already packed cupboard (I'm sure no one else has ever done that!) and couldn't figure out what was in the way. I peered in, didn't recognize the mystery package, and thinking I was going to get bitten, reached in and pulled out a half carton of D cell batteries! 6 left! Just what I would need if I exhausted my already brightly lit lantern!

To be continued. It's 5:22AM and all is "well".

[sockii]

Our current backyard view in South Jersey:



Just oppressive and light wind. We're supposed to get rain starting real soon. All the backyard furniture is in and I brought in a massive tomato crop before the plants might get trashed. If nothing else we can eat tomato sandwiches all weekend.

My main worry is any potential for tornadoes in our area - as you can see it's flat, flat open fields right behind our house. We get warnings during bad thunderstorms so just keeping fingers crossed...

And vespa just got notice he's on the backup list for ER duty if needed. :-/

[DirtyMartini]

Yeah, I'm seeing tornado warnings in VA, MD, and SoNJ. Be careful, everyone.

We're all prepared in case the power goes out, the water goes out, and/or we need to spend the night/day in our bathroom. That last is the one I'm least looking forward to as it bodes the least well.

At least I'll finally get to watch the Letterman clip when this is all passed!

Stay safe, everyone. I'm hoping you all enormously boring and uneventful weather patterns.

xoxo



ETA: I LOVE tomato sandwiches.