Way OT: Hurricane Irene Open Thread

Submitted by profitgoblue on

I was thinking that this thread could serve as a way for people in the line of Hurricane Irene's fire to keep all of us MGoMembers updated as to their status and experience.  Looks like eastern North Carolina is already starting to get hammered and is in for a sh-tty next two days.  Check out the NWS radar:  http://radar.weather.gov/radar.php?rid=MHX&product=NCR&overlay=11101111&loop=yes

Anyone in NC able to check in and update all of us on how you're weathering the storm?

 

[EDIT:  Looks like I should be a CNN reporter:  http://ireport.cnn.com/open-story.jspa?openStoryID=655725#DOC-660225]

 

(If this is just too off-topic for y'all, feel free to shut this down - I definitely will not be offended.  I just thought it might be interesting for people in other parts of the country to see how a hurricane affects people on the east coast, especially since this could be the storm of the century as far as the Mid-Atlantic and New England is concerned.)

 

Needs

August 26th, 2011 at 3:47 PM ^

Any advice the hurricane experienced on here have about windows? I'm not in any of the evacuation zones, but I am about 15 floors up, with a bunch of big, south facing windows that aren't shielded by any buildings. I'd like to avoid having them blow out but hanging off the side of the building and screwing in plywood isn't exactly in the game plan.

tjyoung

August 26th, 2011 at 2:52 PM ^

my family and I have been vacationing on Oak Island (on the coast of NC) for the past 5 days. We were just told about an emergency evacuation from the island and we all got up and left by 10am. I'm currently in the car with my parents and 5 younger siblings on the way back to Ann Arbor.
I kind if wanted to stick it out and see what it would have been like...

JCV16

August 26th, 2011 at 2:52 PM ^

remember that buying water, generators, beans, flashlights, batteries, etc is a waste of time.  In the post-apocalyptic mess following the hurricane, the most valuable asset will be whiskey. It is highly concentrated and useful for drinking, dressing wounds, and marinading bacon.  You can use it to barter for whatever else you need.  So remember: when the weather gets frisky, stock up on yer whisky. 

Elise

August 26th, 2011 at 2:56 PM ^

If you told me at the beginning of this summer that a tropical storm might hit Vermont pretty hard this year, I'd have laughed at you.  Thankfully being this far inland and living in a sturdy building away from the lake, I've got the luxury of being somewhat excited at the idea of experiencing something a little new and different.

GoBlueFutball

August 26th, 2011 at 5:20 PM ^

The last time a hurricane hit VT I was at a pre 7th grade sleep a way camp.  None of us knew it was coming, so listening to howling wind all night and find giant old oak limbs strewn amongst the cabin made our trip.  I'm kind of hoping this will be an equally exciting in Vermont.

I had been planning a camping trip to Acadia this weekend.  Per the bucketlist thing I kind of wanted to rent a kayak see if I could catch some surf.  The wife decided we should cancel due partly to her fear of that being my last bucketlist entry, and partly to the idea of potentially finding ourselves in shreaded canvas in a downpour.

Blue In NC

August 26th, 2011 at 3:08 PM ^

I am outside of Raleigh, not near the coast so I really don't expect much outside of wind and rain.  Current forecasts indicate the Triangle could get 1 to 2 inches of rain and wind gusts up to 30 or 40 mph.  By mid-Sunday most of the effects should be gone.  The coast has a worse outlook obviously.  Let's hope for the best for them.

maizenbluenc

August 26th, 2011 at 3:28 PM ^

The weather in advance of a hurricane has always been fascinating to me. You get a few days in advance of clear, cooler weather pulled down from the north, and then the humidy goes up as the tropical cloud cover rolls in. Here in the Raleigh-Durham area that cloud cover started rolling in this morning.

As the poster says above - we won't get much more than squalls tomorrow. I hope Irene turns more easterly though, so the flooding isn't so devastating in eastern NC.

BlueVoix

August 26th, 2011 at 3:14 PM ^

In DC.  Excited to head out to the store after work and watch people fighting over baby food and bulk size containers of Old Bay.

If the storm really does pass over DC, and not just the outer bands, I don't think there is shit I'll be able to do to prepare my apartment.  So yeah, drink up.

Michael

August 26th, 2011 at 3:30 PM ^

I'm in DC, and these are my sentiments exactly. I can't imagine we're going to get the brunt of the storm, but we're probably looking at power outages at minimum. I needed to go grocery shopping before this whole thing, so I'm probably screwed.

I guess I'll be surviving on Cliff Bars and the bulk purchase of Fat Tire (DC edition) I made this week.

Wettin 3's

August 26th, 2011 at 3:21 PM ^

I am in Greensboro, 4 hrs away from the coast. Since I am writing on this blog, I haven't been hit by the hurricane yet. But, jokes aside, the coast doesn't look too good. I dont have any rain.

MichiganMan2424

August 26th, 2011 at 3:37 PM ^

I'm in NJ and Cristie ordered a mandatory evacuation of the beaches as of this morning. It's supposed to be a lot of wind and rain here, but I don't think it'll be as bad as everyone is making it out to be.

profitgoblue

August 26th, 2011 at 3:46 PM ^

No offense, but you've never experienced a hurricane, have you?  You may not get the 100+ MPH winds, but you're going to get a sh-tload of rain and, if you're really lucky, the rain bands will spawn tornados.  That is very common.  Keep a radio on because you're going to see a bunch of tornado warnings. 

 

MichiganMan2424

August 26th, 2011 at 4:10 PM ^

And everyone is making it out to be the 100+ MPH winds and 2 feet of rain type thing. I have been in Florida and experienced a hurricane before, but most people in NJ haven't, so they assume it's going to be like Katrina and are freaking out. According to the reports, it won't be that, which is why I'm saying it's going to be better than most are making it out to be.

In reply to by MichiganMan2424

profitgoblue

August 26th, 2011 at 4:25 PM ^

Good point. My apologies for questioning your credentials.

But I tend to think that if people have not been through one before they underestimate it. As in: "Big deal, its just wind." They forget about the rain and the power outtages, etc. I think the news is going to come out that people were not ready for what they got. But I could be wrong.

YakAttack

August 26th, 2011 at 3:50 PM ^

and we lucked out, but are getting crazy rain right now. I leave to come back to Michigan tomorrow, and will be avoiding I-95 as much as possible.

YakAttack

August 26th, 2011 at 3:50 PM ^

and we lucked out, but are getting crazy rain right now. I leave to come back to Michigan tomorrow, and will be avoiding I-95 as much as possible.

jservoss

August 26th, 2011 at 3:52 PM ^

I live in Wilmington, NC and our house is approximately 5 miles from the Atlantic.  We've decided to stay and wait out the storm.  Local forecasts are predicting steady winds from 50-70 mph with gusts of 75+ and 5-7 inches of rain.  The worst of the storm should be from 1-3 am this morning.  As long as the hurricane continues on it's projected path we should be fine.  Counties north of us, closer to the Outer Banks, are going to take the brunt of it and will see wind speeds of 100+. 

Currently, the sky is cloudy, there is a light rain falling, and the Black Hatter in my hand is damn good. 

jservoss

August 26th, 2011 at 5:04 PM ^

Yeah, I'm not looking forward to taking the worst of this during the night.  The bathtub is full and we have plenty of food, water, beer, etc.   The local news just reported that it has lost some strength and will remain a category 2 until landfall.  Since my first post the wind has picked up and it's raining rather hard. 

EDIT: 5 o'clock news reported it as a category 1. 

LSAClassOf2000

August 26th, 2011 at 4:45 PM ^

We use a lot of contract overhead crews for larger project jobs, and virtually all of them are headed for the East Coast right now. If you live in the Detroit Edison service territory and I or someone else designed a larger job for you in the Ann Arbor area, well.....I'll let you know on Monday how screwed you are. 

Dantana

August 26th, 2011 at 5:46 PM ^

I pray all of our family and friends on the East Coast make it through this safe and sound.

That said, I am truly fascinated by hurricanes. The sheer size of Irene is incredible.