Is everybody in Sandy's way ok?  It seems to be taking on monumental proportions. I'm actually pretty worried about CB.

Who else is in the way?

Fine so far, obviously I still have power. New Jersey looks to be taking the brunt of things esp with flooding. I know Lady K lives there but I don't recall if she's near the shoreline. 

Sandy is passing over my corner of southeastern PA right now. A few inches of rain so far, but the wind is the bigger problem at 30-40 MPH now and predicted to increase to 60 MPH tonight. Fortunately the worst should be over in the next few hours or so. Nasty, but not too bad compared to the coast. Hopefully Lady K is doing fine, I believe she is near the NJ coast.

Sandy is getting plenty of coverage on Aussie TV right now.  Seems we're going to watch it live.  I find the images of all those lovely wooden houses flooded in Conneticut rather sad.  We saw last year how devastating it is when a city gets flooded.  As for those houses that are built right on the beach.... astonishing.   Very hard for me to grasp just how big this storm is.  Feel very sorry for everyone who is trapped in airports and school, bored and without the home comforts.

Take care everyone.

yikes, those hurricanes do look terrible, i hope everyone is ok.

for once i'm glad i live on this side of the atlantic ocean, we never get hit by such powerful storms or any kind of horrid weather.

I'm just a little bit curious why this hurricane gets so much airtime though? Is it because it hits major cities or are those nor'easters much more dangerous or are the peeps on the atlantic side just a bunch of pussies? ]

From watching my news today, I think the reason this storm is particularly dramatic is because of its size.  It is affecting 50-60 million people as well as flooding New York.  Also the hurricane Sandy has joined up with two ordinary storms and combined with a full moon which will give New York a king tide, they are expecting the storm surge to overrun their barriers, so the water damage will be extensive and one imagines, infrastructure damage will be severe and widespread.

So it's a mega storm, really.  Kinda like the plot to that movie The Day After.   I think the disruption to the voting in the election is probably not what people are thinking about right now.

And yes, I'm so glad I don't live in an area prone to this kind of storm.  I just hope all those fancy houses with verandahs supported on big beams of wood driven into the beach which look so idyllic on a calm sunny day, have strong enough foundations for this. 

Originally Posted By markornikov (29 OCT 2012 4:54pm)

yikes, those hurricanes do look terrible, i hope everyone is ok.

for once i'm glad i live on this side of the atlantic ocean, we never get hit by such powerful storms or any kind of horrid weather.

 

I'm just a little bit curious why this hurricane gets so much airtime though? Is it because it hits major cities or are those nor'easters much more dangerous or are the peeps on the atlantic side just a bunch of pussies? ]

They called it a Frankenstorm, Superstorm, and last but not least The Storm of the Century not to be seen again in anyone's lifespan. Unlike Irene whereas I lost communication with the outside world early on I agree totally, the coverage and drivel on all the local news networks just went on and on. Thanks to video streaming I didn't miss the current Y&R episode as I ate dinner. As for the devestational coastal flooding of properties between the CT shoreline and Long Island Sound all I can say is that property owners hope they kept up with the insurance premiums.

Phew, i was rather worried about CB and Ivinia  (I was in Connecticut last i knew).  Glad to see you're ok CB, and you, Andromus.

Oh, LadyK is also on the east coast somewhere, eh? Oh NJ?  Yes, they've been very hard hit.  I think all their power lines are down, so she won't be able to check in, i don't think.  Just hope she's ok.

It's totally halting (and damaging) the economy in the areas that are hit (And New York is a big city).  People cannot go outside for fear of being killed by flying objects, schools and universities have been closed for days now, most businesses are closed; nobody dares to go out--it's like being heavily bombed for a few days on end.  The wind blows down power lines so there tend to be major power outages, and floods can completely destroy  (what the wind doesn't destroy first) cars, houses, streets and other infrastuctre.

To give you an idea- if you are driving along in your car and the flood sweeps over you, you can die while trapped in your car.  Complete trees are uprooted and flung around- i just heard of a young boy going outside to look and got killed by a tree.

I barely slept last night for all the wind. we live fairly closteto Lake erie so it can get really windy and it did. We only lost electricity for a minute, otheres here have been out for hours. Ivinia only lives about 15 minutes from me so Im sure its pretty much the same where he is.

 I know there are telephone poles down in a few places my hubby saw on his way to work, I'll see what its like when I leave here shortly. But Im so thankful we have nothing compared to those on the east coast. I  hope things dont get much worse for them.

I hope Lady K is okay.

Shane, who's in Massachusetts, got whacked pretty good, but he and his family are okay. He says it's the worst weather he's ever been through.

Our dear Randy lives in Pittsburgh. I sure hope he's okay.

I've written to Lady K. If/when I hear anything back I'll post it here, although I figure she's likely without power. Even if she has power, I'm sure answering email isn't a priority, which is as it should be.

As a hurricane veteran, I can tell you that the way things played out with this storm is truly bizarre. It turned into a post-tropical monster, close to 1,000 miles in diameter. It's the largest Atlantic storm on record.

That truly boggles my mind.  Talk about nature on a rampage. The damage is going to be astronomical.

I feel so badly for anyone who has felt  -- or, as it's not over yet, will feel -- the wrath of this terrible storm. I'm happy to hear that the folks who have posted about it here are okay. I'll be holding good thoughts for everyone else...

Thanks Karla. Being on the eastern side of the storm we were told to expect a long duration of 40-50 MPH sustained winds with gusts of up to 80 MPH. I thought those numbers were probably on the high side based on what I observed but unbelievably though, the power never went out. The major factor among others that surpressed wind damage was that the leaves were mostly down, quite unlike Irene which roared through in late August against a barrier of full foliage.

Things are bad too in NYC as I see videos of what is left of the aftermath of Sandy. Hopefully we might also get some news from tincup as well.

Glad you came thru it okay CB.

 Im in Ohio but we still got hit pretty hard, we were lucky and only lost power for a minute but there are still alot of people here without it and the majority of schools are closed again today, I just got called off of work for the 2nd day in a row due to no electricity. They hope to have it fixed by the weekend.

 Hope we will hear from others soon and they are all safe.

Thanks for checking in, all who posted -glad to hear you're ok, and thanks for the news re Ivinia, Helen.  So is it now just LadyK and Tincup we should be worried about? 

Ivinia could be without electricity, that I cant be sure about.

One thing we do know about Ivinia - he won't be holed up alone. 

I just discovered that I have LadyK's phone number. I don't even remember her giving it to me. Senior moment, anyone?

Anyway, I tried calling her and got voice mail. I left a message that we're all concerned about her, hope she and her family are okay, and for her to get in touch when she can.

I wish I had more definite news, but it's better than nothing.

My wife just sent me this from Facebook

Nice to see people are willing to help one another out.

power back here in my section of lower Manahattan 4:45am. Didn't mind the candles and flashlights but missed my computer and internet... Im a walker so getting around on foot was no problem. But I had no cell reception [T-Mobile in my neighborhood was bad] and had to hike 20 blocks north just to get a signal. Everyone is pulling together and the spirt of 'we are in this together' abounds in the face of such a calamity. The coastal dwellers took it very hard... heart goes out to all those on Staten Island, and the Brooklyn/Queens barrier islands lacking power, heat, fresh water OR A HOME... and to the Jersey folk swept up in this too...

Financial analysts on our TV are saying that we'll all feel the financial effects of the damage bill via the insurance companies but that the local economies will receive a boost from all the construction work and rebuilding that will go on.  No consolation for those mouring the loss of loved ones.

Where is Lady K.?  Hope she's okay.........  Let us know.

I sent LadyK an email and left her a voice mail message, but I haven't heard anything back.

Originally Posted By Traveller (30 OCT 2012 2:42am)

 The wind blows down power lines so there tend to be major power outages...

Power lines down... that's to be expected. Ancient infrastructure and all that.

So why don't the US of A have UNDERGROUND power lines, like every sensible nation in the Western world has?  Great Britain excluded of course.  One little storm and 5 million British households live by candlelight.

Don't ask me...I just live here...

When we arrived in Australia we were astonished to find that the power wasn't undergrounded as it had been where I lived in England.  We'd never seen suburban streets bestrewn with overhead power lines before and were repulsed at how ugly it was.  Then they started putting them underground and transformed all the main roads but the suburban streets still have them over the trees.  As everyone has trees on the pavements the lines aren't really visible but they can cause fires in certain rural districts where the fire load is high.

I imagine the American cities grew so quickly that the infrastructure couldn't keep up and now the cost is prohibitive.