Hurricane: Prayers, PD, & Good Thoughts to MD, NJ, NY, VA, SC, & NC DISers

[Joshua_me]

Really? Wow, our local ShopRite had tape X's all over their front windows this afternoon. Newbie mistake I guess.

^ Yes putting tape on windows is just a myth, that just makes things worse.

It's so ODD having us Floridians having you N.E. folks what to do....

In short, if you haven't stocked up on water and bread and canned tuna and such....It's TOO late, now. Stay "hunkered down" in your homes/apartments.

If your apartment is above the 10th floor, STAY AWAY from the windows !!! Draw the blinds, and get everyone into a central area of your building: A hallway, an interior bathroom, etc. I don't mean to scare you, but pull the mattresses off of your bed and prepare to hide under them for what may be several hours. Flying shards of glass are your worst enemy..

Hopefully by now you have some bottled water and a radio to listen to... It's going to be a long night/day.

Please, RESIST the temptation to leave your hallway/bathroom to "have a look around". There will be time for that later....

PLEASE follow these instructions !

I know it's a real, um, "witch", but I survived hurricane Andrew of '92, and the utter devastation is beyond words...

A portable dvd player with some Disney movies on it can make all the difference in the world. And while you may not have one this time, engage the children in some favorite Disney songs: "Just a Spoonful of Sugar", Whistle While Work". Hakuna Matana", etc...

I'm just trying to help, here....

PLEASE be SAFE, everyone !

 

[safetymom]

^ Yes putting tape on windows is just a myth, that just makes things worse.

It's so ODD having us Floridians having you N.E. folks what to do....

In short, if you haven't stocked up on water and bread and canned tuna and such....It's TOO late, now. Stay "hunkered down" in your homes/apartments.

If your apartment is above the 10th floor, STAY AWAY from the windows !!! Draw the blinds, and get everyone into a central area of your building: A hallway, an interior bathroom, etc. I don't mean to scare you, but pull the mattresses off of your bed and prepare to hide under them for what may be several hours. Flying shards of glass are your worst enemy..

Hopefully by now you have some bottled water and a radio to listen to... It's going to be a long night/day.

Please, RESIST the temptation to leave your hallway/bathroom to "have a look around". There will be time for that later....

PLEASE follow these instructions !

I know it's a real, um, "witch", but I survived hurricane Andrew of '92, and the utter devastation is beyond words...

A portable dvd player with some Disney movies on it can make all the difference in the world. And while you may not have one this time, engage the children in some favorite Disney songs: "Just a Spoonful of Sugar", Whistle While Work". Hakuna Matana", etc...

I'm just trying to help, here....

PLEASE be SAFE, everyone !

I agree with you. That is why the bathroom makes a great situation room. We had no windows.

It seems so strange to watch the NE go through this hurricane. I had the TV on all night with the coverage. Stay safe everyone!

 

[Cherinva]

Va Beach checking in.....all we have now is some wind....most of the area is out of power....oddly my immediate neighborhood DOES have power..we are on the hospital grid

Be safe everyone up North...praying for you

 

[njprincess601]

I'm at school in Virginia and we're all good here but my family lives in Millburn, NJ and they've lost power and almost the whole town is flooded. Our high school was being used as a shelter but even they had to evacuate because it flooded. I'm watching the coverage on The Weather Channel and Twitter because I can't get in touch with them to see what's going on.

 

[kaligal]

I think I love Chris Christie.

"It's 4:30. You have maximized your tan. Get off the beach."

"Get the hell off the beach."

There really wasn't much worry at that point - no reason to leave the beach, but still...

He's funny.

I'm glad the storm has been getting weaker, hope that continues and that all stay well.

 

[kat3668]

Winds really kicking up here in Mass.... We have'nt lost power yet but expect to any time now. Its been 20 years since we had to deal with one of these and I think I'm getting too old for this stuff!!! Stay safe everyone only
13 more days till I'm in Disney!!


GO AWAY IRENE!!!!

 

[wdwscout]

Amazingly- we made it through the night with power ON!
A couple of flickers around 10pm. Never fully went out.
Then the tornado warnings started. The tornado watch is still in effect, but the warnings scared me. Tornado on the ground about 50 miles south of me and another one in Delaware (Lewes). DS's girlfriend was calling telling him to get to the basement. She was in the tub with pillows in her house. So DS and I slept in the basement. DH stayed upstairs.

The wind never got as bad as Isabelle or Floyd- but I'm not sure we're done with the wind yet. The rain is a bit lighter at the moment. 6" so far (predicted 5-10").
All the trees are still standing in our yard and the neighbors that I can see.

Now we await the flooding and closed roads.

My sister in lower Delaware made it through the night with power as well.

I forced my parents to leave the NJ shore. They went to Harrisburg, PA on Friday and were doing well- there's a casino there! This morning Dad called and THEY have no power!! Who knew??? They're on the 3rd floor and really can't handle stairs very well. I can hear in his voice he thinks he should have stayed home. But that was way too risky.
I told them to hang tight- do NOT think it's time to drive back home. Hopefully they'll stay put.

NYC is bracing now. The "hurricane" is breaking apart, but high tide and the storm surge could be heavy.

Hope most everyone else fared well.

 

[Maddykins06]

Ditto wdwscout.
Currently in Glassboro: no rain, still super windy, still have power (knock on wood).

Got ZERO sleep due to tornado warnings & my own anxiety.

THANK YOU to all who offered advice on how to prepare!
Sending positive thoughts to those experiencing Irene now & later today.

 

[Applemomma]

Few bands of showers reaching us in Nova Scotia now but still very, very calm wind wise. I don't think we'll get any heavy wind until overnight and we're on the side of the storm that gets more wind then rain which is a good thing as we've had such a wet summer flooding could be a big issue in places.

After the storm passes through NYC it will be interesting to see what damage was done.

Anyone see those seniors on CNN in New Jersey (I think) that were refusing to leave their retirement home? They had a point but still .....wonder how they fared?

 

[auroralark]

The rain was really intense last night and I barely slept, but so far so good - we still have power. But there's still a lot of this storm to go. Stay inside and stay safe everyone!

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

Looks like we completely dodged it in Manhattan. It rained lightly all night, almost no wind.Local news is reporting it is "hitting" Brooklyn and Queens, but friends there say it doesn't look bad.

 

[TheWho]

Not much sleep last night. I heard a crack around 2am and it was a neighbors tree that missed houses (thank god, only hit fences and swing sets).
It still is rainy very hard, everyone watching the storm surge on lower Manhattan now.

I hope you folks in South Jersey are safe.

Good luck New England. You'll be fine.

 

[ninecrayons]

We made it through the night with power, just lots of wind and rain. We went out to walk the dogs about an hour ago. The wind was pretty fierce, but there are only bits of branches and such, no trees down. We still have power.

I think the storm hit further out - a friend about 30 minutes away on Long Island has been without power since last night.

How else have people on Long Island been doing?

 

[WaltD4Me]

Glad to wake up to "not so bad" now Tropical Storm Irene. I was kind of afraid to turn the TV on. They are actually showing people out on the beach in Long Brach New Jersey and New York seems to have survived. Anybody hear from Nikki and DisneySteve in NJ?

 

[dixiegirl]

Here is Eagleville, PA (suburbs of Philadelphia) we lost power for about 12 hours. We heard the transformer go around 8pm last night.

Lots of rain and wind - doesn't seem to be much damage other than the localized flooding which we all expected.

DH and I were very lucky - no water in basement, no damage. Hope everyone stays safe as Irene continues her way thru the states.

 

[mjaclyn]

Yay! We still have power! I didn't get much sleep last night because the sound of pounding wind and rain was scary. I thought for sure we'd end up with a tree through our roof. Still raining here and very windy...I can see some flooding already on parts of my street, but definitely not as bad as we had thought initially. I hope everyone can continue to stay safe and get through this storm!

Also.. I just read that Irene had been downgraded to a tropical storm once it hit New York. I'm glad to hear that because I have friends and family in the city and was really worried about what might happen to all the high buildings with the wind.

 

[njprincess601]

We made it through the night with power, just lots of wind and rain. We went out to walk the dogs about an hour ago. The wind was pretty fierce, but there are only bits of branches and such, no trees down. We still have power.

I think the storm hit further out - a friend about 30 minutes away on Long Island has been without power since last night.

How else have people on Long Island been doing?

Our friends are at their house in Bridgehampton and they got hit really bad. The bay is overflowing onto streets and 2 trees in their front yard fell, bringing power lines with them. The pictures they sent look awful.

 

[Cherinva]

I hope everyone up North is ok. We fared well here...there was some damage, but the news said that all data is not in yet. I had a BIG tree branch break and fall, but it's stuck in the tree...not sure yet how we are going to get it down....lots of leaves and twigs in the pool and on the deck...power went out twice, but came right back on....still a lot of people without power in various cities in the area.

Irene wasn't as bad as orginally predicted and that's a good thing.

Be safe everyone.

 

[ninecrayons]

Local reports say that we should see sunshine by 1pm. Weird! Still a bit of wind here - no rain though. Went out for a bit and everything is closed. Went next door to see my parents and they have a bit of water in their basement - really just seepage.

Rumour has it we will not have trains/buses back until some point on Monday. Dad works for the power co and is already slated for overtime.

 

[WebmasterAlex]

It looks like the North Carolina landfall really spared New York and vicinity from what could have been. The eye was never really able to get itself back together after that.