you didnt add Moose to your list...everyone needs a moose during a hurricane....sheesh

 

I live in fl , i have been though both sides of the eye wall a few times with a cat III , its not fun , but you will be ok , just be prepared for it , time to man up ....

 

I rode through the perfect storm in 1991 on a 270' Coast Guard cutter. Talk about manning up.

 

I can't imagine being in a boat during that...

 

The worst place for ANY size boat in a storm is in the harbor. That's when they get wrecked...

The classic navy strategy is to have all assets make knots for deep water well in advance and ride it out at sea.

 

Exactly and ships that are left pierside during a storm are typically ballasted down to varying degrees and have extra storm lines mooring them tighter to the pier.

 

.....Wow , yeah thats manning up ...

 

Well, after postponing my homecoming for a day to allow the hurricane to pass by, I finally made it home. We stayed in Charleston Friday night and Saturday, left around 0830 this morning. We saw several convoys of what looked like 'service trucks' equipped to help with the clean up. I saw a few of them heading east on I10 Friday. I figured they would head north on I95 and try to time their arrival so they wouldn't have to deal directly with the storm, just the aftermath. Or they could have been going somewhere else, entirely.

We left Charleston (Goose Creek, to be more precise) this morning and got to Va Beach about 4pm. We saw a lot of downed trees along the side of the road throughout the day, but not the carnage we expected, which is great news. We stopped for a bathroom break just prior to getting into Virginia, only to find the store closed for lack of electricity. So we crossed our legs and drove a little farther to a station that had power, but not the ability to turn on the pumps remotely. The line inside the store was long, and the line of cars waiting to fill up was tremendous. Good thing I had filled up in South Carolina, and we had enough fuel to get all the way home, if necessary. We only hit one spot on I64, just outside Va Beach, where the traffic really slowed down, but it only delayed us a few minutes.

I was alittle apprehensive pulling onto our street. I had been in contact with some friends that already had power, and one hadn't ever lost power, so my hopes were hi. I left Virginia while this hurricane was just a tropical depression, so I made no preparations for a hurricane. The street just before ours seemed unharmed, without even a tree down that I could see. Shingles were right where they were supposed to be, the sun was shining, it was actually kind of hot outside. I pulled into my driveway and handed the keys to the wife. "Here, unlock the doors, I'm walking the perimeter to see if there's any damage." I examined the house but found no damage on the front. My roof was intact and the siding was still there. "Good thing I mowed the grass before we left." It really needs mowing, which I plan on doing tomorrow. I entered the backyard and this is what I found:

 

Guess I'm gonna have to replace that fence now. I've been putting it off for way too long, anyway. All's well that ends well.

BTW, anyone that can ride a little tiny bathtub toy into a storm gets a big heap of respect from me. You Coasties are crazy!!

 

Glad to hear there was minimal damage Stu. And glad you all are safe and sound.

 

Glad to see you back safe and sound Stu.

I'm finally back on line after 36 hours with no power, phones, cable or internet.

I lost my above ground pool. It has significant side wall damage and the liner is punctured in numerous places from falling branches.

I lost some individual tabs from my roof shingles, a deck railing was damaged slightly and 2 small pieces of vinyl are loose at the seem corner.

All in all no biggy. No significant flooding here or in my neighborhood. I ran Genny straight for the entire 36 hours and finally shut her down for good at 0330 this morning.

I had all the comforts of home except a/c and I even ran my neighbors frigde for him. That little 5600 (8K surge rating) genny did a great job and she only burned about a tank and 3/4 totaling 7-8 gallons.

As for vehicular preparation, I backed the Focus on to the side year and drove her front up on ramps and plugged her tail pipe. The Expy and F-150 were driven up on to the driveway and lawn and all was fine with them.

Anyway, we have power and all other services now and I'm getting ready to head to see my insurance agent.

I trust everyone else is safe and sound and dutifully recovering from nature's blast.

 

I didn't lose power, although plenty of people around me did. No significant structural damage to my home (none, actually), a lot of small branches and leaf-clusters down in my yard (two days of cleanup) and no flooding for me.

Near the shore, LOTS of flooding, many people without power in the Lindenhurst, lots of trees down all over, but again, nothing for me. I lucked out.

 

It sounds like a lot of people lucked out. Then again, with all the hysterical weather reporting (or so some have claimed- I think they did a great job) over the last few days, people seemed to be well prepared for the worst. Better to be well prepared and not need to be than to be un-prepared and regret it.

 

I watched everything on many different channels, and made my own judgements based on stuff from the NOAA website.

Nothing was "hysterical" in my opinion. At least, not here in New York

It wasn't "as bad" as many said it "might be". But when the 'cane is 2-3 days off, you need to prepare, and 2-3 days in 'cane prediction is pretty far off.

So I don't blame anyone. The only ones I currently have a problem with is the idiots saying "they blew it out of proportion". That fans the flames of not believing it next time, and the resulting deaths. Sigh...

 

The folks in Vermont probably think the forecasters did a lousy job.