I can help but be thinking about you guys out east. Be safe.

Powers been flickering on and off here in SW CT. Blowing pretty hard on and off too!
Over esteemed Guvna has closed all the highways.

like thats going to help...

It's getting a little dicey here , rain and wind.. The wind is gusting over 50 , still out of the north. I live in Mystic, Ct. the Weather Ch. has a crew in town, not a good sign. Forcast is for the worst of it to be between 2 and 8 p.m. Wind might gust up to 90. At least we're only supposed to get 2-3 inches of rain.

Windy and wet in the Lehigh Valley region, gusts to 50 or so. No trees down yet and the power is still up. Tomorrow will tell the tale.

I am west of D.C. wtih heavy winds and blowing rain. Just hope to have power in the morning. If I lose power I am going to lock
myself in my reloading room with a battery lantern.

Doc

Was really, really nasty here this afternoon.

Rain has slowed up, but wind is still howling.

Doc:

Looks like DC, Baltimore area really got clobbered.

What is your situation?

Wind driven rain and too much wind for my end of Biz as a FF'er...and yes, I drew the short straw and I am on duty for a 24! Non-stop...this too shall pass.

I have a sister in DC and she says rain and 60+ mph winds and intermittent power outages. Got an update from her about 20 minutes ago.

Ditto...also a friend in NY near the water now offline...hoping for the best!

Central PA is OK. Wind has been worse than the rain. Still have power...obviously so I am browsing auctions looking for that perfect 99. Daughter on CT coast seems fine, nephew in NYC says no electricity. Southeast PA and Jersey shore seem to have taken the brunt. Son in southcentral PA has been doing OK. The firefighters, emergency responders, police, power company line people etc. are going to have their hands full. Keep them in your prayers. We are not used to this hurricane stuff. There are guys here for electrical problems from as far away as Texas. Amazing preparedness.

Hope all are safe, And that we will here from some of the guys soon, here in Southern, Michigan, cold windy and raining!

Wind 30 mph gusting to 40 mph, raining off and on... and snowing as well... temperatures at 34�F at 8:08 AM... big, fat snow flakes that won't stick to the ground because the ground is still too warm, but it's building up on the tops and hoods of cars that are sitting out in the weather.

Winds of 30 mph gusting to as much as 50 mph predicted for SW Ohio this afternoon... and there's talk of "power outages" which I doubt will happen. This must be a pretty big storm as we're inland maybe 800 miles and we're seeing big winds and heavy rain from time-to-time, but nothing like they're getting in the east.

I'm glad I've got a gasoline powered generator now... needed it just a few months ago when we got 80 mph winds with a big storm... lotsa trees were downed, too.

Good luck to y'all in the east and along the coast... batten down the hatches and have a "brew" or two.


Strength & Honor...

Ron T.

An 8 yr. old boy was killed yesterday in NE Pa. by a falling tree branch while outside with his dad. Tragedy can be only a step away-Be safe!

Power out at 8pm last night. Rain and wind blew like a banshee. Still raining, wind down to almost nothing. Tidal flooding everywhere- downtown Annapolis especially. None of the huge trees around the house came down, but last night they were dancing like those giant hot air-filled puppets they set up outside of car lots and shopping centers. I'm not afraid to admit to being spooked by it all! I'm gonna camp out here at the college where there is electricity, showers, and a dining hall.

Got through here just fine, only about 3 inches of rain in the gauge and never lost power. Windy, but no worse than a winter nor'easter. My daughter is further east, she was without power for about 12 hours.

Ron, I saw a radar shot on the news this morning, the storm extended from New Jersey to the middle of Indiana!

Dale

Still reading by candle light here. Off to bed at 9:30, up at dawn. Unintended consequence of post-hurricane power outage: getting more sleep than I had been!

No power at the house yet. My wife called to let me know the utility thinks maybe 4 PM today.

I lost power at 3:15 monday afternoon, got it back at 6 last evening, internet restored this a.m. Put 43 hours on my generator. No damage here, trees down all around. The Shoreline took a big hit. I'm 3 miles inland so no flooding.

Had the pole in front of my house snap in half from a falling tree across the street. Ripped the electric service off the side of my house and my neighbors. I got the service back up, but still no utility crews to hook it up and replace the pole. Happened last Monday night. May not get fixed till Tuesday. Generators getting a lot of work!

Wonder how TomT out on Long Island is faring... hasn't posted for a few weeks.

The two Mikes both live on Long Island also! Mike and his other brother Mikey! hope all are well!

I talked to one of my guys in Ronkonkoma, LI today. Not good. Very little gasoline, no power and not likely to come back any time soon. Very tough times for those folks.

squeeler (Ed) is out there too.

Hi all! Thanks for thinking of me Bert, I hope you and your family are well.

I too hope "the Mike's" are well!

I'm fine thanks, and I feel very lucky as other than high winds, and losing power, my family and friends came out of Sandy ok. Much of Long Island is without power as high winds took down trees which in turn took out power lines. I've had my house rigged to a 7,000 Watt genny with changeover switch for about 6 years, so as long as I feed it about 7 gallons of gas a day, I have pretty much full use of my house.

People of the Jersey shore, Rockaway NY, Long Beach NY and the Fire Island seashore were hit the hardest as far as I can tell, but as the pictures below show, even my town (Seaford, about 35 miles East of Manhattan) got hit pretty hard. I pulled my boat out of it's slip last Friday and put it on it's trailer parked in my side yard, so my vessel is undamaged. These pics. are of my marina (Blue Water Yacht Club, in Merrick NY. about 4 miles South West of my home), and while not complete devastation, as I've seen in News reports of other beachfront areas, it certainly is shocking to me to walk around and see boats tossed about like toys (some 40' plus). The photo of the dock on the sidewalk is 3 city blocks North of where the bay usually ends. The storm surge was incredible.

Oh, I just heard from the Mrs., that our power company (LIPA) said we SHOULD be back on grid by 11/07/12...... Good thing I stocked up on gas BEFORE the hurricane, I won't wait on line for 4 hours to fill a vehicle or gas can.

I wish you all a safe weekend, and a good upcoming hunting season. I would normally be in the Catskills bow hunting this time of year, but my wife (understandably) wants me around. I hope to get in the stand next weekend
for a few days of bow hunting before rifle season starts later in the month.

PICS (Merrick NY, taken on 11/01/12:







Lastly, the Marina entrance. We had to park 4 blocks away, walked to this point and didn't feel it was safe to walk further, as there were boats and dock parts scattered about:



I DIDN'T take pictures of all the residents returning to flooded homes, and hauling bay/saltwater soaked beds, and other furniture to the street for obvious reasons. It was a very sad walk. I still can't believe how LARGE the path of that storm was. I haven't read much about the Fire Island barrier Island, but since I DID hear: "the Ocean met the Bay".....never good on a barrier Island, I'm assuming it's BAD. I feel VERY LUCKY! -TomT

Sounds like a real mess. Glad you came through it as well as you did. I can't really imagine how that would be...

Tom,

good to hear you and yours are well considering the circumstances. Sounds like you were prepared like a good boy scout.

Hopefully, the Mike and Mikey will chime in with similar reports.

Thanks for sharing the experience first hand. Your pictures reminds me of my days photographing the Great Hanshin Earthwake of 94 centered off Awaji.

Fare well.

It's getting very ugly around N.Y.C. people fighting over gas, food is in short supply. I'm surprised they haven't been syphoning fuel from the boats. My boat is holding 100 gallons, that's what I had planned to use in an emergency.