Hurricane Survival Thread 2012

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/5wWRL.jpg)

Still no power here, but apparently crews are working on our circuit right now. We've had hot water for showers thanks to our wood / oil hybrid heating system, but our freezers are in danger of heating up too much. Also, I miss my computer and Netflix.
Edit: And we just got power! Hurrah!

My sister called to let me know that she is staying at a hotel because she is out of power in her new house out in the boonies of north Bucks County. I told her to get a Generac if she is going to continue living in the back of beyond.

Last night my town got hit with a possible microburst. I had to look that up because I did not know what one was.

http://www.boston.com/metrodesk/2012...

Was pretty intense but only lasted about 10 mins. No damage from what I saw on my property, but most of the town was without power.

Microbursts are scary. It's like a mini hurricane shows up out of nowhere.

My town, Arlington, was hit by one a couple months ago: http://arlington.patch.com/articles/complete-coverage-of-the-east-arlington-microburst#photo-10703497

Furtivespy wrote:

Microbursts are scary. It's like a mini hurricane shows up out of nowhere.

My town, Arlington, was hit by one a couple months ago: http://arlington.patch.com/articles/complete-coverage-of-the-east-arlington-microburst#photo-10703497

It was crazy driving through there right after. A buddy missed having his brand-new car crushed by a tree by about 10'.

Good news video of some of the damage

http://www.wcvb.com/news/local/bosto...

Probably will be typos but here we go:

I'm back online only through spotty cell phone service and still without power.

Monday night was the scariest night of my life. It wasnt so bad at the start. First thing to go was a piece of my gutter. Then an hour later the power went out around 8pm. The house started shaking and the windows felt like they were pushing in a bit. Around 9 the flashing on one of my windows flew off.

Then around 11 the storm got at its worse. The house started shaking more and all of a sudden I hear a loud bang and we looked out the window and saw our siding flying down the street and there was nothing we could do about it. For a good two hours we felt helpless worried that more of our house would disappear as the 90 mph wind gusts hit the side of my house. Somehow we fell asleep around 2 am as the storm died down and I woke up at 6:30 to pick up the pieces of my siding. Thank god they put the vynel siding over the original siding and I found out that morning. I have the insurance company coming whenever they can and already got an estimate for new siding.

Right now we are powing our fridge through a power inverter that is attached to my car battery. Cell phone service is spotty at best and there is no heat in the house. We have hot water though.

This is the craziest week of my life.

We may go to my parents house in Carroll Gardens Brooklyn once the street lights work here.

Glad to hear you're doing mostly OK, man. SI and LI got absolutely blasted.

Glad you're ok Tempest!

TempestBlayze wrote:

Probably will be typos but here we go:

I'm back online only through spotty cell phone service and still without power.

Monday night was the scariest night of my life. It wasnt so bad at the start. First thing to go was a piece of my gutter. Then an hour later the power went out around 8pm. The house started shaking and the windows felt like they were pushing in a bit. Around 9 the flashing on one of my windows flew off.

Then around 11 the storm got at its worse. The house started shaking more and all of a sudden I hear a loud bang and we looked out the window and saw our siding flying down the street and there was nothing we could do about it. For a good two hours we felt helpless worried that more of our house would disappear as the 90 mph wind gusts hit the side of my house. Somehow we fell asleep around 2 am as the storm died down and I woke up at 6:30 to pick up the pieces of my siding. Thank god they put the vynel siding over the original siding and I found out that morning. I have the insurance company coming whenever they can and already got an estimate for new siding.

Right now we are powing our fridge through a power inverter that is attached to my car battery. Cell phone service is spotty at best and there is no heat in the house. We have hot water though.

This is the craziest week of my life.

We may go to my parents house in Carroll Gardens Brooklyn once the street lights work here.

Goodness, Tempest. Glad you're all OK.

If insurance will cover it, you might consider stepping up from vinyl to concrete fiber siding (such as Hardiplank), which is a bit stronger -- and it's known for impact and fire resistance.

Damn, I'm glad you guys are okay.

We've retreated to the wife's family in Michigan, since we were without power and it's not likely to come on any time soon. Office in Hoboken is closed. School is closed. We were coming here for a baby shower this weekend anyway... Our neighborhood looked like one of those bombs they use at tree level went off. One of my daughter's classmates had a tree fall on his house, poking through into his bedroom. Nobody was hurt thankfully, somehow. Glad to be somewhere with power and wifi. Scary times in NJ.

Is there anything you guys (or any Goodjer impacted by the storm) need? Can we do a chip-in to help with repair costs, or send you food/stuff to help get through the next few weeks?

...

[size=70]POWER!!!!!![/size]

I have been so humbled by this week. I took power for granted so many times but I think I now have a greater appreciation for what I have. Times like this really make us take a step back and appreciate the privileges we take advantage of everyday. I hope everyone that's been hit by this gets their power back quickly and wish those who lost their homes and belongings a speedy recovery.

There was no better sound than the beeps from my phones and I never thought I would be so happy to see the blinking 12:00 all over the house. The power worked for 10 minutes at first then turned off and I was severely disappointed. Then it came back on.
I couldn't sleep a wink because I literally felt like I did when I was a kid waiting to open my present son Christmas morning and thinking of all the things I want to do now that I have power.

Man it feels good. Now we help out the rest of the family and neighbors still without power.

Congrats! That's awesome! I'm glad to be here, warm and lit in Michigan, but part of me wants to be home when power is restored to put the house to rights.

Tempest, glad to hear you're all okay. Funny how good previously for-granted things feel after they go away for a while. I was positively giddy to make it onto the F train this morning and make it to work in semi-normal fashion, I wanted to run around and high five my co-workers when I got here.

Got back from my parents' "upstate" last night. They lost power Monday afternoon, and still don't have it. My apartment has been spared. Absurddoctor has been at work in the Financial District since Sunday, and will most likely stay there until "all this is over."

Here's a picture that is reportedly from Hoboken, NJ:
IMAGE(https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/21660_10151538518371729_388970390_n.jpg)

I've been at work for two days now; we've got power at home and at work, but 2/3rds of New Rochelle is without power. Many traffic lights are unlit on the road here, including ones at major intersections.

Colbert last night said the audience was just there to charge their phones and take showers in the bathrooms.

TheHipGamer wrote:

Is there anything you guys (or any Goodjer impacted by the storm) need? Can we do a chip-in to help with repair costs, or send you food/stuff to help get through the next few weeks?

The Bear Clan seconds this notion. Please feel free to send me a pm if you have no wish to ask in an open forum

Furtivespy wrote:

Microbursts are scary. It's like a mini hurricane shows up out of nowhere.

My town, Arlington, was hit by one a couple months ago: http://arlington.patch.com/articles/complete-coverage-of-the-east-arlington-microburst#photo-10703497

I was outdoors playing Frisbee in Lexington when that happened. I remember the weather being particularly crazy and didn't think to look into it. I had no idea the wind was that strong.

So that's what a microburst is! I saw an alert on my phone and wasn't sure what the weather service was talking about.

Kiri wrote:
TheHipGamer wrote:

Is there anything you guys (or any Goodjer impacted by the storm) need? Can we do a chip-in to help with repair costs, or send you food/stuff to help get through the next few weeks?

The Bear Clan seconds this notion. Please feel free to send me a pm if you have no wish to ask in an open forum :)

I third it as well! Glad to hear you're ok Tempest!

Microbursts are wild, quite a few plane crashes at take off and landing since the 80s have been linked to them.

If you really want to help you need to drive a tanker full of gas -- Road Warrior style -- into the heart of Jersey (preferably around the Glen Ridge area). The stories I'm hearing from my neighbors are rough. They do need another hero.

shoptroll wrote:

So that's what a microburst is! I saw an alert on my phone and wasn't sure what the weather service was talking about.

Kiri wrote:
TheHipGamer wrote:

Is there anything you guys (or any Goodjer impacted by the storm) need? Can we do a chip-in to help with repair costs, or send you food/stuff to help get through the next few weeks?

The Bear Clan seconds this notion. Please feel free to send me a pm if you have no wish to ask in an open forum :)

I third it as well! Glad to hear you're ok Tempest!

Man... hurricanes, microbursts, tornados... this used to be such a nice neighborhood!

sometimesdee wrote:

Got back from my parents' "upstate" last night. They lost power Monday afternoon, and still don't have it. My apartment has been spared. Absurddoctor has been at work in the Financial District since Sunday, and will most likely stay there until "all this is over."

Here's a picture that is reportedly from Hoboken, NJ:
IMAGE(https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/21660_10151538518371729_388970390_n.jpg)

That is one of the coolest, geekiest good Samaritan gestures I've ever seen.

Glad to hear people are generally doing OK. I kept seeing pictures and videos of the crazy stuff happening and just kept thinking of Goodjers. My girlfriend and I visited New York City about a year and a half ago, I can't imagine how many things are different now from when we were there. I hope everyone's OK. There's little I can do from up here unfortunately but I wish there was.

lostlobster wrote:

If you really want to help you need to drive a tanker full of gas -- Road Warrior style -- into the heart of Jersey (preferably around the Glen Ridge area). The stories I'm hearing from my neighbors are rough. They do need another hero.

Which I find curious as the price in South Jersey and South Eastern PA is the lowest it has been in over a month.

Good to see people aren't price gouging. But it's more about availability than anything. People standing in lines for hours to get gas for their generators, only to have the stations run out before they get there.