Hurricane Isabel and ENWorlders

[orbitalfreak]

Pfft! You northerners!

I remember Hurricane Andrew from when I lived back in Florida...THAT was a serious hurricane...

Andrew. That was a heck of a storm. I still remember being without power, lying on a matress in the hall in the middle of the house. I recall that my grandfather, who has never shown even the slightest bit of worry about weather, looked down-right scared of Andrew.

We lost a few branches, but were too far inland to have much wind damage other than that. Not to mention that it had died down to about Cat 3 when it made landfall. I heard that out in the swamps, acres upon acres of trees were flattened, with only stands of the mightiest of the cypress trees still standing.

The eye of Andrew passed over us. That was one of the coolest weather experiences I've ever had. Everything was raging like a bat out of hell, and then, ... nothing.

Oh well, I'm still waiting for another storm to hit; we haven't had a good one in long time. A nice Cat 2, some strong winds, and lots of rain and lightning. That would be fun. (Hopefully we won't get a 4 or 5, though )

 

[Brother Shatterstone]

Although my favorite was a picture from the time of (Hurricane Hazel, I believe?) of a 2 x 4 shoved like a spear COMPLETELY through a 1-foot diameter palmetto tree.

[hijack]
All of my favorite weather pictures happened in tornados. (Quite a bit more wind) The chicken in the bottle (literally) and a straw of wheat threw solid iron...

The last tornado that rolled threw home, Kansas City MO, threw 4x4 threw the side of the house, threw the walls of the house, and out the other side...
[/hijack]

To those in the path of this storm I wish you the best of luck, and if you haven't gotten it yet, bottle water, can foods, and a can opener.

 

[Shallown]

Hand your In columbia...

Remind you to lay a beating on you next time I'm up.

Eveybody in Charleston SC let a huge sigh of relief out over the weekend as it strayed furthe rnorth. I wish it out to sea myself but I honestly prefer north of me than me. Somewhat selfish but honest.

Later

 

[Krieg]

Hurricane Hugo was a monster that I keenly remember. Many people have their "storm stories" - mine was watching a 50-year-old maple tree with shallow roots being ripped from the ground, and watching a friend clean out a Swimming Pool that was filled with his neighbor's storage shed.

Although my favorite was a picture from the time of (Hurricane Hazel, I believe?) of a 2 x 4 shoved like a spear COMPLETELY through a 1-foot diameter palmetto tree.

September 22, 1989 was the day I graduated from Boot Camp at Parris Island.

Needless to say we were the only Company EVER to not have a graduation ceremony during peacetime.

I still remember wading to the chow hall that morning through 2 feet of water (Parris Island is in fact an Island).

Of course I grew up in Xenia Ohio so I'm used to swirly winds!

 

[Tortoise]

My friends keep discussing whethar it will come up the Chesapeake Bay; I say it will my friends say it won't. If I am the right one, where I live Perry Hall Md could be a lot fun.

I'm with you, I think from looking at the updated projections that there's a very good chance it's coming right at us.

I live in Parkville (used to be in Towson), small world. We'll have to meet sometime. I throw gaming parties every few months. Email me at tortoise@comcast.net and I'll be sure to remind you of the next one (which may be in October).

Good luck weathering the storm.

 

[Renshai]

Tom, I'd be getting batteries and lots of water, you are going to be on the Northeast side of the storm.. the worst place to be. I'm from the upper Texas coast and have been through quite a few of em... My vacation got cut short this summer when Lily decided to completely erode the beach I was staying at...

Ren

 

[Djeta Thernadier]

I hope everyone's ok. Seriously, make sure you have some supplies ay least enough for a few days. And remember to get supplies for your pets too (extra pet food, in case you can't get out for a few days, power surge protecters for aquariums etc).

Today I walk into a meeting and end up sitting next to a friend I haven't talked to in a while. She's all giggly and says " Oh yay! I can't wait for the hurricane! It's gonna be party time..."
I reply " Well, you know, most people don't get excited and celebrate natural disasters but whatever floats your boat". People around me hear my response and slight laughter ensues.

Isabel is the name of this sweet, older woman from Brazil who is in charge of our copy and fax procedures at work. So it's kind of weird...everytime I hear "Isabel" I think of this woman, not of a huge menacing storm.

Then I realized, that Boston probably won't get more than tons of rain, which won't cancel work or leave any memories of hurricane-esque things like Hugo did, but will probably make commuting an hour to work on Friday morning much less fun than it already is...er....isn't....er....(it's late).

Take care everyone.

 

[Psion]

Well, I survived. But when a tree collapsed at about 7 last night, and there are a ton of trees closer to my house than the one that collapsed, I was pretty much freaked out for the evening.

Here's a look at my back yard:
http://users.starpower.net/adkohler/images/treesmall.jpg

Here is what's left of that big tree. Looks like the termites were at work:
http://users.starpower.net/adkohler/images/treesmall2.jpg

Here's the other tree that fell across the fence and the power lines:
http://users.starpower.net/adkohler/images/treesmall3.jpg

Both trees brushed up against the shed in my back yard, but somehow it survived.

 

[Rel]

My sympathies go out to those northward who are still getting smacked around by Isabel.

As for me, I could now walk from the roof of my house to the roof of my shed without touching the ground, thanks to the pine tree that now forms a "natural bridge" over my deck. But it could have been a lot worse. A much smaller oak tree valiantly threw itself in the path of the falling pine tree and slowed it down enough that it didn't smash a hole in my roof. Lucky for me that whole conniferous vs. deciduous feud is still raging in my yard.

Also, where the tree fell was about 2 feet to the left of my kitchen skylight. If it had hit it, I'd have had water pouring into my kitchen all afternoon and night yesterday.

Most importantly, my wife and child are safe and that's all that was ever really important anyway (I also put my gaming stuff in a safe place high on a shelf away from any possible flooding ).

 

[Henry]

Nice to know you had your priorities in order, Rel (Gaming stuff, then house. )

Did the Raleigh area overall sustain significant damage? I never heard on the news just how close the triangle was to the storm.