I wouldn’t say I am hitting the panic button yet , but having gone through Sandy a couple of years ago, I am feeling a bit jittery about this storm. We have business locations ( 5 ) that would need to be cleared out in a hurry to protect our inventory…watching the news very closely here in southern coastal NJ
With 5 business locations you need a regular plan in place. Get one.
Sending all possible good thoughts your way, lje62! We are merely worried about a flooded basement again (plus all the other hurricane stuff)–I know with your stores, it must be a horrendous stress.
and yeah, overall , we are watching the forecasts very closely. 
It’s not supposed to be bad up here in Maine.
Another NJ resident watching regularly. Dan Skeldon ( local weather hero) has facebook account, and doing regular video weather reports. He is still on the fence for us, Lje62, garland and others, along mid atlantic.
That western Euro path may be right. lje62 5 stores wow.
I would keep an eye on it, but right now there is no way to know where it will go, there is a cold front moving into the East coast that can change the dynamics of it, and the models are all over the place. I plan on doing some things early, like having gas for the generator that backs up my sump pump in case power dies, want to have some tarps on hand, will stock up on some non perishable food if we need to over the rest of the week. We probably won’t know until Friday or Saturday which way it is going to likely track.
@gouf…easier said than done as we learned ( as did thousands who were impacted by Sandy )
The locations operate in a seasonal , tourist area. With the seasonality , comes a skeleton crew past Labor Day . Many of us business owners found out the hard way that insurance didn’t cover losses , unless the location was owned by the occupant. We couldn’t get flood insurance on place we leased.
Many homeowners and also tenants who rented were devastated because of damages.
We only lease one location at this point and we had to do major renovations that were modified post Sandy for one location that is a very old structure. It would mostly be inventory that would have to be hauled out in a hurry , but prep time could be hindered just because pre-storm rain is predicted to be excessive up and down the coast.
We are in a known flood zone in one location , but all are vulnerable.
@lje62 - Given your off-season skeleton crew, are there friends and family you can line up now to help if it comes to that? Hiring local teens/college kids? I think having a list of folks you can count on and a thought out strategy and checklist in place would allow me to sleep better if I were in your shoes.
Thankfully we are near the top of a hill though our storm drains in the street are not completely trustworthy. We have a sump pump so we’re okay until the electricity goes out. We have some battery back up, but it won’t last forever. Sandy did not get us at all, but some other storms have let some water into the basement. We don’t have much on the floor at the moment except a lot of weights and rubber matting.
It looks like we’re one models direct hit. Our generator works, I just got gas I my car and we keep small bills in the house. Last big storm we needed 1’s to buy ice and other things. We live in a waterfront area and already the water level is super high, to the level of the docks when it’s usually several feet below that. We have a boat on a lift that we’ll need to also tie down.
Depending on the storm we’d just close down the business for the day. I have drivers I wouldn’t want on the roads or bridges. The managers don’t make that decision until the last minute.
We lose power enough around here we’ve become pros. We keep our cars in our garage as well.
Stay safe, my east coast friends!
I’m not as concerned for DH and I here in CT, but S2 lives in DC and could be in the path of the hurricane. He just moved to a new townhouse, so I’ll have to remind him to locate his flashlight and be sure he has batteries. I’d hate for him to trip over things or fall down stairs since he’s not all that familiar with the layout yet.
Shellfell, your comment reminds me of when Sandy was still debating its path, I asked my son (who lived in Philadelphia at the time) if he had a flashlight with fresh batteries. He replied that he had his cell phone!! Thankfully, he didn’t lose power!
PHG- I had one of those for Sandy, too. In Manhattan. “Water? Batteries? Me? I think there is probably a flashlight here. I can always do my grad school work in Starbucks.” Never had seen a big hurricane. 100 year storm was quite abstract at the time.
My colleague with an outdoor Friday evening wedding planned is getting a little stressed…
I just came home from a working vacation in Virginia Beach. As I came through Ocean City MD. they were announcing a lot of festival events that are already cancelled and urging folk to get emergency kits.
I was tempted to stay in Virginia to watch the storm (had ocean front hotel room) but alas I have a funeral tomorrow.
They’re talking about moving the UMich vs MD game. Now that’s serious!!!
Wow. Stay safe, everyone!
Hearing about it here in Florida- weatherman last night warned people the Bahamas were not the place to be this weekend. better go watch for updates now…