<p>
Really? REALLY? The best thing would be if the storm continues to weaken and does not cause much damage. That said, it is HUGE (many hundreds of miles wide) and will soak the area with rain for quite a while, possibly as much as 24 hrs from start to finish.</p>
<p>^^^^^^I guess that could depend on where I-Dad lives.</p>
<p>My DD goes to school in Chapel Hill. Looking at the doppler and satellite views, it seems that they should be getting tons of rain at least. But the forecast I checked this am shows no rain at present and only a 30% chance of it. Kind of confusing.</p>
<p>EDIT: forecast changed to 60% chance of rain early, diminishing throughout the day.</p>
<p>Sure it depends where anyone lives. We have severe clear here.</p>
<p>^^^^^Here too. Sunny and 106 today and for the next week all triple digits. We need rain!</p>
<p>Be careful of computer generated “forecasts” such as those you pull up online and on a cellphone “weather” app. They are notoriously inaccurate during a hurricane. Better to visit the website or app of a local TV station in the area you are looking up for a more accurate forecast. Those are prepared by humans and are kept up to date, especially during a weather event.</p>
<p>I love my weather apps, but I also have the app for a TV station where D1 attends. The weather info is great. Some stations have their own weather app for their locale, and they are great with interactive maps and such.</p>
<p>^^^^Thanks, sunnyflorida, will do.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Well…the hurricane related weather isn’t supposed to start until about midnight tonight here (NW CT) but it has already rained enough today to soak in my fertilizer.</p>
<p>I’m in the “better safe than sorry” camp. We didn’t go out and buy a generator, but we did move all things not bolted down into the garage, and we have also frozen a ton of ice in case the power goes out. And we have NO PLANS to leave our house (unless it gets hit by a tree) until Monday morning.</p>
<p>Good advice Sunnyflorida! Our local weather is saying maybe the track is few miles to east- but they have upgraded the amount of rainfall, which is big issue in these parts. So you are right it’s a quickly evolving situation!</p>
<p>Hang in there. My experience is that it is never as bad as they say, but often worse than you hoped. My area experienced Frances and Jean. We were not devastated like they were with Katrina. But the damage was surreal. The signage down, the trees down, the defoliation, the church steeples down, the flooding. My home had little damage. But the experience of the heat and humidity over 11 days with no power was taxing (6 days with F and 5 with J). AND MY NEIGHBORHOOD HAS UNDERGROUND UTILITIES. Turns out, minor flooding can affect underground utilities as much as wind can affect poles and wires. And water and power issues affect the water supply and the sewer pump stations. UGH. I so hope this becomes a nonevent for NY and NE. But NC and VA are getting hammered now. And one just has to be prepared. I am surprised that outer bands are already affecting NY and NE with the eye still in NC. This is a large storm, so it will be unpredictable. And the potential for tornadoes exists as well.</p>
<p>It is really,really bad in eastern NC. Whole towns are flooded. Electricity is gone. Trees are down and it’s still blowin’ hard.</p>
<p>Our house there is on the Pamlico River. Our pier is normally three feet above the water. This morning the water is between four and five feet ABOVE the pier…water has risen 7-8 feet in the last eighteen hours.<br>
It’s devastating for everyone but esp. the rural poor area that is eastern NC.</p>
<p>We have underground utilities too…but that has NOTHING to do with where the transformers are located, often above ground. Also…if there are issues with the underground section…it takes a LOT longer to get them repaired. Our street has been without power for days longer than the main road it connects to (above ground utilities) simply because it took longer to FIND and FIX the underground issues.</p>
<p>NOAA has a feature up and running that automatically searches all the ocean buoy and other weather stations within “x” miles of the center of the hurricane. Right now, the peak wind gusts at the stations within 35 nautical miles are under 60 knots with sustained winds of 49 winds max.</p>
<p>I seriously doubt that anywhere from NYC north is going to see anything even close to hurricane force winds (sustained 73 mph).</p>
<p>Moved into the University of Delaware on Wednesday from California. On Thursday told to go home. That couldn’t happen. I’m camped out in my apartment with food supplies, water, and flashlights. The large tree next to my window is a bit worrying, but otherwise, I think I’m in pretty good shape. The university is keeping tabs on those of us stuck here. Might be a very long night.</p>
<p>I read in the Raleigh online newspaper that there is already one confirmed death inland (tree fell on a man) and another person “lost and unaccounted for” after falling into a river. I hope that is the extent of the mortality in NC.</p>
<p>We have underground too and have never had a problem. The only time we lose power is when it is outside our association. We’re off a main road and about four miles from the power company so we usually get restored quickly. The longest that we’ve been without power is about 1.5 days.</p>
<p>There is a traffic fatality as well in NC, and a surfing fatality. There now a confirmed report of a man who had a heart attack and died in NC while putting up shutters. <a href=“http://www.ncnn.com/edit-news/7205-three-deaths-now-linked-to-hurricane-irene[/url]”>http://www.ncnn.com/edit-news/7205-three-deaths-now-linked-to-hurricane-irene</a></p>
<p>^^^^Hadn’t heard about those and couldn’t find a link to the surfing death. I’m guess the surfing fatality occurred at a closed beach? If so, entirely preventable, and while still tragic, evidence of really foolish behavior.</p>
<p>Sorry, the surfing death was Virgina, not NC. And they are now saying it was a rip tide associated with the worsening conditions of Irene, but are not going to count it as an Irene fatality. <a href=“http://www2.timesdispatch.com/weather/2011/aug/27/4/drowning-surfer-linked-irene-ar-1268123/[/url]”>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/weather/2011/aug/27/4/drowning-surfer-linked-irene-ar-1268123/</a>. The Times-Dispatch corrected it’s headline, as up until an hour ago it read “Drowning of Surfer Linked to Irene.”</p>
<p>S in VA is hunkering down this weekend. He bought himself bottled water & just plans to stay put. He’s very glad he has sufficient food & water. He’s also glad he lives on the 4th floor and that his car is in a covered garage. Not much else he CAN do that he’s aware of. Don’t think he bought pop tarts OR beer. LOL #11!</p>
<p>Really irksome those idiots who endanger themselves (& potential rescue folks that are sometimes sent out to retrieve them) by ignoring warnings and deciding they want to surf or whatever they decide to do. Sometimes they end up dying and/or killing rescuers by their stupidity. Surfers who go out in spite of warnings would definitely fall in that category!</p>