What hurricane preparedness actions are needed up the East Coast?

<p>We are 10 miles inland, but cat 2 winds could cause some problems. The folks on barrier islands along our coast, can be seriously impacted.
Thank you for concern, zoosermom- I just packed up most of deck plants, which are now being viewed as “projectile missiles” …</p>

<p>We’re in Staten Island, so the mayor is already talking about evacuation.</p>

<p>Ugh. Aunt and Uncle live in OCMD. As of today, they have no plans to evacuate. :mad:</p>

<p>Atlantic City casino operators aren’t going to like having to close for Hurricane Irene. Maybe Donald Trump can pull some strings and do something about the hurricane?</p>

<p>^ There’s, what, half a million people on Staten Island?</p>

<p>Is evacuation even realistically possible at this point?</p>

<p>Notrichenough, they don’t evacuate the whole Island. Just the low-lying areas. Particularly since many of those don’t have sewers and flood in a shower.</p>

<p>Major sympathies to all of you. As one who has had kids deal with the impact of Katrina, Gustav, Rita, etc (one of their schools calls it a “hurrication” when they get evacuated) and one who got evacuated within a week of move-in his freshman year, I feel your pain. Anyone up there want to check on my fathers house when all is said and done? Pretty please?</p>

<p>BTW, this is my favorite storm tracker website (courtesy of a cc’er from FL). Be sure to put the forecast models on to see the projected paths [Track</a> Tropical Depression Ten, Track Hurricane Irene / Stormpulse / Hurricanes, severe weather, tracking, mapping](<a href=“http://www.stormpulse.com/]Track”>http://www.stormpulse.com/)</p>

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Where is your dad’s house again? (I know that I’ve known this but have forgotten)</p>

<p>Northern 'burbs</p>

<p>NJ Gov already declared state of emergency & may issue evacuation orders for some areas. Cape May, LBI, Northern Ocean county and Sandy Hook are highest risk in my opinion. However, rt 35 & Deal Road flooded on Sunday with just 4-5" of rain. Not going to be pretty at the Shore this weekend.</p>

<p>jym, when hurricane Frances came through my part of the state, we were without power for over a week at my home. My office had power in 3-4 days. At the time, I was earning a little extra money doing case reviews for the state Medicaid program. It was done online. When I got to the office (after trees were moved, bridges were opened, etc) I called them to tell then I was OK and to explain why I had not signed in in days. The secretary told me she had not heard from her elderly mom and was worried. Turns out, she lived on the barrier island in a mobile home retirement community only 20 min from me. I got her name and address, and drove up to check on her. It was the next county north, and they had police checks to get onto the barrier island. No one except emergency personnel and residents. I showed my hospital badge, and explained my mission. They let me through. I found her mom. No power or phone service in the neighborhood, no cell phone signal. But she was fine. She invited me in, we had a great visit. I drove back to the mainland, got a cell signal, and let her daughter know. It was a good day all the way around. I got to see the scary devastation on the island, had a great tea and cookie visit, and was able to reassure family. I remember the visit to this day.</p>

<p>Wow- very compelling and heart-warming story, sunnyflorida.</p>

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<p>I’m also in PEPCO land (the first P stands for “pathetic”). Isobel was a 6-day power-free adventure for my family. </p>

<p>I expect to spend much of the weekend eating cold canned soup and crackers and reading by flashlight. The power will almost certainly conk out the moment the storm hits.</p>

<p>But what particularly irks me is that our equally inept telephone company (Verizon) has not fixed our landline, which has been out for more than a week, and cannot guarantee that they will get to it before August 31. And I have no car charger for my cell phone and cannot obtain one (the phone is too old a model, according to – you guessed it – Verizon). So I may lose my only means of communication with the outside world.</p>

<p>Oh, well, at least when a hurricane is over, it’s over – once they get the tree limbs off the streets and deal with the downed power lines. Snowstorms are worse.</p>

<p>Beautiful story Sunnyflorida !</p>

<p>H & I from PEPCO land - they have become quite inept in recent years. Last summer my mom & SIL were without electricity for a week after the July storms. Mom just ate tuna and made salads every night from daily purchases from the grocery store. At least in the summer, heating is not the issue it was last winter when she lost power for several days. Then she just piled the bed with blankets before going to bed and spent most of the day at the library or mall.</p>

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<p>Good for your mom!</p>

<p>I mostly just go to McDonalds, which somehow always seems to have power. I also spend more time than necessary at work.</p>

<p>Hurricanes Connie and Diane in 1955 caused huge flooding in CT and wiped out whole sections of many towns along the rivers. Judging from the damage those left behind, I would guess they were MUCH worse than Bob or Gloria.</p>

<p>We’re prepared. We have wind up lanterns and flashlights, and a coleman stove. AND LOTS of bottled water…LOTS. No grocery shopping for things that need to be refrigerated this week…we’ll use what we have until next week.</p>

<p>Making sure D1 has her flashlight packed. I’m not a huge bottled water person, but I might buy a case at the store tomorrow and leave a few bottles with her Saturday.</p>

<p>When we lived in the Midwest we were without power for 1+ week one summer due to a huge storm taking out the feeder line to our small street. We grilled all the meat in our freezer and stayed late at work and went to the gym for showers every morning. This was BC (before children), so it would be a bit different now, but my guys spent 12 days in Philmont this summer, so I’m sure we would survive!</p>

<p>I remember standing in line at a NYC deli back in '84 when people were getting ready for Hurricane Gloria. They were buying beer.</p>

<p>Where we live now, we never flood, and we only lost power once in the 15 years we’ve been there. But you never know…</p>