FReeper Storm Check-in (vanity)

9-19-03 | me

[netmilsmom]

Through the week, many of us heard of FReepers who were in the path of Isabel. I personally know Gabz, Corin Stormhands and Consitution Day were in the area. I thought it would be a good idea if we had a thread to ask if someone is ok and let them check in. Prayers to our FRiends in harms way. Thanks!

[NCjim]

House and pier at Emerald Isle both OK - we were very lucky this time!

Now heading out to the yard here in Raleigh to begin clean-up...

[NCjim]

Are you anywhere near Mt. Airy, MD? I was wondering how they fared up there...

[NCjim]

Wow! He is braver than I would be... my FIL used to ride out the storms in the house on EI unless they were cat 3 or better. If the house in AB is one of the older ones they are built to withstand the wind. Ours on EI has hurricane rods and I still would not want to test them out in person!

[Sandy]

Checking in. Everything's perfect at my home. Not even a mess in our yard or in the neighborhood (in Apex). Power never went out for more than a minute. Family and friends are all ok too. Happy and relieved here.

[sitetest]

Dear Slip18,

Here in southern Anne Arundel County, to the west of Annapollis, we are an oasis of calm (and electricity) in a desert of floods, power failures, and impassable roads.

Truthfully, out here the storm wasn't all that bad. We had modest winds (perhaps 20 - 25 mph) most of the night, gusts to perhaps 50 mph, and moderate rain. A few broken branches, not much more on my property. In the neighborhood, there are a few small trees which had been recently planted which fell over, some more broken branches. Leaves and parts of leaves everywhere, especially on my windows, the side of my house, the deck, etc.

We were prepared with a generator to keep the refrigerator, the deep freezer, and (most importantly!) the sump pump going. With enough juice left over to turn on the coffee maker, or the electric skillet. Tested the whole contraption out on Wednesday, but didn't need it.

We're on well water, so when we lose electricity, we have no running water. I'd eventually like to hook that up to a standby generator, but it isn't as easy. So, we filled the bathtubs and had on hand 27 gallons of bottled water for drinking.

We briefly lost power for 15 to 40 seconds at a time perhaps about 15 times from Thursday afternoon till after 1 am this morning.

Today, it's been mostly cloudy and breezy.

To our "right", Annapolis flooded a bit, but not too bad, to our "left", Bowie seems to have taken it hard - my friends there have no power (along with about 60% of Montgomery, Prince Georges Counties, and Washington, DC). Above us, Baltimore took it on the chin, as other posters have related. Below is Southern Maryland, which seemed to be hard hit on the water, but otherwise seems to have survived with a bit of grace.

From our perspective, this wasn't a bad storm, at all. We've had stronger winds, harder rain, rain lasting longer, more damage, long-term loss of power.

Yes, there is some damage, some flooding, and a few deaths and injuries (though it seems some or most of the deaths can be attributed to gross stupidity on the part of the deceased), but Sunday, we were being warned that a Category 4 or 5 hurricane might just march right up the Chesapeake Bay.

In which case, we would have bugged out and seen if we could get some reservations at the Greenbrier in W Va. We'd always wanted to visit there, and I told my family this might prove to be the time to do it. But I told them, we might not find our house in the same place when we got back.

So, all in all, we are appreciative of the relatively more mild nature of the storm, especially for us.


sitetest

[Slip18]

That is so great. You have got to be loving this day.

[Slip18]

Thanks for checking in, Sandy. I'm glad you did.

So far we only have damage to homes, trees down, littered yards, but no injuries whatsoever. Someone up there was watching out for us.

[Movemout]

We just got our power back. Lots of downed tree; there will be a lot of cleaning up to do. Not many people killed. Mainly everything is just wet.

[Slip18]

I would have opted for the Greenbrier. I've never been there. Xsmommy has been there quite a few times, but she's left town for a while because she had no electricity.

I'm so glad you're safe. Thanks for checking in. We all are kind of one big family here.

Your report was excellent, BTW!

[Vinnie]

Aren't you in the Keys?

[Slip18]

Not a single injury from the folks on FR so far.

Thanks for checking in.

[Slip18]

We still haven't heard for you guys yet.

[Dog]

I'm fine Slip.....rough night.......but fine.

[abner]

Still no power here. I imagine the house is the same. Just checking in again. Bored stiff here at work with nothing to do since I have no power. I would make a lousy pioneer.

[Slip18]

Get some rest if you can, Dog. It must have been horrendous for you.

[Dog]

LOL!

[southernnorthcarolina]

We're still waiting for you two to check in.

I B here.

I'm in Union County, near Charlotte, so of course Isabel wasn't a factor here. But I have family and friends in Swan Quarter, which was affected. Swan Quarter is the seat of Hyde County, on the mainland (Ocracoke, which is linked to Swan Quarter by ferry is also in Hyde). They received the worst of the winds, or something close to the worst; the center of the eye passed just to their west, and I think they were actually in the eye briefly. Certainly they were hit by the wind in the northeastern quadrant of the eyewall, which is the most severe part.

No injuries down there that I'm aware of, but then communications are still pretty much out. Wind damage was generally not so bad, because the county is either open farming country (soybeans, corn, vegetables, winter wheat) or forestland (pines mostly, either as State/National forests, or commercial tree farms), but with few exceptions, folks don't have trees near their houses -- they know better than to do that from past experience.

The bad news was that there was some tidal flooding. Some folks had a couple of feet of water in their yards, and a couple of inches in their homes, briefly. The biggest concern, though, is over possible salt contamination of the farmland. Part of the flood was brackish water from the bay, part was fresh water from the Pamlico River, and part was rain. The early guess seems to be that it won't be too bad for next year's crops, but they'll find that out later. This year's crops were pretty much already a bust due to the wet growing season, but most of what was in the ground was lost, I imagine.

Not nearly as bad as Floyd, agriculterally speaking. But not a lot of fun, either.

[Slip18]

Oh, I doubt you'd make a lousy pioneer, Abner. Electricity still not working? Man alive, I couldn't handle that for more than a couple of hours here.

Is it at least cool there? Do you get to wear a sweater? LOL!

[Slip18]

Hopefully, our farmlands will make it through this. So far everyone here are doing great. Maybe breaking their backs getting things back to normal.

I've heard the Chesapeake Bay had the worst flooding. They apparently are still not powered up. Have you heard anything?

So glad you're okay.

You gave another great report. Thank you.

[NautiNurse]

Just south of St. Pete.