First of all... Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone in Sandy's destructive path... that normally would include us, as we live in northern Connecticut, but my husband and I are now actually in Palm Beach, Florida... hubby is attending a 3-day business conference at the Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach (wish we could stay there! We're in a less expen$ive hotel nearby).
It is SO strange to be in Florida while this hurricane hits our area in the northeast... we've been watching the hurricane on TV (mostly Fox News). I hope our house makes it - we have a lot of big, tall oak trees hovering over our house... *sigh*
Just called our land line at home - the answering machine didn't pick up, so I assume there is no power in our part of CT. After the storm we will check in with neighbors to try to find out the status of our property.
We drove from CT to VA on Friday (stayed one night near Quantico, Virginia) and managed to avoid Hurricane Sandy. We arrived in Florida on Sunday. Saw some black, angry skies off the coast of North Carolina on Saturday, drove through rain drops for about 20 minutes, then the skies brightened up in SC and Georgia. We pretty much passed Sandy like two ships in the night.
On Saturday and Sunday we passed armies of tree service bucket trucks roaring north up I-95... from Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. Those trucks were a very familiar site for us last year in CT, as we were without power for 5 days during Tropical Storm Irene in August, and we had no power for 8 days after our very damaging late October 2011 freak "snow-icane".
Although it's been sunny and nice here in Palm Beach since we arrived, on Sunday the Atlantic Ocean in Florida was still feeling the effects of Sandy as it moved from the Carribbean up past the east coast of Florida. The Breakers' Hotel beach had disappeared, and the surf was POUNDING the shoreline - and the old hotel itself. Surf was crashing up onto the hotel property... several palm trees and a wooden dock (now broken and mangled) are casualties of Hurricane Sandy at the Breakers. Everyone on Sunday was standing at the ocean's edge completely mesmerized at the violent ocean... amazing spectacle.
Saw some worried-looking hotel managers wandering around the property, and there were "ocean rescue" crews keeping hotel guests behind barricades. Sand bags were piled up in front of some of the glass doors and windows... employees of the hotel told me they've never seen anything like this.
Several employees told me that normally the ocean is like a turquiose blue "pond". On Sunday the sea there was an angry putrid green color and was crashing against the shore, buildings, palm trees, anything in its path. Sand, shells and small rocks have landed on the hotel's stone balcony/boardwalk. There was wet sand all over the place.
On the political junkie side... we've been enjoying watching the TV ads in the swing states of Virginia and Florida... Romney and Republican candidates for the House and Senate have been running some great commercials. Lots of very good ads for Romney and Rep. Allen West ran during the World Series last night.
In Connecticut - other than the nasty US Senate race between WWE Exec Linda McMahon (R) and Rep. Chris Murphy (D), you'd never even know a presidential race was going on.
It is SO refreshing for us to see so many pro-GOP lawn signs, bumper stickers and great conservative *billboards* from below-the-Beltway Virginia, on south to Florida. Finally had my very first Chick-fil-A meal in Pooler, Georgia (it was great!).
Oops... lights just went out in Fox News' NYC studio (aww, Shemp Smith is in the dark). Looks like things are really getting nasty in the northeast...
Stay safe everyone... I hope and pray none of us suffers any loss of life or property.
Might be helpful. I am surrounded by 90-100% outages, and yet still have power (thankfully).
http://outage.cl-p.com/outage/outagemap.aspx
Glad you are safe, nutmeg dear! :)
Enjoy the vacation :^)
Hey Nutmeg, thanks for the ‘off scene’ report on this disaster. Positive vibes up for the protection and survival of your personal property. Hopefully, you’ll be able to contact your neighbors to get an update of the immediate damage, soon.
Prayers up that your home is safe. Have a safe trip home.
Welcome to the Sunshine state! Hubby and I were ready to FREEP Obama in Orlndo this morning, but we cancled since only Clinton was to appear.