Irene, Goodnight Irene, Irene Goodnight

[Lantyssa]

Fallout 3: NYC -- Surly Edition

[Chimpy]

We need a running commentary from Surly with pictures of the upper 1% and their antics I think.

[Surlyboi]

If it gets weirder, totally. I still may run out and get some more provisions before the weather turns really bad.

[JWIV]

Of course, I'm kinda guilty too, 'cause I ran to three different coffee shops looking for espresso because I forgot to grab some yesterday and didn't realize we were out. Got some more batteries or the flashlights and the night vision goggles too. (In case shit gets really real)

I believe shit is real now

ChrisLicht All Starbucks closed in NYC. Now this is getting serious.

[Khaldun]

My maniac friend just knuckled under and cancelled tomorrow morning's tennis game. That's how I know things are getting real, since he once yelled at us all for not making it to the court during one of those big snowstorms last winter. I didn't have the heart to tell him yesterday that none of the people who actually unlock the building are gonna be there anyway.

[fuser]

People need to learn-up and get a bit more 'nautical' with this particular storm.  Pay no mind to the category, windspeed, etc.   What you NEED to be mindful of is the shear SIZE of the storm and the surge potential.  This storm has very close the same surge potential as Katrina did...  lemme say that again, this storm has very close the same surge potential as Katrina did (kat was 5.1 and this is 4.9 I believe, out of 6.0).  Okay.  Now that you understand that.

Going back to Ghambit's point its crazy watching a live stream on the surge you can see it going up feet every few mins

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/hurricanetrack-com

[Ghambit]

People need to learn-up and get a bit more 'nautical' with this particular storm.  Pay no mind to the category, windspeed, etc.   What you NEED to be mindful of is the shear SIZE of the storm and the surge potential.  This storm has very close the same surge potential as Katrina did...  lemme say that again, this storm has very close the same surge potential as Katrina did (kat was 5.1 and this is 4.9 I believe, out of 6.0).  Okay.  Now that you understand that.

Going back to Ghambit's point its crazy watching a live stream on the surge you can see it going up feet every few mins

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/hurricanetrack-com

Main difference though is Katrina blew her wad in one shot, all over the redneck riviera.  This storm is taking pot shots up the NE, so the overall energy is a bit dispersed... especially since the Cape Hatteras landshield did its job.   

I got nervous a few days ago when a few of the models had the high building back in and shoving the storm back west after it crossed Hatteras offshore.  THAT would've been disastrous.

Anyways, /personalupdate:
-Still havent heard from my dumbarse sister who decided to ride it out at her beachhouse on MarshHarbour 
-I'm chillin in D.C. right now on the boat.  Much of the beltway region is blacked-out.  Meesa has generator though, and so does CLEAR Wireless it seems.  Man, lack of regional power is good for pings and bw I tell ya.   

[Tale]

Hurricane-related light relief from Damn You Auto Correct

[Lantyssa]

Anyways, /personalupdate:
-Still havent heard from my dumbarse sister who decided to ride it out at her beachhouse on MarshHarbour 

[Khaldun]

Still have power, to my surprise. Just to our east, apparently, there's a big area without power. I could see the transformers blowing around 10:30 last night, which might apparently have been a small tornado touching down--radar picked up multiple tornado signatures right around our town. Tons of small tree debris down in our yard, but no big branches. I can see a pretty sizeable branch down about three houses away, but it just looks like it fell into his yard and didn't damage anything. Every river and creek is flooding, most of them heading for possible record crests later today or tonight, apparently. All and all, not too bad. The tornado warnings were a bit nerve-wracking and there was one point where the winds were gusting pretty intensely before midnight. Closer to the coast sounds like it was pretty hairy in spots. Saw some substantial damage last night on TV in Lewes Delaware.

[01101010]

Still have power, to my surprise. Just to our east, apparently, there's a big area without power. I could see the transformers blowing around 10:30 last night, which might apparently have been a small tornado touching down--radar picked up multiple tornado signatures right around our town. Tons of small tree debris down in our yard, but no big branches. I can see a pretty sizeable branch down about three houses away, but it just looks like it fell into his yard and didn't damage anything. Every river and creek is flooding, most of them heading for possible record crests later today or tonight, apparently. All and all, not too bad. The tornado warnings were a bit nerve-wracking and there was one point where the winds were gusting pretty intensely before midnight. Closer to the coast sounds like it was pretty hairy in spots. Saw some substantial damage last night on TV in Lewes Delaware.

That is the one thing that really sticks out in the memory: the noise. The constant wind blowing for hours - makes it very hard to sleep because unlike white noise, this is a random flux of noises... that and the idea that your window might blow out.

[Paelos]

I'm glad that Irene didn't murder the East Coast.

[Sky]

Thing is carrying a lot of water. Wind isn't bad here, but it's been constantly raining all morning. Looks like I get to spend this evening wetvac'ing the basement. They're saying 30mph sustained winds with 45mph gusting, but I'm not seeing it here. I can hear a light wind, maybe 15mph in the treetops, but the woods are breaking the lower winds pretty good.

We saw the first streamers of clouds rolling in last night at an outdoor burger joint at sunset, really nice show. Amazing how massive the storm is.

[Surlyboi]

Swing and a miss over here, looks like. A ton of rain and some minor flooding, but it looks and sounds like the worst has definitely passed.

[Rendakor]

We got a lot of wind and rain here in southern NJ, with a tornado touching down in the next town over. Nothing major visible from home, although I haven't left the house yet because I know the access road out of my neighborhood is flooded.

[Morat20]

Friend of mine works for the power company down here -- the company that does the lines and transformers, not generates power.

He was part of a mile+ long convoy that left for the NE day before yesterday, I think. He posted on facebook seeing at least one other convoy like that.

One of the few benefits of hurricanes is prep time. You can start moving assets -- and at least these guys didn't have to drive through the hurricane to get to it.

One of the reasons it took so long to restore power after Ike (some people in Houston took two weeks or more) was that half or more the linesmen they brought in had to turn around after half a day and head back, because Ike was fucking up shit from Texas to Ohio and further north. And all the guys they brought in were from states north of Texas -- right along Ike's eventual path.

[Numtini]

Here on Cape Cod, it didn't even rain. We have some wind, but not even what you'd expect from a good storm in the winter. So far, we had a couple of flickers and a 2 minute outage, but electric seems stable, though work 7 miles from here is down.

It's actually pretty nice. The wind is pleasantly cool and for the first time in weeks we have a quiet house because we don't have fans running 24/7.

[Ghambit]

By the third landfall Irene basically petered out into a rainmaker.  STILL a close call for NYC though (another foot or two of surge and it'd be a different story), and NJ and DE look like they got hit pretty hard specifically with flooding... which is still getting worse.

News crews seem out of position to report the real news stories, since the swath is so wide.  If I had a camera I'd be in Beaufort, Norfolk, and the rivers of NJ (where people are currently being airlifted from flooding).  Its like they think they're on fuckin vacation or something...  hanging out in Times Square, Newport, etc.  Seriously?  Do your goddamned job and get out there where the REAL people live and do some reporting!

Local webstreams are kicking cable news' ass.  As usual for this type of thing.

[Paelos]

I'm shocked. You mean the weather channel was overreacting? I don't believe it. 

[Khaldun]

You know, if it hadn't lost some punch just before NC landfall--something that not even the NHC was predicting, in fact, they were predicting possible strengthening at that time--it really might have been a different story. As it is, I went for a drive this afternoon and there are flooded areas all around, trees down on the road, power outages.

[Ghambit]

I'm shocked. You mean the weather channel was overreacting? I don't believe it.  

It's not an overreaction, just a misplaced one.  They spend all their energy focusing on the large media markets instead of the places that actually get effected.
Much of Cape Hatteras right now is effectively no more (even those historic dunes have been washed out); and what's left has to be re-charted.  Do you see much coverage?  Nope.  Or rather, you see it JUST now.

I get more news from my Jersey friends on FB than cable news.  And many of them are whining that they're flooded in.
And what pisses me off more than anything else is that the entire NE is under a state of emergency, yet TV stations play commercials every 5 minutes.  If things are so dire why am I staring at Viagra commercials?

This is why we all loved Japanese and Arab news.  'Cause when shit hits the fan they dont hide behind "American Idol" promos.

[Paelos]

I'm glad nobody was really hurt by this, but you can't spin it as anything more than a bunch of media sites freaking the fuck out over water damage.

Preparedness is one thing, that wasn't what we got out of them. We got HOLY FUCK HIDE YOUR CHILDREN!



That and I was right, so I'm gonna be a smug ass about it. 

[luckton]

This was a Russian Roulette hurricane.  Good chance you weren't actually going to get fucked, but if you did, you got fucked hard. 

I still say the media was justified for getting everyone prepared...better to be ready for a Cat 5 and get a Tropical Storm than expect a depression and end up dead.

And now we go back to the political scene, where I'm sure the GOP will hold recovery money hostage in exchange for more bullshit 

[Merusk]

It wiped out the Dunes?  Fuck, those were awesome and by far the best part about Hatteras.  I liked them even more than the lighthouse.

[Numtini]

The weather channel idiots overhyping stuff is eventually going to get someone killed because these things are dangerous. You prep for hurricanes when it's so early you might have a bright sunny day because by the time you know for certain it's going to hit you, it's too late.

[luckton]

I shit you not that I made a bet with a co-worker that there would be some idiot who'd walk outside during the storm and have mother nature drop a branch on him, much like a similar event here locally when Charlie came through.

I am now $50 richer   

[Ghambit]

This was a Russian Roulette hurricane.  Good chance you weren't actually going to get fucked, but if you did, you got fucked hard. 

I still say the media was justified for getting everyone prepared...better to be ready for a Cat 5 and get a Tropical Storm than expect a depression and end up dead.

And now we go back to the political scene, where I'm sure the GOP will hold recovery money hostage in exchange for more bullshit 

Yah, Russian roulette wherein half the chambers are loaded.  Literally, half the models had this staying offshore before slamming the NE. 

[Strazos]

I shit you not that I made a bet with a co-worker that there would be some idiot who'd walk outside during the storm and have mother nature drop a branch on him, much like a similar event here locally when Charlie came through.

I am now $50 richer   

Poor Taste...

[Khaldun]

I'm glad nobody was really hurt by this, but you can't spin it as anything more than a bunch of media sites freaking the fuck out over water damage.

Preparedness is one thing, that wasn't what we got out of them. We got HOLY FUCK HIDE YOUR CHILDREN!



That and I was right, so I'm gonna be a smug ass about it. 

You weren't right, unless you mean, "TV channel says stuff with hyperbole to make ratings". At which point, big deal, what's next, the sun is rising in the east tomorrow? If you mean, "I knew all along this wasn't going to be a big deal", it's a pretty noticeable deal to some people and it very plausibly could have been a much bigger deal than it was. I'd trade being overprepared for a plausibly worse scenario than underprepared for it, thanks, and not just for me but for everyone.

[Paelos]

Dude give it up. New Yorkers freaked out over nothing. Let it go.

The news folks are still trying to get us to understand how it's not NOT a big deal. So they are reporting how many people are out of power. Not a death toll, not homes destroyed, OUT OF POWER.

Man, the tornados in Alabama were worse than this. Let's all feel bad for New Yorkers being out of power! Oh there are floods! Our covered bridges got knocked around!

Please. Send your relief pity to Tuscaloosa.

[Abagadro]

Geez, you are sounding like a huge ass.  Death toll is going to be in the 20-40 range and billions in damages. This was not a non-event. It could have been worse, other weather has caused more deaths, but it was major storm.

[Tale]

Hurricane Irene covers Fox reporter Tucker Barnes in raw sewage.

He thought it was sea foam with "plankton or something". He ate some.

[Ingmar]

I'm shocked. You mean the weather channel was overreacting? I don't believe it. 

A matter of a few miles different on the trajectory and it doesn't hit the stuff that lowered the storm's energy, and no prediction is that accurate. Should always prepare for the worst case scenario.

[Sky]

Hurricane Irene covers Fox reporter Tucker Barnes in raw sewage.

He thought it was sea foam with "plankton or something". He ate some.

Fox delivers the awesome. Meme of the event.

[Sheepherder]

What happens when the natural gas gets cut off?

That's good for starters, where's your uncut timber pile?