NEPA: Please Prepare For Irene!!! (Philadelphia, Dallas: how much, house, buy)

[Jungle George]

She is 200 miles off our coast here & we're getting 40+mph winds & torrential rain. The consensus is that she's gonna track through the NE & I want to tell all y'all in NEPA to PLEASE prepare for her!!

I know you hear it on The Weather Channel & local news, but I can't stress it enough...be prepared!! This one may be more than NEPA's experienced in the past, & your infrastructure & homes are not built like ours down here!!

Canned (and/or non-perishable) food for a week, plenty of bottled water, enough meds to see you thru 2 weeks if you need, some cash, flashlights & batteries, fill the bathtub w/water to flush with, all important documents in a waterproof container, etc. We dodged the bullet here in Florida, but after going thru 5 hits, I have a bad feeling about this one!!

Better to be prepared & not need it than the opposite!!!

PLEASE KEEP MONITORING THIS ONE!!!!

[NEPA-x-pat]

It has been a while since I last visited CD. New job (same as my old one) so again have time to check in.

Taking this one pretty seriously. VA coast is right on path. Glad I had 5 trees cut down this spring. Getting my planetarium prepped. Covering electronics with lots of plastic.

Hoping the "orange" model is correct and it veers away. Most of the models have it over Outer Banks and through VA Beach.

[PA 1947]

Yea, i know, I ust bought a Generator to run my sump pumps, incase we lose power, I just hope no trees come down.

[Magritte25]

When is it supposed to hit the NE? Thanks for the post George.

[fisheye]

Looking at the forecast; I don’t think we are going to be pounded with hurricane force winds. I would not be surprise to see 30 to 60 mph winds. Yes, with rain soaked ground; that wind can bring down some trees. I think that our bigger problem will be local flooding. Some areas have already had significant rainfall. If we pick up five or more inches some rivers will break out their banks.

There could be a problem restoring any lost services; if the metropolitan coastline is hit hard. Our emergency crews would probably have to help out the worst hit areas. Philadelphia and NYC could get swamped.

This is just the opinion of an old local - I could be wrong. Most of the hurricanes, that I have seen, lost some of there punch by the time they made it this far inland. Although I barely survived the flood of 1955 with flood waters surrounding the house.

[Karen-P]

I lived in South FL when Andrew hit. Hurricanes are nothing to scoff at. Please do as Jungle George says...plus stop at the gas station and fill up all your vehicles, fill the propane tank for your grill, and extra gas cans for your lawn equipment (extra chain oil for your chain saw, etc.), and bring in all of your lawn furniture. They turn into flying projectiles that can damage your house or your neighbor's house.

[johnqpublic]

Im gonna run out and buy bread and milk.... oops.. no wait, thats snowflakes, not rain.... {just funnin ya JG, I know it can get serious...}

[fisheye]

johnqpublic,

One of the scariest aspects of this storm’s projected path are our fuel storage depots. It is supposed to come straight up the coast. Most of our fuel is located just a few feet above sea level in massive tank farms. If this storm surge water piles up in our major bays; it could swamp these depots. I have no idea how much strain that would put on the whole system? The cleanup could be enormous.

By the way; there are many developments, adjacent to the bays, that are only a few feet above sea level.

[frank754]

I think it won't be too bad here, but possible tropical force winds and up to 8 inches of rain according to predictions. Depends on the track. NYC has a lot bigger risk. Anyway, it seems, in my understanding, the Susquehanna takes a while to flood up, mostly from a buildup upstream, so hopefully even with all that rain here, the upstream rain will arrive much later to keep it on more of an even keel. Am I correct?

[meechi53]

This is not going to be good,

I've lived in FL, and Dallas, Tx which is 200 miles inland from the coast and it's been bad there. According to the computer models we will have 50-65 MPH SUSTAINED winds with gusts up to 80 for 6-8 hours. That could take off weak shingles on roofs, down trees, knock out power for at least a week, send debris flying into windows.. I hear too many people here saying "oh well we get blizzards it's the same" No, its not the same. I dont know how many people here are prepared for 1-2 weeks with no power. I don't think we'll be high on the restoration of power list if 1/3 of the state is out. It could be so bad in Philly that the airport might have 9 feet of storm surge from the river. This is nothing to take lightly.