Is everyone OK?

[MLeeK]

We're all fine here. It wasn't bad. We've got some raging rivers where small creeks were, but otherwise it's been pretty mild for us. They could take our kids back to school. I have no desire to have 3 bored teenagers here. Think I'll go find a community service project for them. They'll think twice before wishing for a snow day again!

I had to turn the news off... It really bothers me to see the newscasters calling this "The Storm Of The Century."
REALLY? because it hit NYC a bit hard it's now eclipsed the damage from Katrina? I find that to be downright offensive. Many of those people will never recover from the losses of Katrina in my lifetime. They were horrific, wide spread and devastated a good quarter of the country. But the NYC subway and wall street are flooded so to hell with Katrina, this is THE ONE...

a$$holes

Sorry. Venting... Now back to our regularly scheduled program!
I pray all of you weathered it as beautifully as we did!

 

[mishele]

All good here!! The power flickered a bunch between 10-12 but never lost it completely. As far as damage, all we have is a tree down and we hated the damn thing..lol So, thanks Sandy!! I hope to hear that everyone else is ok!!

 

[Scuba]

Glad to hear you are ok! I have heard from all my family in the Baltimore/DC area of Maryland and things are good there as well.

I had to turn it off as well when a reporter was trying to stop a rescue worker to ask them who they worked for in the middle of a rescue. I think Katrina was much worse damage wise for sure. I think this storm meteorologically may have been the storm of the century due to the size and pressure etc, but certainly not the same damage and loss of life. Still significant damage to NYC and New Jersey. I think we will find out the full extent of the damage when they get into the subway system etc. If the subway is shut down for an extended period that is going to cause some serious issues up there.

 

[Tee]

I'm back home from a hotel. Power is on and internet chugging right along.

 

[mishele]

I'm back home from a hotel. Power is on and internet chugging right along.

How is the damage?

 

[Derrel]

We're all fine here. It wasn't bad. We've got some raging rivers where small creeks were, but otherwise it's been pretty mild for us. They could take our kids back to school. I have no desire to have 3 bored teenagers here. Think I'll go find a community service project for them. They'll think twice before wishing for a snow day again!

I had to turn the news off... It really bothers me to see the newscasters calling this "The Storm Of The Century."
REALLY? because it hit NYC a bit hard it's now eclipsed the damage from Katrina? I find that to be downright offensive. Many of those people will never recover from the losses of Katrina in my lifetime. They were horrific, wide spread and devastated a good quarter of the country. But the NYC subway and wall street are flooded so to hell with Katrina, this is THE ONE...

a$$holes

Sorry. Venting... Now back to our regularly scheduled program!
I pray all of you weathered it as beautifully as we did!

The century is not yet 12 years old... the storm's impact was felt over a 900-mile-long path...it was pretty bad in the Carribean area DAYS ago, and it lasted quite a long time as storms go...more than 15,000 flights have been cancelled, more than 7 million people are without electricity, more than 21 people died in the US alone, and you're here, bitching about your bored kids and how YOUR suburban neighborhood was not affected...maybe you need a bit broader view about the impact of the storm than your back yard???

And you have the temerity to call newscasters "a$$holes"?????

 

[fjrabon]

It also depends on what you mean by 'storm of the century' as a pure storm this was arguably worse than Katrina. Katrina was so bad not as much because of the actual storm as the poor infrastructure and New Orleans being below sea level. I don't think anybody would argue that the aftermath of Katrina was probably worse. But as a storm, you could easily say this was worse.

 

[MLeeK]

We're all fine here. It wasn't bad. We've got some raging rivers where small creeks were, but otherwise it's been pretty mild for us. They could take our kids back to school. I have no desire to have 3 bored teenagers here. Think I'll go find a community service project for them. They'll think twice before wishing for a snow day again!

I had to turn the news off... It really bothers me to see the newscasters calling this "The Storm Of The Century."
REALLY? because it hit NYC a bit hard it's now eclipsed the damage from Katrina? I find that to be downright offensive. Many of those people will never recover from the losses of Katrina in my lifetime. They were horrific, wide spread and devastated a good quarter of the country. But the NYC subway and wall street are flooded so to hell with Katrina, this is THE ONE...

a$$holes

Sorry. Venting... Now back to our regularly scheduled program!
I pray all of you weathered it as beautifully as we did!

The century is not yet 12 years old... the storm's impact was felt over a 900-mile-long path...it was pretty bad in the Carribean area DAYS ago, and it lasted quite a long time as storms go...more than 15,000 flights have been cancelled, more than 7 million people are without electricity, more than 21 people died in the US alone, and you're here, bitching about your bored kids and how YOUR suburban neighborhood was not affected...maybe you need a bit broader view about the impact of the storm than your back yard???

And you have the temerity to call newscasters "a$$holes"?????

Um, Derrel... NO WHERE in there did I say that there wasn't widespread damage. I SAID it wasn't on the same scale of Katrina, but they are putting terms on this that say it's far worse than Katrina. AND I am not bitching about the lack of damage in my back yard. I am bitching about the newscasters who are showing the worst of the damage far from me and classifying it worse than Katrina's damage. Yeah, I find that offensive.
OH MY GOD! Flights were cancelled! Whole cities were wiped out in Katrina. HOLY SH!T! people didn't have electric or internet! Most of which is restored already. Yet there was some places that saw WEEKS of no electric during Katrina. 21 people died in Sandy... Hmmm I believe the count for Katrina was near to 2000. Not that those 21 lives are "nothing" they are devastating, however there is a gargantuan difference between 21 and nearly 2000. Almost a hundred times as many.
Yes, this is bad, but it is NOT the storm of the Century and that is a hell of a slap in the face to those who lived through the hell and are STILL living in fema trailers from Katrina.

 

[Overread]

OK lets not fight over which disaster is the worst one ever. Seriously its not needed at all, they are all terrible events to those they harm and lets leave it at that.

 

[sm4him]

Every storm that kills ONE person or more is a devastating storm.

Still, the media DOES seem to have this great need to "outdo" themselves every time. I mean, they can't just come on and say "Well, it's no Katrina..."

Yesterday, as I was listening to the news coverage of the storm, it struck me, AGAIN, how we no longer actually HAVE news reports. We have entertainment broadcasts, "media events," but not NEWS. And at one point, it all kinda hit home, and I realized why books/movies like The Hunger Games are so popular--because that's what we're getting already in our "news" broadcasts.

Think about it. First, the national news I was watching was broadcasting much of the storm coverage from a place called "Point Pleasant, NJ." Point PLEASANT? In a Hurricane/Tropical Storm/Nor'easter/whatever-you-call-it? You can't TELL me THAT was a coincidence! Then you've got these "news" people standing out in hurricane force winds, screaming to be heard above the sound of crashing waves and wind, while bracing themselves to keep from being picked up and dashed against the nearest boulder, all so that they can tell us how much WORSE it's gonna be. In my head, I hear Walter Cronkite, and he's saying, "H*ll no, I'm not going out to report in that. I can see from HERE that the wind is blowing 100 mph, thank you very much."
I could just imagine them saying "How many do you think will die?? How many will be seriously injured, or without power for days, maybe weeks?? Call toll-free now with YOUR guesses, and you could WIN!" It's like it's all some big game to entertain those of us who are watching, and so each one MUST be bigger and more interesting, and of course, more catastrophic than the last. At one point last night, I actually laughed out loud at the absurdity when a reporter (I think it may have actually been Al Roker, don't remember), who had been on air for several minutes already, talking about how bad the winds were, how much worse it was going to get, how many could be affected, on and on, then suddenly he said, "I really don't want to alarm anyone, but..."
Seriously??? You don't want to ALARM anyone?? Then why have you just been doing your d*mnedest to frighten their socks off and make them all run and hide under their beds (assuming their beds were on a high enough hill, of course...)?

Don't get me wrong--like I said, any storm in which someone loses their life, is a serious, devastating storm, and deserves our attention. I just wish it didn't have to be made into entertainment instead of a decent, respectable news report.

</end rant>

Anyone heard from coastalconn?

 

[bentcountershaft]

I'm just glad to hear that you folks are ok. Careful during cleanup. I'm sure there are some big limbs that are barely hanging on, ready to fall.

 

[snowbear]

Glad to hear everyone is fine, so far.

We're fine (Waldorf, Maryland). The electricity never flickered (buried cables) and the apartment is still in one piece. I haven't ventured out, yet, so there may be trees down and traffic lights out, but they take care of that fairly quickly.

 

[snowbear]

Every storm that kills ONE person or more is a devastating storm.

Still, the media DOES seem to have this great need to "outdo" themselves every time. I mean, they can't just come on and say "Well, it's no Katrina..."

Yesterday, as I was listening to the news coverage of the storm, it struck me, AGAIN, how we no longer actually HAVE news reports. We have entertainment broadcasts, "media events," but not NEWS. And at one point, it all kinda hit home, and I realized why books/movies like The Hunger Games are so popular--because that's what we're getting already in our "news" broadcasts.

Think about it. First, the national news I was watching was broadcasting much of the storm coverage from a place called "Point Pleasant, NJ." Point PLEASANT? In a Hurricane/Tropical Storm/Nor'easter/whatever-you-call-it? You can't TELL me THAT was a coincidence! Then you've got these "news" people standing out in hurricane force winds, screaming to be heard above the sound of crashing waves and wind, while bracing themselves to keep from being picked up and dashed against the nearest boulder, all so that they can tell us how much WORSE it's gonna be. In my head, I hear Walter Cronkite, and he's saying, "H*ll no, I'm not going out to report in that. I can see from HERE that the wind is blowing 100 mph, thank you very much."
I could just imagine them saying "How many do you think will die?? How many will be seriously injured, or without power for days, maybe weeks?? Call toll-free now with YOUR guesses, and you could WIN!" It's like it's all some big game to entertain those of us who are watching, and so each one MUST be bigger and more interesting, and of course, more catastrophic than the last. At one point last night, I actually laughed out loud at the absurdity when a reporter (I think it may have actually been Al Roker, don't remember), who had been on air for several minutes already, talking about how bad the winds were, how much worse it was going to get, how many could be affected, on and on, then suddenly he said, "I really don't want to alarm anyone, but..."
Seriously??? You don't want to ALARM anyone?? Then why have you just been doing your d*mnedest to frighten their socks off and make them all run and hide under their beds (assuming their beds were on a high enough hill, of course...)?

Don't get me wrong--like I said, any storm in which someone loses their life, is a serious, devastating storm, and deserves our attention. I just wish it didn't have to be made into entertainment instead of a decent, respectable news report.

</end rant>

Anyone heard from coastalconn?

He posted about 10:00 last night saying he had to evacuate; he is going to try to get home today.

Have you heard from you brother & sister-in-law in DC?

 

[Tee]

I'm a few miles from coastalconn but the big news is there were several house fires in his town. That beach and the housing around it got fubar'd.

 

[snowbear]

I'm a few miles from coastalconn but the big news is there were several house fires in his town. That beach and the housing around it got fubar'd.

*fingers crossed