Why so little chatter about the storm here on Fluther? It's headed right for me, here in Delaware. Is it in line to be knocking on your door too?

It sort of passed by, it was too far off the coast to do much. We just had a lot of wind and clouds.

I’m in Western NY, not too far from Lake Ontario, supposedly in the path for high winds and flooding. . I spent yesterday getting things ready for high winds and a power failure. The generator is on the porch, full of gasoline – and it works perfectly. I put two containers of gasoline on the porch and even have a funnel ready. More gas is stored in the garage and barn. Both vehicles are full.
Inside, there are candles in glass holders every room and matches next to each one. The laundry is done. There is plenty of food, water and cash.
I will move the kerosene heater and extra kero from the barn to the garage after I finish eating breakfast. After that I will be as ready as I can be.

We’re going to get it. :(
I’m trying not to worry too much. Stay safe!

Please, be careful and stay safe, all you Mid-Atlantic and Northeast jellies.

@Hawaii_Jake How’s the tsunami situation in your area?

It’s all clear, @augustlan. There was no damage.

My thoughts are with ya, babes.

Anyone else in OH/PA? I’m extremely confused about what to expect. I certainly feel for those of you on the coast, I have no doubt that the coast will be hit much harder than us. And, I mean this with all due respect, but I would suspect that most people in that area of the country are pretty familiar with what to expect and what to do in case of a tropical storm or a hurricane. Not suggesting that offers any guarantees, but I get the impression that everyone facing this storm on the coast is at least somewhat familiar with what’s coming (or what has already passed.)
I also feel like I am just in a very bizarre location for this storm, because none of the local news sources seem to know what is going on. I’m hearing that we’re having a blizzard, or maybe blizzard conditions with no accumulation, or maybe no snow at all and just torrential rain, at the very least we should expect flooding and 45–60mph wind gusts, and we are under severe weather advisories for the next three days. When this started a few days ago, I mostly expected to slowly work our way out of the “danger zone,” which is usually what happens as this sort of thing progresses. I’m not panicking or upset or worried (for myself, I mean), I just don’t understand. Is the rest of the country like this? Is everyone getting this strange mixed news about what to expect?

How interesting and strange.

Thinking of everyone closer to the ocean, stay safe.

It’s en route to Massachusetts.

I’m thinking “jumbo thunderstorm”. My wife is thinking “end of the world”.

Here’s hoping I’m right.

Upstate NY here and yeah, we’re in the red zone. This one looks like lots of wind and not so much rain this far inland. My prayers to you guys on the coast. The storm surge is going to be brutal. The forecast now is 3 or 4 inches of rain. In 2006 we got an inch of rain an hour for 7 hours. We got trashed. I think we’re just going to have to live without electricity for a while. Think warm thoughts for us.

That is why I live in California, never have to worry about such things.

Generator is tested and ready with 20 gallons of gasoline
Kerosene heater is tested and sitting the garage with 10 gallons of kerosene
Heating oil tanks are almost full at 500 gallons
Firewood – enough for the whole season.
Both cars are full and solar chargers are plugged in
Sump pump backup battery is charged.
Food, water, ammo. I am ready.
Party at my place!

@LuckyGuy Did you see the forecast for the wave heights on the Great Lakes?

Because it’s being blown way out of proportion. People are going nuts up here in North Jersey. I’m not positioned well – only a 15 minute walk to the Hudson on one side and 25 to the Hackensack on the other. I’ll be very surprised if my basement doesn’t flood. Not planning on evacuating, though I do have my headlamps and backwoods water filter all set to go. Landlord is turning off the gas today. Maybe Irene and the other hurricanes I’ve experienced here in the past have lulled me into a false sense of security and you’ll see me back here rueing my words in a few days, but right now I’m mostly just annoyed that they cancelled classes today.

Good luck to all Jellies in the path of this storm. Stay safe, and don’t do anything reckless during or afterwards.

I got a faceful of hurricanes growing up in South Florida. Cat 3 and 4 storms, no power for weeks, food and ice from the Red Cross. But down there, people actually know how to deal with this stuff, there are building codes for storm-force winds, etc. I don’t think it’s fair that people outside of the tropics should have to deal with hurricanes!

@Adirondackwannabe I heard 15 feet. We got a phone call from the county Emergency Management Center telling us to prepare. That is a first for me.

@LuckyGuy Okay. I heard the same. That’s pretty mean. Be careful.

Here’s a good one being passed around the neighborhood. It’s from the Philadelphia National Weather service .

15 feet waves on Lake Ontario is Huge. So far we are getting rain with winds from the North (rare) at about 10–20 mph. We can expect many trees to go down. Just in time for firewood season.

I’m in Texas, so no worries here, but I am really concerned about a lot of current jellies, former jellies, and other friends who are in Sandy’s path.

My cousin just sent me a picture of the water rising over the sea walls on the Larchmont, NY side of the Long Island Sound. it is real enough.

We are holding our breath here in NE central NYS. The tops of the tall white pines are starting to sway. I am running another load of laundry. (Reminder to self; buy another week’s supply of panties asap.)

Here is a convenient check list for handling food stuffs if the power goes out.

http://www.foodsafety.gov/keep/charts/refridg_food.html

Lest we forget, here is what things looked like last Halloween;

Milo being shocked at the snow storm

I took out an audio book of Moby Dick from the public library yesterday and have enough AA batteries to power the Walkman for a week. That should take me to chapter three, I guess. And then I can dine out on the story.

Good luck to all you Jellies who are in the path of the storm. Stay safe, everyone.

We don’t get storms like that in the UK but all those hurricanes swing north-east across the Atlantic after bouncing off the US coast. They hit my corner of Europe about 2 weeks later; not as a ferocious hurricane but as a week of cold and rain. It’s going to be sucky weather for my birthday.

Still have power, though it is very windy. Rains on and off. Waiting for the worst tonight, but what are you gonna do, really? Just have to wait and see what happens and deal with the hand you are dealt. No point in getting all riled up about it. Just be happy for the day(s) off work ;)

I’m so nervous about it. I have so many old friends in New Jersey that I can’t stop fretting about them and watching the Weather Channel.

The winds are starting to pick up pretty good. The rains not too bad yet.

It’s scary here, now. We’re going to be ok, I think, but I’m not liking this AT ALL.

@augustlan, keep saying, “I’m a big brave dog,” over and over again.

Soon-to-be-affected Jellies, will you please let us know that you are OK as electricity/internet connection permits?

Western New York, Lake Erie side checking in. Raining to the point that wipers need to be on without a pause when driving at 30 mph, but not at the fastest speed. Not very windy yet, just enough to rattle my windows so far, but I haven’t felt the house sway yet (and I live in an old enough house that I do feel sway if the wind is strong enough). I don’t think much is expected here until midnight or so though.

Western NY, Lake Ontario side. We did not lose power although most of the people in the area did. There was only minor damage: my roof antenna and some small pine trees in my woods. I already fixed the antenna with my neighbor and the downed tress will become firewood when it dries out enough for me to work out there.
Just for fun, I turned off my power at the breaker and started my generator to give it some exercise. It worked perfectly.
All in all I think this was good practice for the next, inevitable disaster.

Well, things here, in Northern Delaware at least, went better than expected and I am very grateful for that. Downstate, the coast and the bays though, they took a pretty serious pounding. A fair amount of damage.

I had a good sized tree limb come down in my backyard but that was the worst of it here. And I think that was a combination of the limb probably being ready to go and the wind working it back and forth all day, like a loose tooth, until it finally came down.

I don’t know about my property downstate. I am worried about that. It is 3 and ½ miles inland so I don’t think flooding will be too much of a problem but I am worried about downed trees.

My very best wishes to those of you on the Jersey Shore, NYC, etc, who saw the worst of it.

I am a big fan of the “better safe than sorry” approach. These storms can be very difficult. Though the science and technology, the data, the computer models get better and better, weather prediction is still a matter of probability. I think it puts weather experts and authorities in a very difficult position.

Since there is no way to predict, with any degree of certainty what may happen, where and when, these folks are left with only two options: to overestimate the risk or underestimate the risk. They underestimate the risk and people die unnecessarily and property damage and damage to local economies occurs, unnecessarily; they overestimate the risks and order evacuations that turn out not to have been necessary, the have disrupted peoples’ lives, business and also damaged local economies.

So, for me, since there is no way to predict how a storm will actually play out, with any certainty, no way to predict who will take a bad hit and who will luck out, like my area did, I am in favor of erring on the side of caution.

It’s not like it’s a complete crapshoot, it’s just that the prediction models are about probabilities, not certainties. They can only tell you what is likely to happen, not what actually will happen.

Glad you’re okay, @lillycoyote!

Thanks Auggie and certainly glad you are o.k. ... and I’m assuming your daughter is too… not that you don’t love me, I know that, but, if she wasn’t, you would probably be more concerned about her, than me. :-)

She is safe and sound. :)

Have you seen the meta thread for east coasters to check in after the storm?

@augustlan No, I have been off fluther for several days. I will check the meta thread. That’s a good idea. These kinds of storms, of this type and of this size, well it can be very hit and miss, some areas, in all the states affected/effected (damn, that one still trips me up sometimes and I am not going to bother worrying about it now), and some not even all that far from one another, well some can take a very bad hit, and some do fine.

Like here. Downstate DE took a serious beating, and the storm hit land at Atlantic City, about 75 miles, just slightly southeast of me. I thought we would still taking a pounding here, but it went very well here, really.

But it is nice to have the thread, for everyone to check in.