Hurricane Sandy Check-In

[Jay 2K Winger]

Those of us CS.com'ers who live on the East Coast of the United States are aware that we have a late-season hurricane, Hurricane Sandy, slamming into us this week.

Check in here to let us know you're okay.

For the record, I'm not overly worried about it (I rarely do get worried about the weather until it actually affects me), but to placate my folks' concerns, I packed a bag with a couple days worth of clothes, my toiletries, and grabbed some simple non-perishables from the store.

Again, though, I'm not overly worried.

[iPanda]

Eeehhh, not too worried. Hoping for classes to be cancelled and for a full work day so i can attempt to grab a morning shift and be done with work by 1 and sleep at home all evening C:
my family filed up our cars' gas tanks just in case and they ran to costco...

we got milk, eggs and LOTS of junk food OTL
our priorities when it comes to food, I swear...
but we got water C:

[Zellie Crescent]

I know I'm gonna be ok, I've got enough shit to survive aliens.

[Shalom]

Раѕѕаіс, NJ here.

My wife works in the City, but she's a teacher, and the schools are closed. Also she doesn't drive to work, and all the public transit is also closed. For these reasons, she's not going in.

Me, that's another story. I'm scheduled on in Orange County from 5-9 PM. That's gonna be a fun trip in, and coming back even more so. I'm making contingency plans in case I have to sleep over there tomorrow night, my boss (who lives there) will be happy to put me up, and I know lots of other people in the village as well.

(I worked there the day after Irene as well. It took me something like 4 hours to make a one-hour trip, what with the Thruway being closed and most of the alternate routes as well. The choice is between water level routes that will get flooded, or mountain routes that will be blocked by downed trees; neither option is all that great. Have to play it by ear, and say thank G_d and Fuji Heavy Industries for all-wheel-drive.)

Last night after the Sabbath ended, I took my son out to BJ's and got a couple 32-packs of bottled water. Today we went to the orange apron and picked up more water and the last 6-volt lantern battery they had in stock (two flashlights in the house, only one of them had a battery). I've got several 12V gel cel batteries and a 400 watt inverter, and worst case I can snag the deep-cycle battery out of my old truck and use that. Only thing really critical here is my CPAP machine; everything else can fall over and nothing will happen. (Leave the fridge doors closed, and it will stay cold for quite some time.) Of course all the generators in the county were sold out by Friday morning, but what do I need one for, I've got a car, a driveway, an inverter, and a half tank of gas. (Reminds me, I got to go fill that up this evening before it all starts.)

Also got to figure out what to do with the garbage cans. Tomorrow is supposed to be pickup, but I'm afraid if I leave the cans out there tonight, I'll find them in North Haledon tomorrow. Maybe I'll just leave them in the garage overnight.

Food, I'm not worried. The local kosher grocery is within walking distance, and one of the cashiers lives two blocks away and has keys to the joint, so even if the bosses can't get in (they live in the same village where I work) the store will be open. Hopefully. We've got a gas stove that will work without electricity if you have matches in the house (which we do), and if we really need an oven I've got a barbeque grill in the garage and plenty of propane.

As to flooding, we're three blocks from the Раѕѕаіс River, but we're halfway up a hill, and for water to get as far as this house, Route 21 will have to be submerged up to the streetlights. I recently replaced the cleanout cap on the sewer, which is where we usually get flooded from, so that shouldn't be anything to worry about.

[BookstoreEscapee]

I'm here in Central Jersey. Been drizzling for the last few hours, and a little breezy. I have a case of bottled water that I got over the summer when we had a water main break (which didn't end up affecting me so I've only opened one bottle since then). I'm not in a flood zone so I'm not too worried. Got some food supplies yesterday, canned soup, milk, fruit, bread, etc. and gonna make some baked oatmeal tonight. Went over to my parents' earlier and stole a couple extra batteries for my flashlight, and my dad gave me another flashlight with LED bulbs and new batteries. Charged up my nook and my ipod; gonna plug in my phone later. I'm not too worried about myself here.

More worried about my best friend's house; they are in a flood zone and are evacuating. They live in a two family house, and she's downstairs with her husband, 2-month-old daughter, and dog. They're going to her brother's apartment (he and his wife are going to his in-laws'). Her sister and 2 kids and 3 dogs live upstairs; they're going to stay with her mom and her boyfriend in Staten Island somewhere. Irene took most of the contents of her garage last year (for the second time in the last few years); hoping the expected extra-high water levels don't make it into the house itself.

(I am a tad annoyed that my work is, as of now, planning to open. If there is a state of emergency and we're not supposed to be on the roads, how are we supposed to get there, and how many trucks are they really expecting to get in and out? Weather.com is showing "Squalls" for the entire time period of the first shift. It's books; it won't kill anyone to close for a day. [\rant])

[DGoddessChardonnay]

Middle of North Carolina . . . we usually don't get much except for some wind from hurricanes - I'm 4 hours from the coast.

What concerns me more are the cooler temps. Forecasters are predicting a possibility of snow in the mountains by Monday night depending on what the cold front and storm do together.

[Greenday]

Posting from a town away from BE. We've got plenty of batteries and water. Some food. A generator full of gas. Wrote down the phone number for my phone interview tomorrow. Not excited about doing that tomorrow during the storm.

Went to the beach twice today.

Once at noon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNE7Yz9m0bQ&feature=plcp

Once at 4:30pm: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wroDb9n5ltM&feature=plcp

Got windier, colder, started raining.

[Bright_Star]

I live in South Central Pennsylvania & ALL the grocery stores are packed with people buying everything they can get their hands on! The sky looks nasty with the clouds looking dark & getting darker. It's starting to rain & the wind is picking up. I bought plenty of essentials in case I need it.
I'm glad the diner where I work at is within a 2 minute walk from my house.

[iPanda]

kay, all my classes are closed at all of the campuses. unfortunately, i wasnt able to grab a morning shift... le sigh :C

[Sapphire Silk]

Middle of North Carolina . . . we usually don't get much except for some wind from hurricanes - I'm 4 hours from the coast.

What concerns me more are the cooler temps. Forecasters are predicting a possibility of snow in the mountains by Monday night depending on what the cold front and storm do together.

Hey, don't forget Fred. That one hit our neck of the woods.

But, it's unlikely Sandy will give us much more than high winds (been windy but nothing bad), rain, and maybe snow in some places. It's going to be nasty going to work tomorrow, I think. But we shouldn't have the crap the folks on the coast are going to get.

Thinking good thoughts for our coastal members.

[AccountingDrone]

Eastern CT, 300 feet above mean sea level and on the back side of the 3 or 4th ridge of hills so we aren't worried about anything except wind and precipitation.

2 cylinders of propane, 10 gallons fuel for the generator, 1 500 gallon hot tub full for watering the random poultry and household pets, 85 gallon overpack drum of flushing water, 10 gallons potable water, several months of food [we are sort of packrats and already started getting ready for winter storms.] Got a spiffy new hand crank flashlight/sub charger for birthday, changed out the batteries in all the camp lanterns we use in the barn and set all the spares to charge. I love rechargable batteries!

All the dishes and laundry are clean, we got a new box of plastic forks and spoons, a large stack of paper plates and bowls, and a flat [9 rolls] of paper toweling.

And all this means we will get a wiffle of breeze, a slight drizzle of rain and no power loss.

[Tama]

I live in Virginia, not on the coast, more towards the left-center 50 miles north of Pittsylvania County.

It's really weird to look at the map, because my area code is part of this alley that has virtually nothing in it, last time I looked. And when I click the "what'll it do in the next few hours" button it doesn't progress much, like there's a wall just outside of Richmond or something. Is there a large mountain there or something? I don't get it.

[Amina516]

Im in PA. Supposed to be hit early Tuesday morning. We'll see. They've canceled school for Monday and Tuesday (elementary through college). We're charging our phones, gather the candles and flashlights and have plenty of water and nonperishables to eat. Also, Im a block from the hospital (where I work), so if the poo hits the rotating wind maker, we'll go there. Stay safe everyone.

[FormerCallingCardRep]

We are currently debating on whether Little Bits should go back to campus. Her college has advised those who went home for the weekend to use their discretion on coming back to campus. They are expecting up to two feet of snow on campus. She is talking about possible leaving and going up tomorrow morning.

Where we are, we will see some heavy rain but our main concern is the effect the extra moisture will be added to the cold front moving in. I am on the Ohio River in West Virginia

[Andara Bledin]

I live in Virginia, not on the coast, more towards the left-center 50 miles north of Pittsylvania County.

The Staunton area is in a valley, so that's likely the "alley" you mentioned.

You can hit up Google maps and shift it over to terrain to get a decent view of it.

^-.-^