Frankenstorm!

[Utah Baker]

I'm sure all of our New England friends are busy in emergency prepardness mode. Our thoughts and prayers will be for your safety and protection. Please all be safe and smart. I worry about Phil too traveling to Florida. Please take care all!

[ctyanky]

Hi Janice and THANK YOU for your kind thoughts! This storm is exactly one year since the freak October storm hit my area and CT was the hardest hit. If you remember my long post on surviving the storm without power for 9 horrible days, well, here we go again! I am fueled up, have my water and battery supply stocked, flash lights in every room, and today, will be clearing gutters and raking the remaining leaves up. Our trees are still in high foliage and it is SCARY. Mentally, I am more prepared for the outages and lack of electricity, but not falling trees, downed power lines and flooding which the October storm did not have (snow instead). Lines for gas and food are awful so I am glad I took care of it mid week.

We can only hope for the best but I see that it has just returned to hurricane status. I just can't believe it is coming on October 29th again. One year to the date! I think Phil is in Florida or close so he should be ok.

To all my southern New England friends, be safe and it will be over soon.

CT

[ixl]

Bears watching but right now this is more of a threat to the mid-Atlantic than NE, IMO.

[Karma2x]

Yikes, here we go again. This one is going to be one for the ages ... a double storm - clash of tropical storm with nor'easter. Worse, it will be 800 miles wide when it makes landfall and since it is going to hit between New Jersey/New York, up here on CT coastline we are going to get a big share of the rain, flooding and storm surge in Long Island Sound. And it is going to sit over us for two or more days. So, to one and all in this forum...stash your supplies, prepare, get a warm fire going and a good book or two...be safe.

[bvahjen]

I am in west central CT and the high wind watch says we could get to 80 mph. That's enough to do some damage. Visited a farmer friend in Newtown CT and he has removed all the plastic from his commercial greenhouses so they don't fly away. Take care y'all, this could be messy. Chain saws and the backhoe are at the ready.

[ctyanky]

Mandatory evacuations have begun on the Connecticut shoreline and the winds are picking up. An ominous feeling in the consistent breezes here starting early morning when I was walking the dog. For once, I am hoping more leaves come down today and tonight so the trees are less vulnerable to the weight during the 75-80 mph winds expected. This is a serious storm and I pray no lives are lost and propety damage is not extensive for those in the immediate impact zones of NJ, NY and CT.

Karma: I see that East Haven is progressing with morning evacs. Are you affected?

bvahjen: Litchfield County are going to get the brunt of the winds. Don't blow away!!!!! We still need to get together for our "CTFoliage Tour" which now will be the stick season tour!

I wish it were Thursday and it was over already.

[ctyanky]

Winds are REALLLLLLY picking up here but no rain yet. Inland the rain will be only about 3" but the wind is the biggest concern. Starting at 3:00 p.m. things are going to start ramping up and gusts up to 85 mph will set in thru tomorrow morning. The 17 towns along the CT shoreline are under evacuation and I just received a photo of my nephew's Mystic home. The street is already under water up to the front sidewalks and beyond. They are getting the worst down there with flooding and wind of hurricane force up to 90 mph. The governor of CT has shut down the highways except for 91 and 84 which will probably be next once they coordinate with NY, MA, etc.

The waiting is awful...... prayers for all on the east coast................

[ctyanky]

Hi all! My thoughts are now with those who are still suffering the effects of Sandy up and down the coast. I made it through without losing power this time and for that I am grateful. The hurricane force winds that occured from 6:15 thru 8:30 Monday night were frightening to say the least as it didn't let up one bit and it sounded like a train running through my neighborhood! I was pretty scared and praying trees would not fall down on my house! Yes, I did a lot of pacing and worrying! Dog slept through it all...... Lots and lots of tree damage and power loss in town and for two days, schools and businesses remained closed. Some are still closed. The shoreline of CT is devastated. The photos are unreal and so many folks have lost their homes. NY and NJ - well, the scenes are heartbreaking.

I have heard from bvahjen from the forum and he is still without power in west central CT so it is not all on the shoreline. The whole state was affected in various ways and lengths of time.

One of the lessons I have learned from the October 2011 snow storm was PREPAREDNESS! I was mentally and phyically prepared for this storm (after 9 days of no power last fall), and that was the most important factor for me. Getting things done well before the mad crowds, having enough food and supplies on hand, cooler ready, ice, batteries, flashlights in the rooms, minimal perishable food in the frig and more canned food and the like, and a car on a full tank were all things I took care of on a check list. Some things did differently this time were putting the frig temp higher and also warming up the house as much as possible while I still had electricity. Charging up the laptop, lantern and cell phone as well.

So this is a lesson for all. BE PREPARED! You never know when Mother Nature will show her fangs!!!!

Happy Halloween!