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| Main St. flooded several businesses when water crested over bridge (railing in middle) all day long |
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| Oakford Lake walkway crossing covered to top |
Our little town, about a half hour away from the Atlantic Ocean was hit hard by Hurricane Irene. The Main Street was flooded in several areas, and a huge flood at the end of my street came to about a 100 yards of my house (One neighbor went fishing from his front yard). But, this storm was nothing to laugh about like the West Coasters were doing about the earthquake we experienced on the East Coast last Tuesday. (One website showed a yogurt container on its side for our earthquake damage...lol ...and they said they "eat 5.8'ers for breakfast in CA). But, the thing is, we are not accustomed to earthquakes on the East Coast, and although its epicenter was in Virginia, our particular county in NJ felt the 5.8 earthquake rather strongly. Floors rumbled, people lost balance, and everything swayed on the walls. It was scary but lasted only seconds and no serious damage reported.
Hurricane Irene on the other hand lasted far longer than any of us expected in NJ. Millions evacuated from the coastline. The strong winds and heavy rain started early Saturday and were incessant for over 18 hours before the actual eye of the storm crossed right over us. We'd already experienced our wettest August EVER. Thus, lots of trees came down (one is leaning against our house but did little damage), basements are flooded, many businesses on our Main Street totally flooded, and we had no electricity for over 20 hours. What was so scary was listening to the radio in the dark during the middle of the night, and in the middle of a hurricane being told to listen for the "sound of a train" from all of the tornado warnings inbetween. Tornadoes were being announced every 10 minutes within minuites of us.
Debris is massive. Parts of boardwalks at the beach were washed away or covered in sand and water, power lines down everywhere, but the worst of the storm is the devastating flooding for so many! Shelters were set up all around us, but it wasn't the kind of storm you could venture out into, even to go around the block.
North Carolina, Virginia and NJ seemed to be hit the hardest by Irene, but for anyone in its path, I hope you experience(d) minimal damage and you and all your loved ones are safe and sound. Sadly, the storm is responsible for several deaths reported.
What a week!!
Happy to hear you are ok, I have been waiting to see what you would write, I knew you would give us some news. I have been watching CNN and FOX and I saw NJ was hit hard, I have friends on Long Island and the news said it was hit hard too. Thanks Marti and prayer's go out to all. Pam
ReplyDeleteWe're thinking of you out here on the West Coast. :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Pam. It was a huge storm and the pics I posted are typical of hundreds and hundreds of other NJ towns as well, and I'm sure in other states. I saw footage of Vermont this morning on the Today show... terrible flash flooding. Flooding was most dangerous part of Irene. I've never known an Irene, and anyone I've asked hasn't either. I didn't realize how uncommon a name it is.
ReplyDeleteKristin, I guess you are accustomed to earthquakes, being on the West Coast, but most people around these parts had no clue what rocked everything until the news came on. I laughed so hard when I saw that picture of a toppled yogurt container captioned "East Coast Earthquake Damage" -- I think we overreacted a tad on having experienced it, and then a few days later in rolled Irene to show us what Mother Nature can really deal us.
I see there's a LOT to deal with Mother Nature in the US, America is really immense though O.O
ReplyDeleteLook on the bright side: you don't have dangerous volcanoes...
It's good to hear from you, Marti. I'm glad you and your family are all right!
ReplyDeleteThe loss of life was very sad. I am glad it wasn't worse--it seemed that people were pretty well-prepared. I watched the Weather Channel for days. Weather is fascinating to me, anyway, and I like watching that channel. But I have several friends in the areas affected and was particularly concerned over the weekend.
By the way, I had a friend named Irene in junior high and high school--very nice girl. On the Weather Channel, one of the reporters was in New Jersey (don't remember what town), but he interviewed three young women who were sisters, and one of them was named Irene! She said, "I won't lie to you. I kind of like the drama (of the storm)!" Perhaps she might've been auditioning for her own reality show. :)
ReplyDeleteI didn't mean to make light in that prior post about that woman's comments. I actually found her remarks to be pretty insensitive, given what people were going through with deaths, injuries, and property damage. She should've been grateful. She seemed to enjoy mugging for the camera. I guess it takes all kinds.
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