Share your Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene stories

[Darth_Calo]

As many of you know, Hurricane (later downgraded to Tropical Storm) Irene whipped up the East Coast, leaving thousands without power. Below, share your stories. What did you do to pass the time in the dark? What did you do to stave off the madness of no LucasForums? Were you insane enough to go outside (my neighbor was mowing his lawn in the rain, no joke; seems a bit counter-intuitive to me...) during the worst of it? What about trees? any down near your house?

 

For me, it was a 7 hour odyssey with no power, punctuated by a irritating "beep!" from my landline's battery backup unit that perplexed my family as we searched our home for the source of the noise, only to have power come back shortly after we finally turned off the unit's alarm.

[Ping]

We camped out in our living room and family room since my parents (or, more correctly, my mother) was worried about a tornado touching down. Unfortunately, I couldn't sleep properly for no apparent reason. I usually fall asleep at about 1:30 on bad days, but I don't think I fell asleep until 3.

[mimartin]

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No one has had a worse hurricane Irene story than this guy.

 

The green "sea-foam" is really raw sewage.

[Darth333]

The green "sea-foam" is really raw sewage.

 

'It doesn't taste great..." Yuck!

 

And he seems to enjoy standing there...

[Darth_Calo]

I may not have a worse story, but my mother had a tough one: her Oxygen Compressor that runs on electricity was down for the count for the 7 hours and her backup Oxygen tank was quickly running out. A call to the Gas/Electric Company yielded a response: "If you can't breathe, call 911." followed by the <click> of the line disconnecting. Ironically, this was just shy of 7 hours in, and soon after, the lights came back.

 

That aside, that reporter...yeah i feel bad for him.

[jawathehutt]

My girlfriend is from Florida and she keeps bitching about how their hurricanes are never this televised. But then again, what weather is major news anywhere but the north east coast. The midwest could be permanently buried in snow and lost to history and it would get less air time than mild flurries in New York.

[mimartin]

My girlfriend is from Florida and she keeps bitching about how their hurricanes are never this televised.

I'd have to agree with your girlfriend, but I think it is more a byproduct of usually when you are hit by a hurricane you have no TV for 3 to 14 days to know what is televised.

I may not have a worse story, but my mother had a tough one: her Oxygen Compressor that runs on electricity was down for the count for the 7 hours and her backup Oxygen tank was quickly running out. A call to the Gas/Electric Company yielded a response: "If you can't breathe, call 911." followed by the <click> of the line disconnecting. Ironically, this was just shy of 7 hours in, and soon after, the lights came back.

I think the electric company gave you the best response possible. With that many people without power there is really no way of telling when the power will be back on. Even if they get the power on in a neighborhood there is no guarantee that all the homes in the neighborhood will have power. I still remember four day after hurricane Ike hit this area looking out my window seeing half the apartment complex have power, but I was setting in the dark. Still I got power the next day, my parent were one of two houses on their street not to get power for two weeks. Just thankful that we haven’t been hit thus far this year, 104 F does not sound like any fun with no A/C.

[Darth Avlectus]

Never had to deal with a hurricane. I have lived without power, running water, and heat though. Sucks.

 

I have gone through bouts of 24-48 hours simply without power. Reading isn't a bad deal where you have adequate light.

 

Inconvenience vs roughing it out of necessity are two different things.

 

Homeless, camping, or living in the boonies where part of your 'home' is outside. Depends on how rough you want to "rough it". Wilderness survival skill is not only handy, it is key. It's a hardass living for sure if you had to do it every day all year long. I'm glad I didn't have to.

 

Never hurts to have some kind of backup plans for the occasions, though. So what if it seems paranoid? It keeps you from getting too lazy, complacent, or arrogant and you'll be glad you did if there is ever a 'next time'.

[Dread Advocate]

It didn't affect me negatively. But one of the arms did pass over on Friday evening at my high school's first football game, providing a nice breeze in the horrid heat and humidity. Ironically, my grandmother, who lives in Florida, is named Irene. I can't help but picture this when I hear about the devastation caused by the hurricane: a four foot tall 85 year old woman rampaging across the east coast like she was Godzilla or Clover.

[Darth Avlectus]

^^^ Oh the irony life throws at us all. OR is it a juxtaposition of the absurd?

 

Can't tell. I'll get back to you on that one.