there have been 9 deaths that i know of [total] in VA & NC -
the power went out a half-dozen times at the hotel, but luckily came back within 5-mins each time!

over HALF of Dominion Power's customer-households have no power.
the power in my neighborhood went down for approx 6-hours, so my freezer is OK;
my frig-food is history.

my roof & windows are intact; my garden-shed DID flood. I will not look inside for at least 48-hours,
in case fire-ants took refuge there [as they did before] - i cannot afford to be stung,
i have no $$ for a hospital-trip.

i got home with difficulty; the bus system was spozed to be running by 8-AM per Sat news, then 9-AM
per Sat-evening, then SUNDAY AM they shut it all down!!
by which time i had rolled my suitcase 3/4-mile to the nearest bus-stop.
a passing bicyclist told me about it - i'd have stood there all day! AND I DID check the local cable
GOV channel for 3-hours news before leaving the hotel - there was no notice that HRT was shut down,
only which tunnels & streets were closed.

i took a cab home, after walking another mile; the grocery i walked to was closed, no power -
all food spoiled but shelf-goods, not even doing cash sales.

my apt is intact; i will leave the shed's bad news for another day.
off to get groceries,
- t

my neighbor Michelle very kindly took me to the grocer's, as the bus is not running - DESPITE the streets being
entirely drained in this neighborhood, which is notorious for flooding. if it's not standing-water here,
over 90% of HRT's service routes are clear of standing water; there's no logical reason to leave folks stranded.

this is in high contrast to Nor-Ida, the nor'easter in Nov 2009, where we had a half-block length of standing water
too deep for cars, altho the buses could have negotiated it safely, they chose to leave the area
without bus service for a week; many folks in this neighborhood were threatened with firing from their jobs,
but as one woman said, 'how do they expect me to get there? Rent a Navy helicopter?!'

the grocery was brisk; Michelle went to get some fast-food while i picked up milk, cereal, & some vegies
& pasta for today's dinner. Michelle has to go to work at 5-pm, & she got no sleep at her friend's house last night;
her GF & GF's hubby are heavy smokers. her hostess had her out DRIVING AROUND AFTER DARK
last night, to get the lady 'cigarettes'!?! - i'm sorry, but that's insane. nicotine addiction or not,
the streets were flooded all around them; it took them TWO HOURS to find a place that was a) accessible,
b) open, d) had cigs, and then E - find their way AROUND all the new-flooding to get home!
that's terrifyingly foolish; i'm so glad she didn't get stalled in rising water.

Our neighbor Juanita did not stay in her home, we saw her in her yard & stopped to chat;
she stayed with relatives in the mountains, & took all 5 of her kitties, too. i'm glad she left; she's in her 60s,
with a probable thyroid problem, & high-BP. Stress is not good, & the danger here was all too real.

Kristin, a former co-worker, lives across the street - i saw her bracing a ladder for a man who was checking
the roof of their 2-story apt-building [2 two-bedroom units, one on each floor] for damage.

for ONCE since i moved here, we got off lightly - except for Virginia's apt, Michelle's laundry-room,
my garden-shed, & 2 garages, no structures flooded; NO WIRES or transformers came down, no trees
[branches, yes - no trees], no power-poles fell, no sinkholes...

Virginia's baseboards are warped out from the wall above her tile floor with a 3/4-inch gap; that may shrink
as they dry over the next week, with the AC running. She's disinfecting the floor & walls to kill mold spores,
so the house will be livable & not dangerous; her cupboards must be done inside & out, too. Molds can make U
very ill - prevention is way-better than treatment. The water carried all sorts of small debris into her house,
leaf bits, bark, pine-needles, & the line is drawn around the walls like wide crayon. She was [understandably]
very upset by the damage, but the only furniture flooded was her composite TV-stand, which seems to have survived -
it will likely warp as it dries out, but it's not a valuable piece.
her bed & sofa are still up on bricks & cinder-blocks that i had in the garden; those few inches saved them.

i was relieved to hear from Steve that she was OK when he called this AM, because at 1-PM Friday
[before i left to catch the bus] she was already half-drunk & pounding beer down while she put her things
up on blocks & bricks, meanwhile saying various bad-words & making worried comments - she had not slept
the night before; between alcohol & sleep-deprivation, plus panic over her property, she was far from her best.

when my e-mail went unanswered & my phone-call went direct to 'messages', i was afraid she'd gotten drunk
& decided to ride it out at home; she's made equally worrying decisions before under the influence.
i literally wondered if she'd fallen asleep in her bed, & been awakened by water in the house... or possibly
not awakened, as she's been known to drink very-heavily when she's angry or upset.

so we are all accounted for; damage was relatively minimal, Tony's family may have lost their washer
[in the garage], & Michelle's dryer got a soaking & is not working - she hopes it's temporary.

i'm hoping that SOME of my stored books, tools, etc, are OK in my shed.
we shall see - later. i'm just not up to contending with any critters that evacuated to the high ground
INSIDE my shed, right now - i'll let them vacate first.

Hurricane Irene moves back over Atlantic, closer to Norfolk, Va | wtsp.com

Fallen trees from Hurricane Irene kill four in Virginia | Reuters

UPDATE: 4th death linked to Hurricane Irene in Va. | Richmond Times-Dispatch

UPDATE: Damage assessment getting under way in Richmond area | Richmond Times-Dispatch

UPDATE: Water levels in Norfolk just shy of Isabel's record | Richmond Times-Dispatch
1/3 of Va Beach is without power.


Lafayette flows into Norfolk's Larchmont neighborhood | WVEC.com Norfolk - Hampton Roads

looters arrested in Sandbridge - a news-crew got them on video.
WVEC.com | Hampton Roads Videos, Breaking News | wvec.com| News for Hampton Roads, Virginia

the Daily-Flail -
Hurricane Irene path 2011: Boy, 11, dies as tree smashes through Newport News home | Mail Online

NYC was very, very lucky - Irene slipped to tropical-storm strength before arriving, AND she traveled faster -
MISSING the coinciding high-tide by a few hours, & sparing many areas that would have flooded badly.
minor flooding in many areas, loads of trees & wires down, but relatively speaking, nowhere near as bad
as what was expected.

of course, some will say officials over-reacted; i strongly disagree, had the storm REMAINED what it was,
& people stayed in place, the death toll & damage would have been horrific.


http://tinyurl.com/3z8qujr

Hurricane Irene: New York Subways, Broadway Shows to Shut; More Bodybags for NC - ABC News

Hurricane Irene Passes New York, MTA Officials Scramble To Reset Commute

Tropical Storm Irene over New York state - South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com


tropical-storm-force winds radiate 300-miles to all sides of the center -
Irene weakens slightly over New York state - seattlepi.com

In wake of Irene, flooding fears along Eastern Seaboard
'Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett cautioned: 'The rivers may not crest until Tuesday or Wednesday.
This isn't just a 24-hour event.'

Philthy got slammed -
http://tinyurl.com/3uztzej


Tropical Storm Irene: Latest developments - CBS News


New York City Irene Damage - Tropical Storm Irene Arrives - WSJ.com

most shelters ask evacuees to BRING every bloody thing: water, food, flashlights, bedding, batteries,
1st-aid kits, clothing, toilet-tissue, soap/toiletries, etc. WELL, GUESS WHAT - if U use PUBLIC TRANSIT,
U cannot schlep along a GALLON of water per person, per day, with a FOUR DAY supply minimum.
not even for one person - it's impossible.

i brought cereal to eat dry [granola mix], canned beans, crackers, a can-opener, band-aids, med-alcohol,
gauze, toiletries, clothing, a half-gallon of water, my laptop, power-cord, 3 books, cell-phone & charger,
disposable gloves, one set of S/S tableware, my insulated tall-mug as a bowl/glass/cup... i forgot PJs
& slept in linen pants & shirt; i also forgot lip-balm & H2O2 for my mouth-guard.

but asking folks with a family to schlep everything they'd need in their hands or on their backs is nutz -
i can't bring what they tell me to bring FOR MYSELF, & i'm a relatively-healthy adult, not an infant in nappies
or an elderly person, nor am i disabled or chronically-ill.

i spent today helping my downstairs neighbor get wet stuff out of her house, & sanitize the floors & walls;
i taped the broken dryer-vent cover back in place for another neighbor, as the vent-pipe is being used
by field-crickets to get into her house, & the loud chirrups are keeping them awake at night. [her laundry-room
is 2 steps down, & did flood via the vent-pipe; floating debris snapped off the vent-cover].

mounds of broken branches, leaf litter, soaked carpet & padding, ruined furniture, contaminated wallboard,
sopping pillows, etc, are climbing on every curb-side. soaked sofas & mattresses are common.

Kristen [across the street] had her bedroom ceiling collapse; turned out the ONLY roof-drain on that side
had been allowed to clog - when the fella cleared it, the roof-drain ran water for over an hour!
the repair-crew will be in tomorrow to fix the ceiling.

we are under a dangerous-storm watch until 11-pm, which can include high-wind, heavy lightning, & hail -
or tornados. oh, goody.

are still rising; i think the Franklin river in Franklin Co, VA, was supposed to crest on Wed-nite / Thursday-AM,
but my ISP is not working so i can only get tidbits of news.

hundreds of thousands are still w/o electrical-power, & many neighborhoods or small towns / villages
are entirely isolated by floodwaters.

i am so thankful that for the first time, OUR neighborhood got power back quickly; we have no hospitals,
major schools / universities, retirement-homes with hundreds of residents, etc - so we are last on the list.
sheer luck saved us from a week or more with no power [meaning no AC in 85-degree heat, days,
& no lights after dark, nights - nor a frig for food, micro for cooking, etc].