Thursday, August 25, 2011

Hurricane Irene Headed Our Way

This sucker is HUGE...
Posted by: Noël Jones

UPDATE: THE DELAWARE IS EXPECTED TO FLOOD BY 6PM TODAY. Click here for NOAA flood watch in NJ/Eastern PA.

Hurricane Irene, a Category 4 storm, has already ravaged the Bahamas and is headed straight up our eastern seaboard, due to hit the Carolinas on Saturday and then travel up the coast. So far the word is that
all preparations for our area should be made between now and Saturday afternoon. Irene should have wound down to a tropical storm by then, and since we're west of the coast, New York will be getting the brunt of it, not us. Still, it will be a really strong storm for our area, and we will need to be on the alert for possible flooding, high winds and falling tree branches.

According to the the Hazardous Weather Alert on the NOAA web site, the strongest part of the storm will hit us on Sunday. Please check the link above occasionally to keep track of any changes to the hazardous warning alert for our area.

19 comments:

tunsie said...

Menu for the hurricane...Brekkie Omelet with salmon and mushroom...rye toast...coffee....Yunch....sardines.olives.chiles.zaater.pita..RED WINE...Dinner.shrimp with cellophane noodles.roasted beet salad,mustard vinegrette.grilled octopus.olive oil....Red WIne...than caiperinhas.hemmingway daiquiris.beefeater and tonic.taste of russia vodka.JAZZ.JAZZ.JAZZ.and more Jazz.Repeat if symptoms re-appear..I yuv U noel marie...did I stay on topic,baby

noel jones said...

I accept all menus for natural disasters. Sounds delicious...

GOD said...

Need a volunteer to build a real big boat. I mean really big. Like 300 cubits long. Don't know exactly what a cubit is, but it is really big.

noel jones said...

GOD--these days you're gonna need a permit for that

noel jones said...

According to Tony Rhodin's article in the ET, the storm is tracking west now, and being that it will be coming on top of the thunderstorm that we already have coming our way today, there are now serious concerns that the rainfall from Irene might cause rivers that will already be high from today's storm to swell:

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/breaking-news/index.ssf/2011/08/hurricane_irene_tracking_west.html

this Associated Press update says that Gov. Christie has ordered New Jersey shore residents to evacuate by midday Friday...

ANYONE LIVING IN THE FLOODPLAIN SHOULD KEEP CHECKING THE NOAA SITE FOR FLOOD WARNINGS:

http://www.weather.gov/

enter your zip code, and it will pull up hazardous weather warnings for your area.

noel jones said...

the School of Rock benefit concert, "Smoke on the Water," which was scheduled for Sunday, has been canceled due to Hurricane Irene:

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/music/index.ssf/2011/08/hurricane_irene_cancels_easton.html

GOD said...

To: Noel and those permit nazis,
Exactly, how long can you tread water?

noel jones said...

GOD--ha ha--as long as you let me ; )

noel jones said...

There is now an NOAA flood watch for our area:

...FLOOD WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM SATURDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH
SUNDAY EVENING...

THE FLOOD WATCH CONTINUES FOR

* PORTIONS OF DELAWARE...NORTHEAST MARYLAND...NEW JERSEY AND
PENNSYLVANIA...INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING AREAS...IN DELAWARE...
DELAWARE BEACHES...INLAND SUSSEX...KENT AND NEW CASTLE. IN
NORTHEAST MARYLAND...CAROLINE...CECIL...KENT MD...QUEEN ANNES
AND TALBOT. IN NEW JERSEY...ATLANTIC...ATLANTIC COASTAL CAPE
MAY...CAMDEN...CAPE MAY...COASTAL ATLANTIC...COASTAL OCEAN...
CUMBERLAND...EASTERN MONMOUTH...GLOUCESTER...HUNTERDON...
MERCER...MIDDLESEX...MORRIS...NORTHWESTERN BURLINGTON...
OCEAN...SALEM...SOMERSET...SOUTHEASTERN BURLINGTON...SUSSEX...
WARREN AND WESTERN MONMOUTH. IN PENNSYLVANIA...BERKS...BUCKS...
CARBON...CHESTER...DELAWARE...LEHIGH...MONROE...MONTGOMERY...
NORTHAMPTON AND PHILADELPHIA.

* FROM SATURDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH SUNDAY EVENING

* HEAVY AND POSSIBLY RECORD SETTING RAINFALL AMOUNTS IN THE
SATURDAY TO SUNDAY TIME FRAME MAY RESULT IN MAJOR FLOODING
ACROSS NEW JERSEY...EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA...DELAWARE AND THE
MARYLAND EASTERN SHORE.

* SMALL CREEKS AND STREAMS WILL BE HIGHLY SUSCEPTIBLE TO RAPID
FLOODING. THE RARITAN AND SCHUYLKILL RIVERS HAVE THE POTENTIAL
TO REACT RATHER QUICKLY AND ALSO ARE HIGHLY SUSCEPTIBLE TO
FLOODING. THE DELAWARE...SUSQUEHANNA...RANCOCAS AND PASSAIC
RIVERS REACT MORE SLOWLY...BUT THEY ALSO ARE HIGHLY SUSCEPTIBLE
TO FLOODING.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A FLOOD WATCH MEANS THERE IS A POTENTIAL FOR FLOODING BASED ON
CURRENT FORECASTS.

YOU SHOULD MONITOR LATER FORECASTS AND BE ALERT FOR POSSIBLE
FLOOD WARNINGS. THOSE LIVING IN AREAS PRONE TO FLOODING SHOULD BE
PREPARED TO TAKE ACTION SHOULD FLOODING DEVELOP.

noel jones said...

the fear of flooding is not just caused by the strength of Irene, but because it has been such a wet summer and the floodplain has already soaked up as much as it can hold. also, there is a smaller storm coming tonight that will add to the river BEFORE Irene gets here, so if you are in the floodplain, PLEASE HAVE A PLAN in place before tomorrow evening!

tunsie said...

Noel marie honey...when we have a flood I am going to come there on my boat and SAVE you....I yuv U...tunsie

noel jones said...

great--I'm headed to New York for the weekend, and Bloomberg has ordered several areas of the city evacuated (but not the part of Brooklyn I'll be in)...

put your seat belts on...

david said...

From what I've been hearing, the big problem for those of us not in flooding areas, is power outage.
Now is the time to charge up rechargeable batteries, horde a few extra candles, charge cell phone or get a human powered Emergency radio/charger (walmart, Target, bed bath and beyond $40-100) , put some extra water aside for flushing toilets manually (fill the bathtub, large pots, empty containers that hold water...and basically getting as prepared as possible.
I will put up the "wwww.ready.gov"
reminder for anyone who hasn't gone yet, and of course I agree with Noel...have a kit, have a plan.
I'm told that such a storm isn't likely to be much of a real problem here in Easton but better safe then sorry.
12 Volt, car battery based power inverters can also be had at just about any major retail store and are a great idea for those who don't want or can't afford a generator (like me) They don't run a lot of stuff at once, but they can power small things like lights, the stove, the house alarm...little things that make life easier. They run from $20-100.
David

noel jones said...

thanks for posting this info for readers, david.

noel jones said...

DELAWARE RIVER IS EXPECTED TO FLOOD BY 6PM SUNDAY:

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/breaking-news/index.ssf/2011/08/region_in_tropical_storm_warni.html

david said...

Plan for the worst, pray for the best and in my case, make bread.
I can't get my durned bread to rise....wondering if the yeast is out of date.
Seriously though, I'm of mixed opinion about taping the windows. We've been downgraded to a class one, but that really dosen't mean much except slower winds and likely a lot more rain.
So we'll see. I've been through more than a few of these monsters growing up on the jersey shore , and this'll be a fine chance to see what they do inland.
Anyhow,
Our prayers are with one and all. With some basic preparation anything can be made better.
David

noel jones said...

for anyone who have friends and family in New York, here's the site with the evacuation map, including the mandatory evacuation zone in the lowest-lying parts where the mayor has already evacuated everyone to shelters, and then the additional evacuation zones in the occasion the city is hit by a 2+ or a 3-4 Level hurricane:

http://project-s3.wnyc.org/news-maps/hurricane-zones/hurricane-zones.html

the greatest likelihood is that it will just be a tropical storm by the time it hits New York, if it swings back out over the ocean after NC, and then back inland, it could pick up speed again...

noel jones said...

apparently people in some parts of College Hill and Forks have lost power--how's everyone else so far?

noel jones said...

Vermont has now been declared a federal disaster zone:

http://topics.cnn.com/topics/floods