you might say i live on a sandbar. long beach is a barrier beach along the south shore of western long island. you can see it on the map. we are around 1/4 mile wide at our widest and i guess about 2 feet above sea level at our highest.
irene will be joining us on sunday and her projected course will bring her right across our bow. my brother in law is a bit south of here and said we got some 40 foot surf coming our way.
oh well....... if we dont lose power i'll be able to pump out the basement, which is below sea level. if not..... well i dont know. i guess i'll just wait it out.
aint got no plans on leaving but that may change if i feel like my family is in any danger. i'll keep ya'll posted.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c3...island_map.jpg

LoL.. there's hope for you yet Reel!! :beer:

Update as of 3am Friday.. looks like it's going to hit Cape May with the eye, and then come right up the coast. For NJ that's actually good. It spins anti-clockwise. They are figuring 75 mph wiinds and moving northward @ about 20 mph, so anything to the east of the eye will be getting 95+ mph winds (75 spin plus 20 forward movement) Anyone to the west of the eye will be getting 55 mph winds (75 spin minus 20 forward) So it looks like Long Island & NYC will get the brunt of the winds/rain. NJ will get a ton of rain and lots of flooding, but not as severe with the winds. In all cases it's def time to batten down the hatches. I'm moving my boats to an open field where no falling trees can crush them...
Ditto with my vehicles. We have plenty of food, water, tarps, candles, propane for camp stove, fuel for Coleman lamps, 10 gals gas for the generator. All 3 chainsaws ready and tested.. I think we're about as ready as we can be.. Still, I don't have a good feeling about this one.
Good luck to everyone that's going to be effected by this. God bless and stay safe!!

CTT only 2' above sea level doesn't sound like much...I am hearing surge of up to 14' when it comes ashore...had no idea LI was no more of a hill than that...don't wait til the last minute...my inlaws couldn't get outta freakin' Houston recently and LI has even fewer escape options...and if the eye goes to your west, the east side of this storm will hit the sandbar yer on like a boxer's punch...wind, rain AND tidal surge...

W/all the heavy rainfall soaking the ground, there ARE gonna be widespread power outages when the trees start falling on power lines...and peeps blocked in when roads are blocked...glad to hear you got your saws ready, Destroyer...hope you all do...

GarageNC is right in this things cross-hairs down on NC's coast...come on down here TODAY, Lee...we got plenty of room...

MJ, CB and guys to the north, hopefully it will have subsided somewhat by the time it reaches you, but I keep remembering Hugo had sustained winds of 90 mph when it hit Charlotte NC 200+ miles inland, so dig in guys and be ready for the power being out...

I'll be thinking about all of you...not gonna be a typical weekend for you..

I remember the last big scare we had for a hurricane.





Here is a picture of the devastation it had:





http://www.grist.org/i/assets/earthquake_devastation

Let's hope we only have similar damage.

Although I will be ready...got gas for the generator and plenty of beer. Just glad I no longer have to pull the sailboat from the mooring...

Stay safe!

rkc

yeah guys....I'm sure all of you are taking the proper pre-cautions for the storm but be clear....these things DON'T PLAY!!!!! We have been through some really bad ones in the past down here. The size and magnitude of the storm is the most amazing thing. We have been some 400-500 from the eye as this thing passed us over the last 24 hours. Yesterday I drove home in some of the worst rain storms I've seen in a while. Thats just from the bands of rain that extended out from the storm.

Remember, when they talked about 75 mph winds (or greater). Those are sustained winds. The wear things down over time. Also, gusts for 75mph winds will usually be around 95mph. If you are able to get out of the way of a direct hit (if your in the area where the eye is going to hit), please do. Don't take any chances. As somebody else said earlier in this post, the flooding can be the worst of it. If you know of places that have standing water after it rains normally, imagine those areas with 10"+ of water.

On the positive side of things, this storm has pulled the weather away from us making for a really awesome chance to do some fishing this weekend :hi:

WOW!!...looks like THAT monster blew outta the EAST!!...yer lucky to still be alive!!...:nut:

we are just starting to get the first rains and a few wind gusts from the outer bands, nothing like what our northern friends are in for. Stay safe everyone.

Lawn chair pushed on its side. LOL priceless..
Been in FL all my life. Hurricanes were always a time for us kids to play in the rain and have fun because they would blow themselves out and reduce in strength prior to making it this far inland. (54 feet of elevation so no storm surge)
BUT - Charlie got my attention, then Gene, then Francis. All in one year. They criss-crossed Florida and all three centers came within 20 miles of the house. We are 100 miles from where Charlie made landfall and it was still a CAT2 when it hit Polk County. Don't play around. Gusts of 100 and sustained at 75 is more than your average squall. I thought we were gonna loose the roof on our CBS home. Lost a part of the fence. Debris field from loss of fence wiped out my neighbors pool enclosure 2 houses down. No power for 4 days. 6000 watt generator at the ready but didn't count on having to use the Alabama credit card to extract fuel from the Tahoe to make it run. Only had two 5 gal cans which was good for about 10 hours of runtime. Electric water heaters keep the stored water hot for 3 days if used sparingly. Oppressive heat on top of that made for some miserable living with the wife and youngin. Used the generator to power the Fridge, Freezer, run ceiling fans, lights, dish and TV. Not enough to run the A/C. Propane and charcoal is your best friend. Water and canned goods are a must have.
Things can be replaced/rebuilt. Get out of the direct path of the storm. CTT this means you.

I just got this e-mail from a friend. I love the signature line. The extra mile, go there often, lonely place.

Subject: FUEL

NOTE ***8211; 4 OF THE MAJOR US FUEL REFINERIES ARE SCHUDULED TO SHUT DOWN IN THE NEXT 3 HOURS. 2 ADDITIONAL REFINERIES HAVE SHUT DOWN ALREADY. IT MIGHT BE A GOOD THING TO FILL YOUR CARS UP BEFORE THE PRICES RISE. DEPENDING ON THE DAMAGE, IF ANY, IT USUALLY TAKES A FUEL REFINERY 1 WEEK TO START UP AND START PROCESSING FUEL AGAIN.

The ***8220;Extra Mile***8221; has no traffic jams.

Funny you mentioned that!!!! Last time we had to evac., I filled my Wellcraft uup. Figured while that line at the gas pump was a mile long I would have a cold beer and let a siphon hose do the work. God Bless a Wellcraft!!!!!

Oh, and don't be like the jackass's I came across in the river who took all day to anchor their sailboat up. I was putterin by in 3' swells in my jon boat(on the way to pull out) and asked the sailboat crew if they had everything they needed. They said "Yep, just finishin up!!" I asked if they had someone comin to pick them up and you guessed it, "Uhhhhh, no. Guess we forgot that part....." I had to give them a ride back to the docks just in time for 30-35kt gusts and me to have to haul azz 30' up into the marsh to avoid gettin swamped to make the 3mi run to the ramp. This was before cell phones and my ramp buddy(Dad) was pissed to say the least I was 1hr late. He thought I capsized. He asked me where I dropped them off at, we went back there to their dock, I could hear the screamin from the car:clap:

Moral of the story: Be prepared!!