Rita was terrible for the evacuation problems, my family in west Houston went north to Huntsville spending hours on the road only to have Rita go directly over them and knock out power while power at their houses in Houston stayed on throughout. They stayed put through Ike and lost power for three days or so but thought it no worse than being on the road 10 hours to go 75 miles during Rita. Carla is my first hurricane memory. We went to my grandmother's house in Austin while my dad stayed at work in downtown Houston. The storm surge pushed 50 miles inland and the water was 6' high on Main Street. The aftermath looked like a war zone from downtown all the way to the coast. An image I will never forget. We've been through hurricanes all over the place. We were stranded at JFK during Gloria, the last big hurricane to hit NYC. Thanks to a wonderful USO volunteer who braved the storm in case someone needed help we found a place to stay and a ride there since no one was renting cars. It worked out, but not something we'd want to go through again. Hurricane Isabel in 2003 took pretty much the same track as Irene and went right over us in Virginia. We were without power for a day but many neighbors and friends were without power for nine days to three weeks. No, you don't want a hurricane when a nice rain will do the same thing. According to our local weather forecast we are due for a pattern change after labor and several rain days are anticipated.

Hey, here I am! Thanks for the concern. Glad everybody is OK. We are battered, bruised, damp, & exhausted...but still here. I also would like to give a shout-out of appreciation to Michigan, Iowa, Lousianna, & Georgia. They had 5 bucket trucks, 2 pick-ups, & 14 linemen working on our street today. A big thanks to these states also for helping Mystic this week. We really needed the assistance. Idaho, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Illinois, Vancouver B.C. (thanks, Ann T.!), Colorado, & Ohio. We were 97% black for the first 3 days. It's been slow going ever since. SE Connecticut was hardest hit. (See article from "The Day" below) http://www.theday.com/article/20110902/NWS12/309029912/1018 Connecticut had over 620,000 outages (about half the state). Our First Selectman (equivilent of a mayor) declared a state of emergency in Mystic that was just released yesterday. At one point nearly 85% of our roads were empassable due to flooding, down trees, and/or down power lines. I've got lots of pictures but am too exhausted to upload tonight. Will post tomorrow. Here's a video of Mystic. Our house is featured but due to living in such a public place I'd rather not point out exactly our home. Some of you may recognize it. BTW, the videographer is NOT in Mystic Seaport. He's in Historic Mystic. It's a common mistake. Mystic Seaport is a living museum of the sea located in Historic Mystic. There's also a regular "Mystic" and an "Old Mystic". Confusing. Again, glad everybody's OK. More tomorrow. /tricia Here is a link that might be useful: Youtube - Mystic, Hurricane Irene

Nancy, thanks so much for posting for me. When I phoned we were still in shock and I'm sure I wasn't very coherent. It was a rough couple days. Linda, the antique furniture is probably a total loss. If it was on the floor - it's water damaged. I've got a call into our antique broker but haven't yet been able to reach him to discuss possible repairs (?). It's possible he's also flooded. Still, once it's been flooded - never the same and value will be severely reduced, as you know. So, we'll most likely let the insurance deal with them on our claim. :( We were bemoaning the loss of the antique pieces last night before we fell asleep. Every one had a story that meant a lot to us. Truthfully though, we have so much to worry about right now that we haven't focused on their loss - yet. The structure itself held well so we had no interior wind damage to rattle things around. That means the mulberry is okay as are all of the 18th century wine glasses and decanters. We lost a considerable number of reference books though and you know how hard those are to come by. I also lost my Yamaha Clavinova. :( Things like Dad's accordion we took with us as well as all his sheet music. I lost some genealogy. That's heartbreaking. I'm still working on the inventory list. That goodness we kept meticulous records, receipts, and have a thorough professional appraisal as an addendum to our policy. It cost a bit more in premiums but not nearly as much as the losses. Lpink, have you considered coming through CT to New London and taking the ferry over to LI, going to get your aunt/uncle, and bringing them back the same way? We have ample gas available in CT and there's been virtually no looting concerns. It's a mess here but we are up and running again and safe. The ferry is running again. And thanks so much for you thoughts. Every one means so much now. Bumblebeez - thanks so much. Please keep those best wishes coming. It's going to be a long haul, months not weeks. Chase, on behalf of all Sandy's victims thank you for your Red Cross donation. The Red Cross is doing so much for so many across the region. They are always first on the scene and last to leave. Again, thank you. FEMA seems, so far, to be on top of things. It only took 20 minutes to fill out forms, register, get assigned a representative, etc. and we've received several phone calls from FEMA already and it's only been a week today Sandy paid us a visit. We have an appointment Friday at FEMA's temporary office here in Stonington. /tricia

I have formerly lived on the Florida, Mississippi & Texas Gulf coats and I have been through 5 hurricanes in my lifetime, oneof which while working as a deck hand on a long ranging 95ft shrimp boat that was about 140 miles from the storm center so based upon my personal experience I am not afraid, but I am not a fool either........My car is gased up and packed with our camping gear so we get jet out of here on a moments notice and head 100 miles north. Many ppl seem to be under the illusion that this is not a dangerous storm because it is only a category 1 hurricane, but ppl, do not let that category number fool you. This is an extremely dangerous storm because it is tracking very slow. One cannot deny that a cat.5 storm that is pushing susstained winds of 160mph+ is extremely dangerous, but in most instances those storms tend to track rather quickly so you are only confronted with the peak winds for 4 to 6 hours and most ppl have the good sense to evacuate low areas but when we get a cat. or cat.2 storm ppl tend to take it lightly as if its no big deal. In the case of IRENE it is proving to be a very big deal because this storm is tracking very slow and has not yet made a landfall to convince ppl of how dangerous it is. At the pace this storm is tracking it could and probably will cause sustained winds in excess of 75 to 100mph for perhaps 12 hours or more. Also keep in mind that while that is the sustained wind, there are also gust that will exceed 120 to 150mph not to mention that this is an extremely broad storm and tornadoes are extremely common in the feeder bands on the edge of the storm. Also, from my experience, if you think there is even the remotest possibility that you may have to evacuate, DO IT NOW!!!! Once the mass exodus begins all the interstates and highways rapidly become parking lots. Do not wait till the last minute and end up stuck on the highway in a traffic jam.