They probably don't have anyway to connect since I heard internet and cell phone towers were out. I am thinking of them and hope they are all high and dry and safe!

You mean all of us in the east? In RI, we've been taking boats out, screwing plywood over windows, tying down lawn furniture. As for my antique roses, they are at present all looking healthy with lots of new growth, and I hope the wind tomorrow wont batter them too much.

Carol

My MIL lives right where Irene made landfall in NC. We haven't heard from her as the phone lines are down and we hear she is without power. She's a bit inland but we're still worried about her--she lives alone.

I sure hope those in NYC, Boston and other big cities take this seriously and make the necessary precautions.

Jeff

I was thinking of all of you, but my daughter just sent me a "blackberry" message to say that her power is out. She lives in Odenton MD. She said she would get the storm, and they had been advising people to stock up on water, but she felt she was far enough inland to not be affected.

She is fine, but
Please be careful to all of you involved.

Sammy

I'm a very few miles due north of where Irene made landfall on the Carolina coast. Even tho I live in an area where all power lines are below ground, my neighborhood was without electricity for 7 hours today. We are extremely fortunate because most folks in the greater community remain in the dark. Even tho we're told that the worst is over, winds continue to be ferocious (with gusts that defy description), and we continue to be pelted with driving rain.

I believed the warnings we received for the several days leading up to Irene's arrival, and worked from sunrise to sundown to prepare for the worst. Thank god I took those warnings seriously rather than blowing them off like many folks apparently did. I saved myself a boatload of grief.

All of my pine trees have weathered the storm well -- not so some of the hardwood trees. I've got large branches down all over the place. Sadly, I think my huge specimen 'Natchez' crepe myrtle is history.

The roses seem to be okay (time will tell). I took extreme efforts to protect the few climbers I have . . . However, one of my raised beds that's bordered by a stone wall presently looks like an overflowing bathtub. That bed has been in place for over a decade & has weathered other hurricanes -- however, I've never before seen this level of saturation.

I've just returned from a short outing with my valiant dogs (they persevered MUCH better than I did). There are mature trees down everywhere I looked. The sound of chain saws is sure to be background noise in our lives for many days to come.

I'll assess the damage tomorrow & see if there's anything I can contribute to the community's recovery effort.

Remember the Weavers singing group with Pete Seeger? With them, let's all sing a rousing chorus of "Irene, Goodnight"!

According to the last forecast, mostly medium rain has started about 1/2 hour South of me & is expected to last through tomorrow night.

I don't have to worry about flooding, as I am half-way up a hill. But heavy rains do tend to wash out the edge of the driveway near the road. I've left some piles of weeds uphill a bit, hoping to at least slow down if not detour the stream.

Although it will probably be categorized as a tropical storm, I am still concerned about the wind. I have one more-than-half-dead 75 year old maple too near the shed attached to the west side of the house, and more than once large limbs have fallen on the shed roof. One Winter a piece about 10 ft long & 2.5 ft in diameter fell in the path parallel to the road side of the house,about 2 feet out. It loosened one of the electric lines, and when the power was restored it burned out several furnace parts.

I also have a large old ash tree next to my driveway and shade garden. This useless piece of carp drops branches whenever a person sneezes, it's so brittle. But at least it is only smaller branches that drop, so little damage is done. Just a lot of bending over to pick them up and discard.

At least the plants will get a good watering. And if it is really bad I might get the day off as I work for the State and occasionally the offices are shut down because of bad weather.

Marie

Lots of wind and rain here ... started mid morning yesterday, getting worse alll day as the center of the storm moved north and moved to the east of us. Fortunately, we have no significant damage and we only lost power briefly yesterday at dinnertime.

The only casualty of the storm was part of my concrete front fence ... photos on my blog, linked below.

Connie

Here is a link that might be useful: Minimal Hurricane Damage, Thank Goodness!

So glad to hear you only had minimal damages, hartwood! Let's hope everyone did!

Slept in to 2PM, lights off. Turned on lamp but it went out within a few seconds.Rain not that heavy, but very noisy winds.
Went out to check the trees. Big ones ok, but lots of little branches from the ash. Back to bed. Later when it was just a drizzle I went out to the car to listen to the radio, but no news on.
No power this AM, and the telephone dead also. Went to work so I could get a cup of coffee (among other reasons). No power when I got home from work, so started to pick up sticks and rake the ones on the road to a brush pile away from the main area. Went in at 7 & the power was on.
The worse thing that happened was the winds had blown off one of the tarps covering the East side of the roof. My son & a friend had taken off the old shingles to repair the rotted wood underneath & I did not have the money for shingles. But surprised that the tarps lasted almost 2 years.

We are north of Baltimore, Md. in a country community south of York, PA. We were hit with high winds in the middle of the night. Lost power the first time around midnight, again around 1:30 a.m. and again around 3:00 a.m. The winds lasted most of the next day gusting by varying degrees. No damage; all is well here.

I suspect Baltimore slowed Irene down, and I think we were on the outer edges of the hurricane.

This one was not nearly as bad as Isabella which caused serious tree damage at Tropical Storm strength. We had to call in a contractor to remove the trees that were badly damaged and all the huge limbs on the ground.

Glad to hear everyone is ok.

Barbara