When are the evacs mandatory? Surely not yet?

I lived through hurricane Andrew. I pray everyone stays safe on the East coast.

I just hope people in the Northeast take it seriously. I've gone through several down in Florida and they aren't a joke. I live in Boston and no one I know seems to even care. In fact, several coworkers were surprised to hear that we'll be hit when I was talking about it today.

Hurricanes are one of those things that don't look so bad when you're watching the news - just some rain and wind but that perception is so misleading especially if you're in an area that rarely gets hit by them. I hope everyone stays safe!

They sneak up on you=listen to the weather channel, your local news and stay safe. It is NOT worth taking a chance.

Patti...shore resorts are mostly on low lying barrier islands, with limited bridges for traffic(like only 1 or 2 per island, and 2 or 4 lanes total.
Hotels and rental properties are full of vacationers.
Evac is mandatory for tomorrow.

Further inland, we have been saturated this past month with record rainfalls, swollen creeks and rivers all over. Not to mention the Delaware river, which flows into the Chesapeake bay.

Hurricane Floyd, a few years away, was disastrous and they are comparing Irene to Floyd.

I live in Western NY & in 1972 a hurricane impacted us (can't remember the name now)- huge amounts of flooding. I remember being scared - I was in 5th grade.

hostapasta, I'm guessing that was Hurricane Agnes. I was 12 years old, remember climbing the train tressel/underpass and looking down from the tracks at the bottom half of our little town underwater.

I was so afraid it would reach out house. Luckily it never got beyond the underpass because it was all uphill from there.

Monica, considering the conditions, it may be wise of you to plan to evacuate also. Not sure how far inland you are, but you already have wet soil. Please make a plan and leave if you even get a clue you need to. Keep that weather channel/weather radio on. If you wait until everyone is evacuating, you'll just end up in a huge traffic jam.

Be very careful, sweetie--don't forget to take important papers (insurance policies, etc.) with you.

We're just hoping it doesn't come up the Bay like Isabel did - that was devastating. I know my DH talks about hurricanes in New England when he was growing up, some of them bad.

Actually, the Cape May county barrier Islands have to be out tonight. Most of the rest of the shore areas have to be out by tomorrow morning. Hurricane isn't 'due' until Sunday afternoon.

I'm 60 years old, have lived in S. Jersey all my life. I cannot tell you how many dozens of times we've been told this is going to be catastrophic.... but I can count on one hand, the number of times we got truly bad damage in the area. The geography of the country, combined with the cooler water temps tend to make hurricanes drop greatly in intensity before they reach us.

This may be 'the big one', but I'm betting not. However, we're preparing as if there could be a problem. DH and I will be heading to the country house tomorrow to 'batten down the hatches'. I'll return to the suburbs Sat. to keep an eye on things here, while he stays there to handle any issues. Note, the 'country' house I speak of is a LOT closer to the ocean and the bay than we are in the suburbs (there we're a few miles from the river). We bought a buch of canned goods to go to the country house, to tide whoever is there over (we don't have the fridge hooked up).

So, stay safe, but don't get too crazy worrying about the 'end of the world'--I sort of don't think that's going to happen this time around.

The Weather Channel is now talking about the possibility of having to evacuate Lower Manhattan before flooding hits. All the trains in NYC may stop running over the weekend. There are several huge cranes on top of the Freedom Tower and workers are trying to get them secured.

Azzalea...you're just a couple of years too young to remember Hurricane Hazel(cat 4) when it did a direct hit on South Jersey in the early 1950's.

I remember what our street looked like after the rain stopped. A street of mostly Victorian era frame houses with large front porches...and seeing more than a couple with large trees that fell on/through porch roofs. Large limbs and leaves lying in the streets.

I have no illusions that another Hazel is improbable, and a healthy respect for Mother Nature.

The cell phones will be fully charged, just in case.

Fill your gas tanks and get money from your bank/ATM right now. Electric goes out and no more of either of those things!

Just a couple more suggestions - clean your tubs and washer and fill with water for using in case you lose electricity, even if you leave for the storm itself but return home you may still not have power.

Florida people put together a list several years ago for hurricane preparations. I don't know if you can do a search and find it but I think it was on Florida Gardening Forum or perhaps the Home Forum as well. I think one was made about the time Katrina came through as well.

Good luck to everyone in this gal's path. I did live in Salsibury, MD for a year. So glad I am not there now!

Monica, bless you--no, I was in elementary school during Hazel. They sent us home, but wouldn't let anyone leave if they didn't have a ride. I lived 1/2 block from the school, but had to 'hitch' a ride with the neighbor across the street--he must have had 10 kids packed in his car.

But that's the point. 50 years later, we all still remember Hazel, because it was such an unusual occurance for this area (and H. is one of the few I count as truly severe hurricanes).

I try not to listen to all the media hype, but go to the sites that put out the actual data, and interpret it myself, based on my own understanding of hurricanes. I'm not saying Irene won't be problematic, and we're working hard to prepare for the worst. BUT I will NOT be surprised if Monday, the forcasters are announcing "Wow, that was lucky, we sure dodged a bullet this time" (and acting as if they are somehow deserving of credit for that--LOL)

I'm in Long Island. Our last bad hurricane was Gloria in 1985. I remember it well. Our house was okay but we lost electricity for 3 days, lost all our refrigerated and frozen food. Friends at work lost power for 7 or 8 days. Mayo Bloomberg of New York City has already announced mandatory evacuation of Nursing Homes for Irene. MY hyusband may enjoy it-he was a meteorologist. Not me, I'm hunkering down. But no panic buying. The stores are already stripped of milk and bread. I'll drink canned soda if needed.

When hurricane Hazel hit Jersey in 1950 it continued westward and caused damage as far west as N.E. Ohio.

It's just about past Florida now and we didn't get a drop of rain from it. Bah! It's a little breezy. Nothing else. NC's governor was on CNN this morning, and they sound very well prepared.

If you live in NC or anyplace on the east coast, please check in if you haven't evacuated.

Everybody's 'number' comes up *sometime*. A friend of my mother's talked about getting hit in the 1930's. The storm virtually destroyed his home and boat in Pompano Beach, FL then continued up the coast and did the same at Green Hill, RI.

Hoping the high pressure area to the east will decrease and the jet stream will push this girl out to sea.