September 15, 2003
Isabel
So Isabel is thinking of visiting the Jersey Shore, how nice! This is a picture of the barrier island, part of it anyway. Pretty thin, isn't it. Loaded with million dollar + homes, heck, some of the lots sell for a mill without the houses. I grew up a bit further up the island, up 2 towns, we had a hurricane come through back in '66. We evacuated, but my parents said never again. At least my father said that *G* I don't think he liked leaving the boat moored in the backyard. I remember the water rising up so that the boat was above the bulkhead.
We live here on the mainland, I can see the lights of the beach on my way home in the mornings, but at least I don't anticipate flooding here. I just keep hoping it hits *after* I've come home from work. It's a tough one, you want to help and certainly I would stay, but I don't like the idea of leaving my son to take the full responsibility of everything at home. We get some pretty kick ass Nor'easters here, but this would be the first real hurricane in a long time.
Right now I'm not giving it too much thought. We'll make sure the lawn furniture is in and the garbage cans/recycling cans are secured. Make sure we have plenty of drinking water and utility water on hand and dry non-perishable food and that's about it. It seems that lately around here if you look the wrong way, the electric goes out, so I'm more concerned with that than anything else. We lost power 2 nights in a row last week at work and in a good portion of the mainland part of the town. There's been on going issues with JCPL (electric co) over the problems.
I imagine the next fews days at work will be hectic, people concerned over what to do and where to go and seeing as how everyone thinks they should call 911 every time their lights flicker, this shouldn't be any different. Need a plumber? Call the police! Afraid to let that bat out the door, call the police! Locked your keys in the car, washing machine overflowing, need your air conditioner turned on, need the cat to be let back in the house, yes, all true calls. Please, think before you call the police, somebody else may really need us. Oops, I've gone on a rant, sorry. No one should ever hesitate to call when they are truly in need, but many times, the need just isn't a police matter.
Posted by Mickey at September 15, 2003 3:04 PM