Wish us luck here on the East Coast with the storm!
 

Digging in!

Guess I'll remove my post since the original poster did a 360 on the topic.

are you sure that is him? Name was different

Good Luck Dan!

Remember, if the power goes out, the PSA SMR makes for great burning material! ;)


Jantz

We are doing the same (hunkered down) in the apt. Watching the Hudson rise! It's just now starting to really rain, winds are around 30mph...

yup, rain just started pouring down about 10-15 mins ago here in southeast Connecticut along the coast. Winds have been slowly & steadily picking up since last night.

Wind is picking up in Mass as well. At least the raking won't be spread out over a month. There will be no leaves left on the trees after this storm!

I used to enjoy windy days where I used to live because it was a small yard with some huge trees so our leaves would go anywhere but in our yard. At my current location, we are our own neighbor and surrounded by trees so they all meet up in the front yard, cozy against the house. That my friends is called Fall Karma.

I'm getting pictures from all my friends that live near the Jersey Shore and there is some major destruction going on, especially on the boardwalks. If there is one silver lining at all for the boardwalk owners, it is the timing of the storm, after the season, but well before the next season. They have such a short time frame to make all their money anyway.

Hope all are well

Good luck all. I hope you, your families, and your cards stay safe!

The cards actually came in handy, I took the most ornery looking player from my Old Judge collection and taped his cards to my door to keep the storm away. Sacrificed my Joe Visner collection for the good of the team, take a look at his OJ's, looks like he just got done fighting someone outside the picture studio!

Bad here in Arizona too...
 

<post in bad taste removed>

Seriously, good luck to everyone. It sounds pretty bad.

Pic from the front room..:)

storm
 

Being in the tree business I have 2 crews out doing storm damage and its getting real bad! Wind at 60-70 mph. Im on the coast in Ct just out side of NYC. A friend of mine sent me this pic an omen of things to come!

I knew trampolines were dangerous...

Well as long as he protected the rest, then it's all worth it ;)

My view from Hoboken...Hudson River is very choppy, winds are really picking up, tide is high. be safe everyone.

Al, is that Milford?

Pretty wet in the D.C. area. But, the real worry is tonight's winds. I'm braced to lose power, which happens with some frequency in my older neighborhood. Just so long as no tree falls on my house.

Just returned from a ten mile excursion. Landfall expected here on the north shore of Suffolk County, Long Island, in about an hour. It's already like a ride at Disney Land/World. As Jeff Goldblum more or less said in Jursassic Park, "Yes, but at Disneyland the pirates don't eat the humans." (or something like that). Already over 100,000 w/o power. Keep the faith.

Shaun,
As a matter of fact it is!

Seriously...
 

I wlil be Praying for You ALL!

I grew uP on Long Island and I heard that this type of Storm only rears it's Ugly Head every 1000 years! The Only "Sandy" that I know is a real sweetheart of a gal... Hopefully, this has some meaning ;-)

Hang in there fella's...

As Always...

Doesn't look that bad, looks like a normal fall winter day in Michigan;)

We lost power this morning for about 3 hours, winds are strong here too.

Seriously, good luck to all on the East coast.

Joe

Winds now over 60mph, kind of hard to see but the water in now coming over the sea wall..:(

The winds in Brooklyn are pretty intense right now, it sounds like an engine roaring down the street. But we pretty much missed all the heavy rain, and the trees and branches haven't come down yet. I know some areas got hit very hard, and we still have to get through the night when the storm is supposed to peak. And I hope we don't lose electricity, that would be bad. Our neighborhood is somewhat elevated so storm surge isn't a problem. But that wind sure is howling.

The winds getting bad here in Berks County Pa.My rainspout on the back of my house just got ripped off and my pool cover is in a tree.So far our electric
is still on.I hope everyone in Sandys path is safe and well!!

Just heard Johnny (mrvstr) is flooded and with no power. I can't even imagine going through something like this. Be safe friend.

about 3 hrs ago our 30 yr old metal shed was ripped apart and its contents scattered all over the neighborhood haha. otherwise, we still have electricity and the wind seems to be slowly dying down so i'm fine :)

Just got a text from him stating that... Thinking of him and everyone in harms way. We have high winds and rain outside DC, but all is well.

Best wishes Johnny!

We just lost power as well and the water level is now at the cross street shown in my pic above.

+1 Hope you're alright Johnny- also, anyone back east going through this, I hope you are all safe right now. Thank everyone who is posting from back there, and for the pics- much appreciated !!!

Sincerely, Clayton

Still have power in central jersey, also have one tree on the roof and another cracked and ready to fall. Luckily, from a quick look doesn't appear to have much, if any, damage and everyone is safe.

Dj

Best Wishes
 

Take Care everyone. We here in Indiana are hoping for the best for everyone and their families.
Tim Kindler

Good luck Johnny! You'll be in our prayers!

I can't even begin to imagine what its like on the east coast!

Its nasty even here in Ohio!

Hope all our eastern board members & their families are safe.


Jantz

Best of luck to everyone. Stay safe and try to stay dry!

Reg, did you live in Vegas, I was there from 1996 - 2001.? Hope that power comes back soon. We lost power here in Michigan last summer for 5 days. Not good when you a have a septic sytem.:(


Joe

So sad to see 10 people perish :(

We shook rattled and rolled 2 nights ago. Temps were 85 and dry but lost a couple of minutes of sleep when the beds were shaking from the quake.

Mostly just windy and wet as hell here, just outside of Cleveland.. Been pretty lucky so far Painesville as far as outages. Damn power's been flickering every 10-15 minutes or so though...Pretty much, in an increment that's about equal to the amount of time it takes the Cable box to reboot.. Been watching Married with Children DVD's all night, and anticipating some major weather tomorrow. Also, on a side note. Most of the local towns have moved Trick r treating to sunday. Try explaining that one to small children.

Four million people in Manhattan and Brooklyn lost electricity, and some will not see it go back on for a week. On Long Island, they are predicting it will be a week to ten days. And yet by some miracle we have electricity, internet connection, and no discernable damage outside. Somehow we dodged a bullet, and are ever so grateful.

I know some are not so lucky, and I hope everyone will be able to get through the next week. It was the terrible storm they predicted.

Barry
 

same here all around me no power and I'm doing just fine. Yard is full of leaves and tree limbs but no damage, thankfully. I Hope others were as fortunate.

Yes. I lived there from '97 to feb 2012. My wife took a Job in NYC. We still have no power, I sure hope its not a week..:eek:

Having lived up there and now in Florida (where hurricanes are a way of life), I wish everyone up there a safe and speedy recovery. 95% of Newark without power?? :eek::eek:

Text from Johnny
 

Just got a text from Johnny:
"No Power. Trees Down. Power lines down. My house is almost flooded. I'm ok."

Lots of trees uprooted and wires down here in eastern PA. Power was out for about 12 hours - making for some nervous waiting with our 3 sump pumps knocked out. Thankfully the worst of the rain skirted around us and the basement did not flood (where most of my bulk cards were).

Lost a few shingles off the roof and was up there this morning doing a patch job until the roofer arrives.

Hope everyone is safe and your cards are dry!
Rob

Also Johnny's freaks are okay. :D

Phew... I didn't want to ask...

We're in Valley Stream on the South Shore of Long Island. Miraculously, we have power. Two streets up they don't. Just luck, I guess. Very, very grateful. Newsday says LIPA has 82% of its customers on LI with no power. That's incredible. Wouldn't surprise me if it was two weeks for some people to get power back. Trees down everywhere, streets flooded, it's a mess.

I grew up in W.Va. and went through a horrific flood in 1985. 40-some people died in my state alone and we lost our house and my father's newspaper. We were actually running for my parents' vehicles as the water was rushing down the street. Missed a month of school, had no power for days and days and spent weeks digging out our possessions (what was left of them). Not a pleasant experience. Prayers are with those who've been hit hard by this storm.

Rob

We live just North of Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania. Our house is surrounded by many tall oaks; and, about 8:30 last night two oaks crashed down on us.
The bigger oak just missed the house, but the smaller one hit us. What a mess....our deck was partially damaged and the roof of the upper garage is damaged.

This storm has to be one of the most destructive storms to hit the mid-Atlantic region in many a moon. Millions within a 900 mile swath up and down the coast
are still without power.

It will be a happy day when we get back to normal....whenever that occurs.


TED Z

ted et al
 

my thoughts and prayers are with you all during this most difficult time.
all the best,
barry

I have no power, but no damage to report...I am very lucky. At a good friends house now...hope everyone is safe.

Long Island got destroyed. I am a Police Detective in Suffolk County and the devastation on the South Shore is incredible. Some areas will never recover. This storm will probably be the most costliest ever. Stay safe everyone! CN

A little good news on my end! After 2 days of no power or water we now have both..:D the ferry service in front of us is also running at limited times to WTC and 39th street. I hope everyone else affected a safe and speedy recovery!!

We're in Northern Virginia, about 35 miles NW of DC and we made it through the storm with no damage and no loss of power - just high winds and lots of rain. Glad the storm didn't turn out to be as bad as they expected for our area. Our hearts and prayers go out to those in NY, NJ and other hard hit areas. Stay safe!

Got our power back today. 200,000 out of 300,000 Orange and Rockland Customers lost power. We ended up with our neighbors shed in our backyard, but sustained no real damage. The homes along the Hudson River (about a 1/2 mile from us) are essentially gone. Schools closed for at least this week.

The visuals I’ve seen from NYC, Jersey, and Long Island are unreal...

This picture is the Jersey Shore town of Lavallette, taken from the air this morning. This is about two miles from Seaside Heights, where the roller coaster was washed into the ocean. My wife's family has a house on the right edge of the picture along the beach, and this was the first evidence we had that it was still standing.

Considering some of the devastation we saw on the news from a couple of miles in either direction, this was some good news to see that there is a chance that the summer home can be salvaged.

I live on south shore of long island... water surrounded my house.. I had 3 ft of water in every room.... the house is no longer livable.. and wont be for some time.. I was only renting.. but with no flood insurance on my possessions the damage is terrible.

thankfuly one of the few things that went undamaged was my card collection. But I will be living out of my parents in laws house for the next 30-60 days while I figure out what to do next...

had to leave that night at 9pm out of my window.. with my wife.. and a backpack with my card collection.. no joke... into a boat with the fire department.. to dryer ground.. it was intense.

Jamie

Wow Jamie,

I’m really sorry to hear you lost so much and that you had to have that experience. Glad you, your wife, and your card collection are safe.

Thank you Shaun. here are a few pics.. they were taken with my phone...
pic of the back yard at 5pm.. this was mid tide.. my doc raised way up.. my neighbors yard aleady flooded
http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/g...er19/storm.jpg

by 830pm the worst has hit.. 3ft of water in the house.. my livingroom flooting
http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/g...r19/storm2.jpg

this pic was taken at 3pm of my front yard...at the low tide for the day.. by 9pm water was at the top of the fence you see across the street.. we later escaped out of the window this pic was taken from.
http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/g...r19/storm4.jpg

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/g...r19/storm3.jpg

storm
 

Jamie,
So sorry to hear that it was that bad for you. I hope the Cobb I sold you was in the back pack! I hope all works out for everyone! Being in the Tree Business I can tell you what I have seen over the last few days is just so sad. The damage that has been done will take years to fix. My crews have had to cut so many trees off houses,I have never seen this kind of damage not even from Hurricane Gloria! Stay safe everyone!

Wow Jamie, glad to hear you and the lady are safe and dry. Crazy.

Thanks for the update Erick, I'm glad he's ok. I know if he's ok his cards are going to be ok too :)

For everyone who took major damage, that sucks, but I'm glad you all are alive !!! I can't imagine going through a storm like this, and having to deal with a totally flooded home. I wish the best for all of you.

Sincerely, Clayton

Jamie- so sorry to hear what you have had to endure. Just a couple of weeks ago we were all reveling in your good fortune, and 15 minutes of fame. Now life has taken a cruel turn. I'm very sorry for it.

I grew up in Cedarhurst, also on the south shore of Long Island. I wonder how much damage occurred over there?

Jamie - So sorry for your loss! Glad to hear your wife and you (and the cards) are safe and out of harms way. Hang in there, you'll get through this. Let me know if I can be of any assistance.

Jason

Jamie, Glad you and your wife got out ok. My best as you sort out the next few weeks or months.
RC

It's Been a Wonderful Week
 

Still waiting to hear when we will actually be able to get back onto Long Beach Island to assess the actual damage to our shore house. We know at least that it is still standing since we saw it last night on a local newscopter flyover. We have heard that there was five feet of water on our street, which means the entire first floor of our house (including a brand new kitchen :() is toast. The picture below is from high tide Monday morning before the storm rolled in.

The picture after that is part of our adventure at our regular home. A 60 foot pine just snapped in the wind like a matchstick. Fortunately, it couldn't have fallen at a better angle if a tree surgeon did it. No damage to fence or house. Still without power/cable/Internet. We have a generator, but gas is getting very hard to come by.

Update from Johnny V
 

Just had a text exchange with him... he seems in good spirits (considering).

No power yet. Traffic lights out. Taking cold showers.

He said many others around him aren't as lucky... reports of pulling bodies out of the bay near him.

He wanted me to give a shout to all of you and let you know he's doing ok.

I am the Little Ferry Borough Administrator in charge of the day to day operations of the town. We were hit with a 9 foot tidal surge where 90% of the town went underwater. It has been only 2 days in the sheer amount of debri people are pulling out of their homes is mind boggling. Today we had 8 30 yard garbage trucks, twenty 30 yard containers and large dump trucks and didn't scratch the surface of more than 2 blocks. My preliminary damage assessment of just government property is going to push 1.2 million dollars. And we are small town of approximately 11,000 residents. Are police vehicle fleet was cut in half and we are estimating that over a thousand of the residents cars will be totaled due to water damage. The sheer volume of destruction and the New Jersey and the New Jersey Shore community got it worse. It is amazing more people didn't die during the storm especially first responders. As someone who sees this from the unique perspective of looking at an entire town is mind numbing how much this is going to cost.

Mcap- I was well aware that Little Ferry was hit as hard as anyone, and my thoughts and prayers go out to all its residents. I know that area well- my wife is from Ridgefield Park and my dad had a business in Carlstadt. I have gone over that bridge in Little Ferry countless times. Hope the town finds the strength to come back again.

I live right on the Hudson River in Hoboken, as you all know, our town got rocked. 90% without power (it's slowly getting restored) and major flooding. we were there thru thursday morning, then came out to my parents in PA. we're safe.

hope everyone is doing better. stay strong.

Back online here in Central Jersey. Came through dry and only dark for a day or so. The extent of loss around here is amazing. My thoughts are with those of you that are still without power or heat.
For any of you who can't access their beach houses, the NOAA website has hi-res photos taken on Thursday. You can see individuals houses. The LBI images are mind boggling.

Best to all.

Little Ferry had first big clean up day.....eight 30-yard garbage trucks running for 8 hours, pulled about 100 thirty yard containers and didn't make a dent. If you go to the state's Sandy information center, some utilities list timeframe of turning on electric as "town decimated" or similar verbiage. I have upped the local government cost to $1.5 to $2 million. I also met with the largest state municipal insurance carrier friday, it is a joint insuramce fund. They are the excess coverage providers and were in complete shock. We were town 2 of 380 or so they have to visit.

I'm back online finally although it sounds worse than it was for me. I live out in the woods with less than 50 residents within a 1/2 mile radius of my house(50 is a safe est., might be 25), so we weren't high priority to get back into the swing of things. Four trees down on our property that did a combined $0 worth of damage. Boredom reigned supreme the last 5 days but we were very lucky.

The bright side: you could build a fort with those trees John!

You really overestimate my carpentry skills :)

sandy....
 

was just reading the thread.....thanks guys for the relaying of info.....thanks for all asking....kevin, jamie and all the rest, i am so sorry for your losses....:(.....im surprised and thankful more lives weren't lost.....

Clayton....thanks especially for your concern....still cleaning up, but after seeing t.v., not even close to what people lost....:eek:

Yes, Kevin, just saw that... Glad you got away from that.


Btw... Beautiful home :o

Still Recovering
 

We've been looking at the satellite images posted on NOAA and also saw a helicopter flyover on Channel 12 News, but they were from too far away to tell much more than just that the house was still standing (which, obviously, is good news in itself). A neighbor sent us pictures yesterday from someone who was actually on the island and cruising our block. A little more good news - roof appears intact and no apparent broken windows, but there are no visible high-water marks on the outside of the house, so we have no idea yet how bad the inside is. Might have minnows in the fireplace. Our garbage can holder, which we put away from the street and next to the house for safety, is nowhere to be seen. Could be in the back yard, a neighbor's yard or in the middle of Little Egg Harbor. Our washing machine, which was outside, is obviously toast. Other than that, we have to wait to get inside, which won't be until Wednesday at the earliest and then under military/police accompaniment for an hour only. The island has 70% of the electricity restored, but still no water, gas, sewer, cable, Internet. It's depressing to think how much this is all going to cost to fix up, but suffice it to say that it's likely to put quite a crimp in an already thin Old Judge collecting budget. Still, I'm still here to collect.

Johnny - you have been a beacon through this whole thing. Great upbeat attitude.

And Barry - didn't realize you had such stong ties to the state across the Hudson. You are at least an honorary Jersey Boy! :)

Let me share a story of what's going on in NY right now. My wife went out at 7:00 this morning looking for gas. She missed the whole past week of work and needs to get in tomorrow.

She found a station with gas about a mile from the house, but of course had to get on the end of a long line.

She has now been on the line for two hours, and has only travelled about five blocks. Based on how far the station is, she will be on that line for at least three, and quite possibly four hours- just to fill up her gas tank. Can you imagine that?