Beware of Irene!!!

[Len90]

Wow Len, my heart goes out to you and your family. As mentioned in this thread already, we joke about being stuck in Disney as awesome, but there are additional expenses plus, I know you are worried about your home and school. Try and enjoy the time you have and safe travels to you and your family! I'm glad to hear that Disney as gone above and beyond to make your extended stay as pleasant as possible. Pixie Dust and hugs!!!!

Listening in right now to my hometown's police radio and I'm just getting nauseous hearing all the things going on. My town is taking a beating but will hopefully prevail. My college is in a lockdown and is expecting major flooding from the neighboring Raritan River. It's a long twelve hours ahead for my town. So far I know I have no power...

[Amy]

Listening in right now to my hometown's police radio and I'm just getting nauseous hearing all the things going on. My town is taking a beating but will hopefully prevail. My college is in a lockdown and is expecting major flooding from the neighboring Raritan River. It's a long twelve hours ahead for my town. So far I know I have no power...

Are you able to call your neighbors to check on your house specifically?

[boilerbabe]

That's got to be hard Len. I'm so sorry! Please hang in there!!! Are you guys able to enjoy anything in WDW or just hanging out?! Pixie Dust and hugs!

[mindflipper]

Wow Len, my heart goes out to you and your family. As mentioned in this thread already, we joke about being stuck in Disney as awesome, but there are additional expenses plus, I know you are worried about your home and school. Try and enjoy the time you have and safe travels to you and your family! I'm glad to hear that Disney as gone above and beyond to make your extended stay as pleasant as possible. Pixie Dust and hugs!!!!

Listening in right now to my hometown's police radio and I'm just getting nauseous hearing all the things going on. My town is taking a beating but will hopefully prevail. My college is in a lockdown and is expecting major flooding from the neighboring Raritan River. It's a long twelve hours ahead for my town. So far I know I have no power...

Technically, due to the impact of the storm, you may be arriving before Rutger's first day and not after....

[MmeLeota]

I saw a picture on the weather channel that was taken somewhere nearby Rutgers and it was completely flooded. Like mindflipper said, you may still make it in time Len. I hope your home is safe and hope that you are able to make the best out of the situation. I've seen some scary pics coming out of NJ, but not knowing your town, I don't know if any of those pics are close to you. Stay safe!

[Mousekedude]

I saw a picture on the weather channel that was taken somewhere nearby Rutgers and it was completely flooded. Like mindflipper said, you may still make it in time Len. I hope your home is safe and hope that you are able to make the best out of the situation. I've seen some scary pics coming out of NJ, but not knowing your town, I don't know if any of those pics are close to you. Stay safe!

Hang tough, Len! There's no doubt that opening day at Rutgers is going to be delayed. Scant reassurance, I know... but you have to glom onto whatever silver lining you can find in every cloud. Meanwhile, just try to do something fun. You can only spend a certain amount of time trying to make arrangements before it all becomes just an exercise in spinning your wheels. Step back... breathe... keep your eyes on the big picture. I know you'll be okay.

[mindflipper]

Hey, Len, if there's anything any of us can do - we're here for you! Just ask...

[NaCler]

Hey, Len, if there's anything any of us can do - we're here for you! Just ask...

Especially since quite a few of us are local and can provide a helping hand if needed. I'm glad Disney is being very helpful during this hard time. It is just one of the MANY reasons we love Disney so much more than other vacation destinations.

[Len90]

Thanks a lot everyone for all your well wishes. We got in contact with a neighbor and they were able to report back that our house had sustained no external damage. We stll are unsure about any flooding. Our electricity is still out and our power company is saying it can take about 4 days, maybe more to get complete service restored. There are 130,000+ people still without power in my county and over 400,000 people statewide for this company. There are two other power companies in NJ who are all in a similar situation.

As posted, rutgers is flooding as a result of the over flowing Raritan River. I think it is expected to max out on Tuesday and then start to recede. There has been no news on what will happen with the first day of classes. Many areas of NJ are in for the worst flooding in about 100 years. It may of only been a category 1 but it really crippled the state for weeks now.

[Mousekedude]

Thanks a lot everyone for all your well wishes. We got in contact with a neighbor and they were able to report back that our house had sustained no external damage. We stll are unsure about any flooding. Our electricity is still out and our power company is saying it can take about 4 days, maybe more to get complete service restored. There are 130,000+ people still without power in my county and over 400,000 people statewide for this company. There are two other power companies in NJ who are all in a similar situation.

As posted, rutgers is flooding as a result of the over flowing Raritan River. I think it is expected to max out on Tuesday and then start to recede. There has been no news on what will happen with the first day of classes. Many areas of NJ are in for the worst flooding in about 100 years. It may of only been a category 1 but it really crippled the state for weeks now.

Glad your house appears to be okay for now. Pixie dust.....
It doesn't take a huge storm with giant fangs to do a lot of damage. The worst storm in Houston's recent history was Allison in '01. She was only a tropical storm, nowhere near hurricane strength, but the amount of flooding from her was catastrophic. So much so that several people died, and the City reworked it's entire drainage plan and ordinance as a result. Note: I didn't mention Ike because I'm talking about flooding in Houston. Ike tore up Galveston really bad, but did little damage here.
I guarantee you Rutgers isn't having any classes any time soon....

[mindflipper]

The reason it may take so long to get electricity restored: lack of experienced manpower to make repairs and FEMA. All damage must be thoroughly documented BEFORE it can be repaired; otherwise, no documentation, no FEMA reimbursement. That takes time. After that, the damage is so extensive there's not enough employees at the various utilities to make all those repairs quickly. Utilities will focus on making repairs first where there are public safety concerns over electrocution, and restoring power to essential services. However, those utilities affected by the storm damage will also send out a call for mutual aid request to other utilities nationwide to send crews to make repairs. As the storm damage area is pretty far and wide and covers many states, that mutual aid request will have to be answered for states farther away outside of the storm damage area. I know 10 crews of 42 people had left over the weekend from our local utility, JEA here in Jacksonville, FL, has answered the call of Baltimore, MD (hey, NaCler, isn't that your previous roosting spot?). Ideally, by the time these crews arrive, the local utilities should have completed their initial FEMA documentation of damages and crews can begin to work immediately on making repairs. 4 days does sound like a feasible estimate, but realize they're dealing with electricity so repairs in some cases may take longer.

Sorry, Len90, but you're going to have to toss out everything in the freezer and refrigerator when you get back (and I suggest a good cleaning of both as well). I hope you don't have any flooding at your home (hope those monorails of yours will be okay in the basement).

I agree with Mousekedude. I would be surprised if Rutgers opens on time. Educational institutions are not so high on the "essential services" list...

[Len90]

The flooding is expected to be catatrophic from the storm. The utility company is VERY inexperienced in handling major situations like this. They have not taken any phone calls since the storm happened and are only using their automated outage reporting number. I know all of the towns during the storm were helping out the power company by listing all the downed wires or poles and blown transformers as it happened.

[boilerbabe]

Pixie Dust and hugs Len!!! I've been thinking about you and your family non-stop! I was watching the weather channel last night and they were talking about NJ alot! I will pray that there is no flooding in your home and I'm glad to hear that there was no external damage. I hope you get power back soon and I highly doubt classes are going to start on time. Hang in there!!! We're here for you, obviously I can't drive down there to lend a helping hand like some of the others, but I can lend moral support like many of us! We're all here for you Len!!! How are you parents and Mark holding up?!

[MmeLeota]

Glad to hear that there appears to be no external damage to your home! Hopefully there won't be much in the way of flood damage either!
We've been watching the weather channel and news stations all weekend because we've got family in Upstate NY (around Albany). They got quite a bit of rain and some wind, but seemed to dodge the flooding. Although apparently my uncle reported that a tree branch was blown off the tree and into a window...

[Amy]

My friend in New York posted photos on Facebook of huge trees that had been uprooted by the winds. Not a lot of damage near her though otherwise. Not sure if they are out of power, I forgot to ask. The trees were down at Fulton and Green if anyone is familiar with that area of New York City.