This year was a big one for natural disasters in the northeast. There was a tornado last September in Brooklyn, and let’s not forget the blizzard the day after Christmas, followed by record snowfalls throughout the winter. There was a rare east coast earthquake just a week ago, centered in VA but felt all the way up the coast, including in NYC. Fall is typically hurricane season for the Caribbean and southern states, but they usually fade to tropical storms for us. So there was a lot of panic and prep for Hurricane Irene, which seemed headed straight for NY and NJ the last week of August. In Manhattan, there were evacuations from low lying areas like Battery Park City and parts of Brooklyn, a massive rush on grocery stores for water, nonperishables, flashlights, and D batteries, and ultimately a shutdown of public transportation, including the subway and LIRR.
I was due to be at Camp Fern for the last week of the summer, so I decided to take the chance and head east. At least I would enjoy my vacation after the storm blew out, assuming it didn’t blow our house into the ocean. The storm was tracking to arrive late Saturday, so Angela and I had the day to prep. We had a full tank of gas in the truck, bottled water, food, a couple of flashlights, and a full propane tank on the grill. We spent the morning pulling all the deck furniture, potted plants and other loose items inside the house. We ran the dishwasher, showered, filled the bathtub with water, and made a lot of ice. We also located our closest evacuation center, just in case. Here are some pics of what things looked like on hurricane eve at our house, and around nearby East Hampton. If you want to know what Camp Fern normally looks like, here are pics from last summer.
All the patio furniture was moved inside.
Lounge chairs were moved to avoid possibly being blown into the pool.
Clean pool, for now
Potted herbs were brought indoors.
In East Hampton Village, shops and restaurants boarded their windows.
Others taped windows.
Shopping at the Shoe Inn sale was a good distraction.
Back home, we snacked on our traditional cheese plate.
Since Jess wasn’t around, I had to make the guac myself. It wasn’t bad, but definitely wasn’t hers!
Hurricane fish tacos for dinner.
Our friend Dave came over for dinner and a chick flick, and a little storm watch on TV. The latest forecasts predicted the storm would arrive in NJ and NY in the morning, so we called it a night, not knowing what we’d have to deal with the next day.
