We are OK - only about 4 inches of rain in 4 hours Thursday night and winds about 40 mph. I had no power outage, but there was some in the city and adjacent counties due to trees down on power lines.
The coastal areas of North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Delaware received the full force of the storm which hit them as class 2 hurricane. All of the barrier islands and beaches were evacuated. There was much wind damage and storm surge flooding on coast. DH and I drove down (2 hrs) to Richmond, capital of VA., Sat afternoon to take my entry to State Fair and most of city and surrounding area was without power and many without water, as the municipal water system uses electric pumps. The main streets have been cleared of downed trees, but still stacked on edges. Traffic lights not working and saw a few fender benders at intersections. ( We know that the car on the right has the right of way, but which is the right one when there are cars at all 4 points ?) There was no power at the fair grounds, but the hard working volunteers were set up near the front window and door, taking in the entries as usual. (We had to get a flash light from the car in order to use the toilet) Washington, DC shut down at noon on Thursday as the Metro (Bus and underground) closed to avoid high winds over turning buses and trains getting stalled between underground stations, (as happened in NY City when they lost power several weeks ago. They probably won't start up until Mon. There was widespread power loss in area. DD is still without power in VA suburb. Across the Blue Ridge Mt. in the Valley of Virginia they had 9 inches of rain in a few hours. As it has been a wet summer the ground was already saturated and the runoff caused serious flooding. More flooding is expected in the next few days down river as the water makes its way out to the sea. This storm started as class 5 hurricane, but weakened as approached land. Most Atlantic storms move up the coast and swipe the edge of land and then follow the gulf stream out to sea. This one hit head on and moved inland, ending up in Ontario, Canada. This is equivalent to the distance from southern Spain to Scotland ! So many more areas were affected than is usual. Fortunately, there were relatively few deaths, (about 23, I think, overall,) considering the amount of physical damage. Florida, which is frquently in the path of hurricanes, was spared this one. So we have survived another storm. We had good warning for this one and were able to prepare. It is a good idea to have an emergency kit supplied at all times, as stores sell out of batteries, propane gas canisters, lamp oil , and even candles in days before predicted storms. I couldn't find propane for camp stove we haven't used for over 10 yrs, so just laid a fire in fireplace. Didn't lose power, but have cooked over grate fire many times, so wasn't worried. Louise in Central Virginia [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
