Hurricane Irene

by Michey

Impact Of Hurricane Irene In My Town

Hurricane Irene in my Town - Verona

Verona ny townI was looking with great interest, read all I can,  as I knew we are in the path of Hurricane Irene...
I never remember an hurricane with such big diameter. It was hard to imagine what we must expect from Irene.

I did some preparation, just common sense like:

1) Verified 2-3 times if we are on evacuation list. We was not. In a way this was a good sign
2) Be sure that I have battery for flash lights, candles handy, just in case we have a blackout
3) I did shopping to have a full refrigerator and freezer to resist a week without to get out
4) Friday I cooked for 2-3 days, but in a case of a black out I wanted to have food which we don't need to cook as well...
5) I also verify my camping stove as a back up equipment
6) Verify if Mom has medications for at least one week

Nothing else cross my mind.

After Irene visited North Carolina, and Virginia, I realize that we are not prepared for this type of hurricane and I start to be a little worry.   But after Virginia beach the hurricane weakening and we inherit only a grade 1 hurricane with winds around 60-65 mph but still with a huge diameter.

Tree Over the Electricity Lines in Front of Verona High School

Tree Over the Electricity Lines
Tree Over the Electricity Lines

Why I was worry!

My street has a lot of trees, and Verona in general is a town with a lot of vegetation. So I was worry that some old or week tree can fall over the electricity lines, and with an extended area of blackout the repair will take some time.

I don't know if this is the exact figure at this point... but in the morning our Governor said that we had 1/2 million people without electricity.

That was enough info to make me worry in spite of the weakening of the storm.

You can see in the right picture a tree resting over the electricity lines, and another one in the next picture.

Another Tree which Rest on EL

Another Tree...
Another Tree...
Picture I shot on Verona

Unexpected Damage for an Grade 1 Hurricane

Rain in VeronaFrom some reason I cannot explain I wasn't jumping up and down at the news of weakening Irene... It was something odd about this one.

In my area the rain with winds started Friday night, continue Saturday, started to powerful over Saturday night, and stopped Sunday around noon.
At this point we get out to evaluate the damage if any!

We have water in basement, so a neighbor with a pomp tries to get the water out... He says that this is nothing, and we are so lucky as just 2 blocks away people are without electricity.
So I grab my digital camera and start walking in the neighborhood.

I don't say, but I don't believe him...  but in the next 15 minutes I realize that he is right.
I find out :

  • trees blocking the streets
  • trees falling over cars and properties
  • A house with the roof damaged

and all of those in a 30 minutes walk. I am sure now that there are more damages, but I will show you only what I find and photograph myself.

A Broken Tree Covering a Car.

The left branches are over the car.
I Broken Tree
I Broken Tree

A House with a Damaged Roof

The blue plastic covers the roof’s hole

This was an ugly accident, 4 trees collapsed:

  • over the roof where produced a hole, the blue plastic covers the roof’s  hole
  • over a car, you can see only the back of the car in the second picture, and
  • a garage... you cannot even see as it is completely cover by branches... it is in front of the car in second picture

The 3rd pictuere is takeen under a diferent angle prior they start cleaning the mess. 

... The Roof has a Hole...

A Roof with a Hole
A Roof with a Hole
Picture I shot on Verona

Same House, Cleaning Debris

Cleaning Debris
Cleaning Debris
Picture I shot on Verona

Same House, Different Angle

From the street
Different Angle
Different Angle
Picture I shot on Verona

Isn’t This a Scary Picture?

Scary Picture
Scary Picture
Picture I shot on Verona

Branches Which Cross Roads

falling branchBranches which cross roads was the first priority along with trees touching electrical lines.

This branch was the first to fall... and doesn't look dangerous... 

After 2 hours a big one from the same tree fall closing the driving access on that street... see next picture.

Note: I have to admire the people wisdom, determination to help, community spirit of our neighbors in the little town of Verona.

If it was something a person can do, he jumped and do it, NO waiting for official help.
If was something which was tricky, dangerous, needed special tools, as working around electric wires, then people called and requested professional help.

In the next picture, the person you see is the owner of the house behind, the tree was in front of his house but not on his property... he worked tireless for 2 hours to cut branch by branch and to remove them...  and he alone opened the street for driving.

People Hard Work

Removing a Cross Road Tree
Removing a Cross Road Tree
Picture I shot on Verona

The Cleaning is in Full Swing

 

Both the people cleaning and official workers cleaning are already in full swing, and they work so harmoniously...  I am proud of my town!

If you want to know more about Verona NJ a town with 14,254 population, you can read the following post:

Verona Town in Middle New Jersey

 

In Summary: Hurricane Irene was a painful experience especially for South of NJ.
We in North have less damage, what I show you in this post are images from my town
.

So we are the lucky ones. Now the big challenge for the southern part is to be able to open the NJ shore for Labor Day. I hope they will be able to do it at least partially.

Thownship Workers

Thownship Workers
Thownship Workers
Picture I shot on Verona

In Verona Park

I few falling Tree in the Park
Falling Tree in the Park
Falling Tree in the Park
Picture I shot on Verona
Updated: 08/31/2011, Michey
 
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19

Hurricane Irene on my Town

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Mujjen on 10/19/2011

It must be scary, even if it is weak. The powers are so strong. We have never experienced anything close to it, can only imagine the feelings.

delphine on 09/15/2011

Is crazy how much power the nature have. Hurricanes are very powefull. I would not like to live in so areas like you. I was traveling with my partner by sailing boat and we got some strong winds sometimes, so I can imagine how it is, when you get a hurricane.

Michey on 09/12/2011

@happynutritionist it is amusing, 15 min from me, in Fairfield is flooding, so mother nature is so unpredictable, by the way on Floyd I had my basement flooded... but this time we was the luckiest... south of NJ has a lot of damage, flood and so on.
Sorry for 4 days without power, this was hard to handle for sure.
Hope you are better now.

happynutritionist on 09/12/2011

We live relatively close to you so you know we got a lot of damage up here....much rain, wind, no power for 4 days, kept cooking the food as it thawed in the freezer, ran a small generator now and then on the freezer to keep things, etc., etc. Lots of trees around here too, as we live by a State forest and open space land...flooding, etc., had to sandbag to protect our home. Never have seen a storm like this...even worse than hurricane floyd of 1999 which affected us too. Great pictures, it would have been better if the leaves were not on the trees, but hurricanes don't come then.

dustytoes on 09/05/2011

Michey, you got some great pictures to show us what happens in hurricane -or tropical storm force- wind and how fast people come together to repair damage. I'm so glad you are okay even though your town needs some help.

traveller27 on 09/01/2011

Happy to see that you're safe!

Michey on 08/31/2011

Thank you, it is hard... and we never are prepared enough for catastrophes, even when we try... at the end of this week we wait another 3 days of rain... hope the rain will go to ocean and live the Vermont dry for a change...

Michey on 08/31/2011

Thanks, we are Ok and comparing with southern part of NJ, flooding in Vermont and so on... we really was lucky... but this is not a usual path of hurricane and a lot of people who are in trouble now don't have insurance... So I think we have to re-think our capability of resisting on extreme situations.

bev-owens on 08/31/2011

So glad that you and your lovely Mother were OK through all of this.

puerdycat on 08/30/2011

Glad to see that you are above high water! Thanks for sharing this with everyone.


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