Good Riddance Irene

I grew up in a location that had seen its fair share of hurricanes. I've even lived through a few of them. So I knew that Irene was serious and could pose a serious threat. You don't mess with mother nature, especially when she carries 100+ mph winds and storm surges. So when the forecast began to look serious we started to take precautions, days before Irene made landfall anywhere in the US. 

The plan (before mother nature began to intervene) was for me and mom to drive me back to Boston on Thursday, spend the weekend getting me re-settled and then Sunday mom would fly from Boston to Oregon to see Noam. Well, it became clear that planes wouldn't be taking off on Sunday so instead mom flew out on Friday way ahead of the storm. 

Before we left NY we battened down the hatches. The living room is now home to two citrus trees, a basil plant, two adirondack chairs, a table, and the usual living room furniture.  

Meanwhile, once back at the rance in Boston, I prepared for the worst. I bought water, made sure I had enough food for a few days, and books to read. Then the waiting game began. It looked like where I grew up in NJ, where we just visited a weak ago, was going to get hit, badly, that our home in NY was also in for a smack, and Boston super high winds and rain.  

However, despite the concerns, life was going on ahead of the storm in Boston. Saturday afternoon the rains arrived. But that still didn't stop me from going out for ice cream with some friends that night. We even walked around and checked out which local shops in my neighborhood had already decided to shut down on Sunday.

It was cool to be out in the rain on Saturday night. Brookline was beginning to look like a ghost town, the local movie theater even removed the letters from its marquee, for fear they blow away! 

Then Irene really hit! I woke up Sunday morning to very intese winds and driving rain outside my window. I hunkered down on the couch with the local news, happy to have power!

By mid-morning, reports from South Jersey began to roll in. I was relieved to read that they had faired better than anticipated. If we had still lived there, we'd have been under a mandatory evacuation!

 The beach erosion is a true sign of Irene's power. Happy that this and flooding was the majority of the damage. Reports from NY are tons of flooding and trees down, but everyone one we know is safe and sound.

By mid-afternoon, I was going stir crazy in my apt. So I ventured out and about in my neighborhood. The rain was dwindling, and the winds were strong but not too insane. There were tons of leaves and branches down and I only saw a few huge branches or tree limbs down, but they all had missed houses.

All in all, Irene was not as serious as first feared.  People may be griping about all the hype, but with hurricanes you need to be prepared because you never know what a storm will do until it happens. So I am happy and relieved we were all way over prepared and that everyone I know is safe and sound.

And to you Irene, I say good riddance!