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selenaySending this via email from work (because LJ is blocked here and, well, read
on...)
So, that hurricane that was supposed to miss me and track up the Bay of
Fundy into New Brunswick? It got knocked off course. It didn't so much miss
me as hit me, trample on me and run off laughing. Ugh.
Earl made landfall about 85km from me on Saturday morning and then tracked
up the province, with the eye passing a few km north of me at around 1pm.
That would be when my power went out, having flickered constantly since 11am
that morning. The wind and rain started at around 8.30am and by the time the
eye was near, it was really quite scary. It was a category one hurricane,
apparently, although it got downgraded to a strong tropical storm shortly
after the eye passed. One of the islands that I look out on (so around 500m
away) registered 130kph winds at one stage, which probably explains the big
booms of wind when we wondered whether the house was about to blow away.
Although the worst of the storm was over by around 3pm, the winds didn't
really die down properly until Sunday morning. It was a good thing that I'd
planned to eat a cold supper on Saturday because there was no way we could
set up the BBQ or Coleman outside! The power stayed out all day, although we
at least had a landline so that we could contact the power company and find
out the estimate on when our power would be back. At the worst point, there
were 220,000 households in the province with no power and we only have
around 1 million residents.
On Sunday there was still no power and no landline as well. Gah. I'd
forgotten to charge my cellphone on Friday (I charged so many other things,
why didn't I remember that?) but Mum's was charged so she called the power
company to get the updated estimates on restoration. Our neighbours had also
lost the phones overnight so people with cellphones were updating those
without on the progress of power restoration. Then we started cleaning up,
washing the house and car down because of all the salt that had been kicked
up and deposited on everything and generally setting things in order. My
aunt came over in the afternoon and brought coffee. I'm still not sure
whether I was happier to see her or the coffee. The power came back a little
after 5pm (29 hours with no power!) and the phone came back with it, but our
Internet connection was down. It's still down: a lot of our ISP's nodes were
damaged when the power went out and they're still working to restore them.
Hence the lack of Internetting.
For extra fun, we got to clear out the fridge and freezers of everything
that hadn't survived the power loss. Why do hurricanes always come when the
temps are really high? It was better than it might have been, but still a
little frustrating particularly because the stores were closed for Labour
Day yesterday so we couldn't replace anything. Thankfully the temps are back
to normal for the time of year so we're much more comfortable.
So, hopefully at some stage I'll have Internet at the house again and be
able to actually respond to comments. The house came through relatively
unscathed: one shingle came loose from the shed and that was it. Some of my
neighbours lost siding and parts of their roofs, so we feel pretty grateful.
It's unlikely that our kitchen contractor will be out this week to do the
last little bits because he'll probably be trying to secure peoples' houses
from the damage. We've got rain forecast for tomorrow and Wednesday and
that's bad news if you're missing siding or roof tiles!
on...)
So, that hurricane that was supposed to miss me and track up the Bay of
Fundy into New Brunswick? It got knocked off course. It didn't so much miss
me as hit me, trample on me and run off laughing. Ugh.
Earl made landfall about 85km from me on Saturday morning and then tracked
up the province, with the eye passing a few km north of me at around 1pm.
That would be when my power went out, having flickered constantly since 11am
that morning. The wind and rain started at around 8.30am and by the time the
eye was near, it was really quite scary. It was a category one hurricane,
apparently, although it got downgraded to a strong tropical storm shortly
after the eye passed. One of the islands that I look out on (so around 500m
away) registered 130kph winds at one stage, which probably explains the big
booms of wind when we wondered whether the house was about to blow away.
Although the worst of the storm was over by around 3pm, the winds didn't
really die down properly until Sunday morning. It was a good thing that I'd
planned to eat a cold supper on Saturday because there was no way we could
set up the BBQ or Coleman outside! The power stayed out all day, although we
at least had a landline so that we could contact the power company and find
out the estimate on when our power would be back. At the worst point, there
were 220,000 households in the province with no power and we only have
around 1 million residents.
On Sunday there was still no power and no landline as well. Gah. I'd
forgotten to charge my cellphone on Friday (I charged so many other things,
why didn't I remember that?) but Mum's was charged so she called the power
company to get the updated estimates on restoration. Our neighbours had also
lost the phones overnight so people with cellphones were updating those
without on the progress of power restoration. Then we started cleaning up,
washing the house and car down because of all the salt that had been kicked
up and deposited on everything and generally setting things in order. My
aunt came over in the afternoon and brought coffee. I'm still not sure
whether I was happier to see her or the coffee. The power came back a little
after 5pm (29 hours with no power!) and the phone came back with it, but our
Internet connection was down. It's still down: a lot of our ISP's nodes were
damaged when the power went out and they're still working to restore them.
Hence the lack of Internetting.
For extra fun, we got to clear out the fridge and freezers of everything
that hadn't survived the power loss. Why do hurricanes always come when the
temps are really high? It was better than it might have been, but still a
little frustrating particularly because the stores were closed for Labour
Day yesterday so we couldn't replace anything. Thankfully the temps are back
to normal for the time of year so we're much more comfortable.
So, hopefully at some stage I'll have Internet at the house again and be
able to actually respond to comments. The house came through relatively
unscathed: one shingle came loose from the shed and that was it. Some of my
neighbours lost siding and parts of their roofs, so we feel pretty grateful.
It's unlikely that our kitchen contractor will be out this week to do the
last little bits because he'll probably be trying to secure peoples' houses
from the damage. We've got rain forecast for tomorrow and Wednesday and
that's bad news if you're missing siding or roof tiles!
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no subject
Date: 2010-09-07 03:49 pm (UTC)Glad you are pretty much unscathed.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-07 10:30 pm (UTC)Mum borrowed my car while I was at work today so we now have a fully stocked fridge again as well :-)
no subject
Date: 2010-09-07 04:00 pm (UTC)Hope everyone is OK and all the stuff is fixable :(
no subject
Date: 2010-09-07 10:32 pm (UTC)One person died in the storm (he swam out to rescue his boat) but otherwise no injuries. It's going to take time to fix everything and the race is on to get everyone's houses sorted before winter. Ugh. I think we still feel pretty lucky, though, because the aftermath of Juan was much worse.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-08 03:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-09 07:39 am (UTC)