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Scott T Smith
08-26-2011, 5:32 PM
After spending the past few days culling out weak or dead trees from the forested areas on my farm (especially near the house, barns and fences), 10 minutes into the first strong winds from the hurricane and one snaps off right next to my wife's horse trailer and Excursion. Fortunately, it went the other way.

I think that this one "died of fright", as the winds have not been that high (40mph or less). I also figured that this far inland (we're SW of Raleigh, NC), we would not have any problems, but you never know....

The vehicles are full of fuel, the backup generators are all exercised and full of fuel, (as is most of the heavy equipment), and I have 500 gallons of diesel in the bulk tank.

My heart goes out to Keith and everybody else that is in the path of the eye.

Mark Engel
08-26-2011, 6:08 PM
Glad that tree didn't do any damage to your vehicles.

It is strange how these storms work. I am about an hour +- east of you, and we haven't had any significant winds here... so far.

Like you, we have prepared for the worst. All of my grandkids toys have been safely moved into the garage. Better safe than sorry.

greg lindsey
08-26-2011, 6:38 PM
Please be safe to all the creekers in the path, If you have never experienced a hurricane, you will be surprized, and probably not in a good way. I'm 60 miles from the coast and during Ike I lost power for 9 days, fences blown down, trees uprooted, garage door sucked out and part of a roof taken off. It's not the rain or surge, but the straight line winds, 90 miles and hour in my case for over 7 hrs. I'm sure that other creekers who have been through this would also tell you that if your in the direct path, LEAVE, it's not a fun as you might think. Good luck and prayers go out to you.

Belinda Barfield
08-27-2011, 5:59 AM
Greg, I was listening to a "news" talk show yesterday afternoon. A group of ladies were talking about being prepared for the hurricane in New York. One stated that she had prepared by having every flavor of yogurt that her daughter likes on hand. My first though was, "how ridiciculous". That yogurt is going to be really nutritious after about three days with no power. I really think some folks are going to be in for a big surprise . . . and not in a good way.

Keith Outten
08-27-2011, 6:21 AM
The winds and rain started about 5:30 am this morning here in Gloucester County Virginia. I still have a few things to do outside when the sun comes up this morning but for the most part we are ready for a long day and night. The winds in our area are expected to reach 75 mph, we will lose power but I don't expect any major damage. I have moved all of our vehicles to the west side of the barn and the shop which should protect them from the worst of the wind. When the sun comes up I will try to move my Solstice into the last bay of my workshop, the convertible top may not fair well when objects start flying around :)

We are at the mouth of the York River where it joins the Chesapeake Bay so we can expect stronger winds than some other areas as the wind drives straight from the Atlantic but we hope Irene will keep moving east so the wind speed reduces as the day progresses. The projected storm surge has been decreased, it now ranges from 5 to 6 feet which is less than Isabel which was 7 to 8 feet. Less flooding is a really good thing as the entire area is just above sea level.

Anyone who didn't get their gas early yesterday are out of luck, all the local gas stations are out of gas now.

Here we go............
.

Brian Kent
08-27-2011, 1:22 PM
I'm watching on Weather Underground, and praying for you.

Just to state the obvious, take care of people first, and bring back Sawmill Creek later on, whenever it fits on a true priority list.

God bless you. To whatever degree possible - have fun. You have earned "bragging rights".

Keith Outten
08-27-2011, 4:49 PM
Scott,

Hope you now have the worst of the storm behind you and you can relax a bit.
We are about to see the worst for the next few hours. The preceding rain today has no doubt loosened tree roots now that the ground is saturated.
I can't believe we still have electrical power here, there are outages everywhere already.
For now all is well here in Gloucester County.
.

Ken Fitzgerald
08-27-2011, 4:58 PM
Good luck Keith! Be safe.

Chris Kennedy
08-27-2011, 8:28 PM
Scott,

Hope you now have the worst of the storm behind you and you can relax a bit.
We are about to see the worst for the next few hours. The preceding rain today has no doubt loosened tree roots now that the ground is saturated.
I can't believe we still have electrical power here, there are outages everywhere already.
For now all is well here in Gloucester County.
.

Power in Newport News has been sporadic. We lost it at 3AM, back at 5AM, lost it at 7:15AM, back at 10:30AM and lost again at noon, now back a bit before 8PM. It seems that Dominion is trying to restore power even while the storm is going. I assumed they wouldn't want people out in it, but honestly, so far on the peninsula, it hasn't seemed terrible (of course, the worst is supposed to come through around midnight). I don't want to make light of it, but Irene came ashore as a Cat 1, when they were predicting a Cat 3 and landfall in the Outer Banks just yesterday. I am hoping we are not going to have the widespread damage that was anticipated.

Cheers,

Chris

Gary Hodgin
08-27-2011, 9:54 PM
Stay safe and hang in there. Next weekend will be better.

Scott T Smith
08-27-2011, 11:40 PM
Keith, thanks for the well wishes; hope that y'all have an un, or at least minimal eventful night!

Mid-morning a large pine took out the main power lines about 1/2 mile from the farm, so we've been running on generators for about 12 hours. Just got the main power restored, so hopefully that's behind us.

I need to resume my search for a good, used 75KVA range transformer with a center tap to put in the shop. My current dry-pack takes care of the 480V to 240V 3-phase step down off of the main 225KW generator, but since it's not a center tap it doesn't provide me with single phase for the lights, air compressor, and smaller equipment. I ended up bringing one of my wife's mobile veterinary hospitals over to the shop so that I could tap into their on-board generator for the single phase stuff today.

There's a transfer switch already wired in the single phase feed, just waiting to hook it up to the transfomer/generator.

Tomorrow we'll check out the rest of the farm looking for downed trees, etc. Never a dull moment...