h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Lots of loving thoughts are crosssing the pond about this hurricane whichis rusing wildly up the East coast of the USA

Do hope you are well and safely housed.

it is incredible how wild and volent Mother Nature's temperament can bel

I phoned my brother who lives on Long Islan yesterday - in fact the day before. However he and his family had gone away on their annual holiday in the mountains.
So then I started worrying about other family and friends who might be in the path of the imminent hurricane.

I wonder How Pauh is, and Hypatia and other friends in the State are faring. Shea the sarcastic, and Amy but I think that she and her family are on the West coast of the States.

anyway, my friends. lots of loving thoughts to keep you all safe.

AlsoRan80
aka. Christiane

Sunday 29th August 2011 5.24 BST

I second this, of course

Paulh is in Boston

Hypatia, Shea and Amy should be safe where they are, but Shea's sister is on Long Island



Sunday 28th August 2011 9:18 BST

Thanks for the warm wishes, Alsoran80.

New York City is getting a direct hit, from what I can gather. There's some consolation, though: about the time the eye hit Coney Island, the wind speed died down to about 65 mph, making it a tropical storm.

From New York, the storm's likely to veer toward Springfield on its way to Quebec. I'm about 80 miles East of Springfield, within the 90-mile radius of powerful winds, but just barely. I can judge the wind's force by looking at a huge tree about 150 feet away. There are gusts that shake the top branches, but nothing worse than what the avrage thunderstorm can do....

Most of the damage will be due to flooding, rather than wind damage as feared.

They're predicting up to six inches of rain from the storm. The nearest river has been low lately. I doubt that that much rain will bring it up to flood stage.

The people who live along the coast have more to worry about if the storm comes ashore at high tide. The result would be of tsunami proportions.

In the great hurricane of 1938, the funnel-shaped harbor at providence, Rhode Island channeled a huge storm surge, aggravated by high tide. Downtown providence was under at least seven feet of water.

We'd love a tropical storm or even a small hurricane here in Texas at this point... It would take a couple of them to make a dent in this drought.

The latest news is that fears of major flooding have subsided but it had caused major damage along the eastern seaboard and will reach Canada by Monday.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14703721

I've been reading the news reports about people who have died in the storm. 18 deaths so far. It looks as though some of them were totally avoidable, e.g. the people who went surfing in the ocean as the hurricane was passing through. These were people in their 50s, people who should have known better. They won't get the Darwin Award, though, because they're past the reproductive age.

My heart goes out to the people who were sensibly staying inside, but who were killed when falling trees crushed their houses. There was one death involving someone who was at a party. He slept outside in a tent during the storm. The storm knocked over a tree, which fell on the tent, crushing him. Should he have slept inside? Or moved his tent over so that it was out of range of falling trees?