Aftermath

Hurricane Irene came in early. We were expecting the full brunt of the storm to hit at 0800 Sunday the 28th and run until 2000 hrs EST. I went to sleep a bit late, and found the winds sharply picked up just about 0200 and they kept me awake on and off until 0400. I got up at 0830 to see tree tops whipping back and forth like a fly fisherman going for distance. I was fully prepared to go out in the storm. I had 2000 of weight in my truck. I was ready for a tornado. Still that much wind gave me pause. I decided to wait a bit because the winds were supposed to build. My place is Northeast of the path of the Irene's center, although I'd say it fanned out as it hit the coast. There were fronts from Boston to upstate New York and right up the middle deep into Vermont.

One of the first things I noticed was the layer of shredded leaves on the road. It was like a light snow. Once people started driving though them the made dark tracks. Everywhere on the ground bits of tree stuff. Little nuts, leaves, shredded leaves, ends of branched, middle sized branches, a few large branches and two trees over, one of which was the neighbors.

Here is my dog after clipping today. This after photo shows some of the stuff on the ground from the storm. It was everywhere.





I later found one of our larger trees came down on the other neighbor. Major roads in and out of town were blocked in multiple places. Power lines were down in four areas around us--smaller feeds. Our power comes in underground, which helps some. I thought would would keep power the whole time, and we did not. We lost power around 1130 hrs. Driving, I managed to wind my way around on back roads to avoid blockages. My GPS was a big help. I zoomed to the appropriate scale and plotted my course towards the boat.

That took some dodging around trees, and places with too much water.













I got tired of taking pictures. Plus I was giving one friend of mine a blow by blow account of what I saw as I was driving. There were a couple of shot of big trees blocking roads. Those spots seemed to get a bit congested and had too many people around. I decided to keep moving, unsure at times if I could make it through at all.

In any case. I wanted to find out if my boat was ok. I would have been happy to see it from a distance, but there is not a single place without water. Here are a few shots of my trying to find different ways in, plus a shot from the overpass. Time helped me, by draining things down. After 40 minutes I was able to bring my truck closer to my boat and avoid walking back and forth.

































That is my pickup truck over there. The water had receded quite a bit. I walked back and drove it closer after a while.



The gate was blocked by telephone poles which were used as barricades to define the demarkation between parking lot and harbor. They floated over and blocked the gate in.








And finally my boat. My boat was ok, but my finger pier was smashed up a bit. It hung up on the pier and waves swept the bottom floatation away. After prying it loose the dock is sunken almost underwater.

















In any case. My boat survived. Later that night the sky was spectacular. It was a new moon, and there were not lights on anywhere. So no light pollution. Clouds obscured some of the sky, but the air was very clear for good viewing.