This might help:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Storm_of_1987

I've bought metric tons of water, several candles, a few flashlights, some new board games, and lots of pop tarts. I'm enclosed and ready for the worst!

Metric tons of water? Metric?! You got something against outdated, obsolete Imperial Units? You think you can get away with this just because you're a cat?

Hmph!

Cats hate water. Does that outfit zip up in the back?

How to prepare? So many tips obessively repeated on the local news.

There is a doomsday attitude to this. Maybe we should take advantage of the attention this storm is recieving to shed light on a larger issue related to this.

I've got China on the phone. It's for you. Said they're reducing their carbon footprint forthwith on your mere suggestion. By standing on one foot - all 1.5 billion of them.

OH, PLEASE!

Don't even go there.

Never!

Ever!

What? You don't like mud wrestling?

It's the hysteria the subject brings that I hate.

We can't even figure out what to call it.

Speaking of mud, don't ya know this P.O's all the politicians who were going "down the home-stretch."

I wish no harm to any victim of this unholy conflagration, but this is better than hearing the same BS from the politicians, again.

<Off to naughty step>

Naughty step for what? A perfectly legit (and well-articulated) objection to what actually happens?

If it ever comes to getting the Naughty Step for that, I'll race you to the door.

I gave myself time off for good behavior.

Just heard that the North Carolina winter ski season will begin on Halloween, "in view of the favorable weather conditions". (in quotes, mine, not theirs)

Isn't that where the affluent meet the effluent? They make their own snow, right?

Actually the conclusion of that paper was that there is no need for hysteria.

Exactly!

I stock up on beer!

I haven't heard it called the "Mother of all storms" yet.

Preparation - bottles of water in the fridge, buckets of water to wash and to flush when needed. A manual can opener. Torches/flashlights and batteries, battery radio. Something to read.

We've had the rain all morning but the wind didn't get here yet.

Reading anything good in particular? I've got Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" on stand-by for when the fur starts to fly

Battery Park esplanade, NYC, about two hours ago.

Location...

Just looked here:

FlightAware - Flight Tracker / Flight Status / Flight Tracking
Ouch!

More.

National Weather Service radar map, Mt. Holly, NJ. Click on lower-left link to animate.

It is even more impressive from space.

It is sounding very impressive right about now -- getting that 'freight train' effect.

Yes, my windows are shaking and the train is running continuously although we don't have any tracks. Goodbye fall foliage.

Hi, Sue. Haven't seen you around here in a long time. Hope you stay safe and dry and in one piece.

.

I lived through a number of screaming TSs and one Hurricane when I lived in FL. The storms never got anywhere near as bad as the hype on the Weather Channel or the local news. I hope this storm turns out the same - more hype than hurt.

Anyway, my method of preparing was moving to the North Georgia mountains 10 years ago. We get lots of rain here, but no hurricane force winds, and very little snow or ice. There is a weak 'tornado alley' a ways north of my location, but not that much to worry about. We had 1 mag 3.3 earthquake 9 years ago.

Sigh. No power, heat, internets since Monday. Have been borrowing these things from a friend to stay connected and get some work done. Interesting that I move from below sea level (NOLA) only to have my worst hurricane experience at 1,100 ft above mean sea level.

Glad to hear you are well and safe, all the same.

I couldn't help wondering where your bears go, on such times. Hope you don't find they've moved into the house, in your absence.

Truly, sorry to hear that Sue. I have a group of mates in Pennsylvania that only just got their power back last night.

Thanks, all. If power is all I've lost, then I've done well....

Seems like the best thing to do is get out and vote and hope to the good Creater all this crapola will blow away and with any luck take a couple of highly invested jokers with it.

Attitude

People are posting all sorts of pictures regarding sandy here.

This is a snapshot of the FDR highway.

Hope all our CR4 friends and crew are safe and sound. I hear the impact in the Troy area was not too bad:

http://www.troyrecord.com/articles/2012/10/30/news/doc508ff9a151c46148995683.txt

For storm preparedness, water is top of my list. I have a dozen gallon jugs that I keep filled with water for unexpected outages. I also have a row of 2L bottles filled with soapy water on a high shelf in the kitchen. That is really convenient to have, when the power's out for some time. We have a stormy climate here, so we've all been through the drill many times, and found out what's missed the most, when the power is down for days in the winter.

Other key items for the kit are battery operated radio and flashlight. I have an LED clip light that I wear clipped to my shirt when outages are a risk. That way I don't end up hunting for flashlights in the pitch dark (yes, been there and done that! too many times.).

Cancelling all dates and plans to be out on the road in the weather, is about the most important storm preparation a person can do. I was really glad to see that the authorities cancelled 'business as usual' and ordered evacuations before Sandy arrived. I'm certain they saved a lot of lives by doing so.

Here in the Annapolis area, some power out here and there. Not much tree damage at all because last year's TS Irene and the Derecheo two months ago already culled out all the weak trees. At my residence, we lost power for about 15 hrs. Not bad at all. I had 15 gallons of petrol for my generators. With natural gas heat and hot water, my little Honda EU2000i's work just fine. Plus the Honda's are campground friendly unlike those flippin' whole house generators some of the neighbors have. Criminy, those things clatter and wail away worse than an el cheapo contractor construction site genset.

County water and sewer eliminate the water headache. One generator will keep the fridges going and the gas-fired hot air furnace and some electronics. Two generators in parallel if we want to run the microwave plus all the other stuff. What really sucks is disappointing is that when the local power goes out, Comcast goes Tango Uniform and we lose our cable TV, internet and VoIP phones. FiOS doesn't have this problem. Are you listening Comcast???? (Probably not ) I understand folks in low-lying areas have water issues when the creek rises but all in all, here in the Baltimore area we got off easy.

Glad to hear it, Brave Sir.

My Uncle Lou the life long bachelor always said "When facing a natural disaster there are three essentials I must have in the house - dog food - beer - cigarettes".

Uncle Lou is alive and well today at 94. Still smokes, still drinks beer, still has two dogs as house mates, still never married, happy as a lark and sharp as a tack........go figure

^{_{Not an endorsement that remaining single along with a dog food, beer and cigarette diet will help you achieve longevity}}

Hope everyone along the storm track stays safe and secure!

This may be a little too pink and purple for macho male engineers, but if you can get past that (I hate pink and sparkles), there are some good tips on:

www.flylady.net

Somewhere on there will be her Emergency Preparedness checklist and tips, though it sounds as most folks who replied have it covered...

_{BTW: She's called Flylady coz she teaches fly-fishing...}

I'm hearing reports on NPR that there are many without food, water and heat, still.

If government was unable to do anything about these sandy and other storms how can you expect you to do anything.