The Storm Went Elsewhere

Hurricane Irene was supposed to bring Hell and High Water all up and down the east coast, including where I live in Stamford, CT. And, I suppose, it didn't really let down on its threats. Only, it didn't live up to them at my apartment.

Irene made landfall where I am at about 9:00 Sunday morning. I know, because I read the papers, it didn't even wake me up. When I did wake up, the only damage I could see from my window was one small branch on the ground and one strip of siding off a house up the street. Otherwise, nothing. Power was still on, internet still worked, and my car was fine. I was actually a bit disappointed, not that my car was fine, but that it seemed to be such an over-hyped storm. Stamford had a curfew up; nobody was supposed to be outside. We were in full lockdown. The MTA, for the first time in history, shut all of its operations down in preparation. Everything we heard was buckle up, it's gonna be a bumpy ride. Then, at my place nothing...

It took a little while for me to start getting a good sense of what had actually happened elsewhere. The first glimpse I got was when I decided to head out and drive around town a bit to see the damage. I headed up out of downtown into the suburban area and started to see some medium branches down, nothing huge, but definitely damage. I tried to get on the Merritt Parkway, but it was closed. I started thinking: more serious yet. Finally, I tried cutting across town through a back road-no go. There was a huge tree across the whole road. So, definitely some damage there. But, really I thought, it's not all that bad; a tree or two down, some power out, whatever. I've seen thunderstorms do worse.

Then info started to come through the news about other places...Oh Boy! What a world of difference that was. The commuter line I take to NYC everyday was out with trees tangled in the overhead power lines. Other branches will be out for months due to washouts, some serious damage around. Finally, news started to trickle in about my home state of Vermont. VT was getting hammered. Not very high winds or anything like that. Just lots and lots of rain. Southern Vermont in particular was pounded. Roads were out all over the place. News from Lane came in: I-91 was closed due to flooding. Some towns were cut off completely, all roads in and out of them-washed out. The state even lost a few of its beautiful and historic covered bridges. Many are calling it the worst flooding in a century; even worse than this past spring, which saw Lake Champlain at historic flood heights for a month and a half.

So, I guess Irene did bring plenty with her. I was fortunate enough to be missed entirely on her way through; others were not so lucky. I am, however, confident that Vermont will be fine. It's citizens are used to tough weather, and they will rebuild and get on with life as they always do. I wish them the best of luck in rebuilding.

~Alex