Luckily, eldest was taking it somewhat seriously as they dealt with Irene last year. Never, ever thought when we sent him to college in Philadelphia he'd have to deal with a hurricane, let alone two now!

I was a bit more worried this time, as he was in NYC for a Lambda Chi meeting over the weekend. His train left at 4pm and luckily it was pretty uneventful until he got back to Philly and the rain was pouring. Nothing like walking from the train station to the house in the pouring rain. The joys of college life, right?

I'm suddenly thankful the plans to move to NYC fell through...

All classes here are cancelled until further notice. My physics professor e-mailed our section informing us that he'd keep lab open so we could get our books and do the lab if we weren't "afraid of a little rain... *sigh*" (I don't even think he has that power. The entire campus is shutting down at noon. This is unprecedented in our school's history.)

We've stocked up on nonperishables and gallons of water at the chapter house too!

My mom works for the local electric company and she mentioned that they already have sent 250 crews in preparation to help with power restoration.

My cousin literally just moved back from Baltimore. Like, she left this weekend and arrived back here last night. Crazy timing!

Susquehanna's now closed. The apocalypse is upon us.

Two missing from the HMS Bounty - including a Gamma Phi Beta.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-s...ane-sandy.html

Coast Guard officials said the two missing crew members — a man and a woman — are believed to be in cold water survival suits and life-jackets. They said the air search is being plotted based on wind direction and speed, and will be expanded.

Hypo says it is REALLY windy now and that it is very weird that everybody has been inside. They are housing staff members in every lounge of the dorms so they can't cook or watch TV though. Not very many of them took TVs to school.

Claudene was found dead. I'm so sorry for the loss of your sister, I hope the missing captian is found soon and alive.

The pictures of Delaware/Maryland/the Jersey shore are awful. It's hard to believe that this has happened so fast and that it's barely half over. Thoughts and prayers to all those who are living in the middle of or have family/friends enduring Sandy.

Nooo, do not want "dramatic turn for the worse". We still have power and it doesn't seem that bad out (DC-Baltimore area), so it's surreal to see what's happening elsewhere on the news.

The most griping I've heard from my NY Facebook friends is about the Idina Menzel concert being cancelled. 2 of them flew all the way from Spain for that concert. Happy campers, they are not.

My godsister in NJ said she hasn't lost power yet but it's super windy/rainy. When I look out the window, I keep expecting to see storm clouds. It feels weird to see a sunny day with no wind given the hell that's going on elsewhere.

My neighbor is living in NJ this year, and he lives on a peninsula and said it is flooding on both sides of the peninsula, coming closer and closer to the middle by the hour. He was told to evacuate.

Thoughts and prayers to those on the East Coast!

A tree across the street from my aunt's in Brooklyn uprooted and fell into the building next to her. They're watching the tree directly across the street cuz if that falls, it's going into their house.

My aunt's niece in Staten Island had a close call. Trees down on either side of her house but her house was spared.

My other cousin in Staten Island said there is so much flying through the air and moving all over the place, including grills.

Here in Detroit, I'm pretty sure my house is going to blow away. Not looking forward to driving over the Rouge in 40mph winds with jackass semis. Dee are you off? We'll have to keep in touch tomorrow morning.

I'll be driving over the bridge tomorrow morning. I'm surprised how windy it is here.

What's more surprising is the way the Great Lakes are being affected. Seeing pictures of people surfing Lake Michigan is nuts.

Hypo is still fine, if not a little stir crazy. The lights flickered earlier, but they are still on for her.

That sounds like a terrible dream. :( Oh my gosh, I pray for everyone affected, this all sounds and looks so scary.

I'm taking Southfield in. It'll take me almost an hour but I'm kinda scared with this sleet.

Well, they're extremely lucky if that's the only inconvenience they suffered.

Most people I know are okay, even if they're without power and Internet. There is a ton of flooding and no access into or out of NYC unless you're a first responder. Major arteries are flooded, and there's no idea when the subway system will be back and running.

No clue when I'm going in to work--the office is out of power and all the servers are down. We will be super busy for the foreseeable future, though.

I'm totally fine--just stir-crazy.

Glad you're ok! My cousin said they are cut off from the world in Staten Island. Thank God they were in Zone B and only have their power out.

I was thinking of you too. Hypo is also fine. A few trees went down along Broadway and one of the windows broke in the Barnard Quad. Luckily(?) it was a room whose residents had gone home to ride out the storm there. At least nobody was injured. They never lost power though.

:eek:There are people surfing as the storms retreat. There must be some awful rip tides out there! I can't figure out what kind of idiots would do this, although my husband did point out that for years, my stoopid brothers used to surf before hurricanes hit the Gulf Coast.

And now a N'oreaster is heading for the east coast? Oh dear. Prayers are with them.

Yesterday, I (along with some sorority sisters!) finally made it out to volunteer for the relief effort. I had originally wanted to do it earlier, but with public transit still tangly and most volunteer organizations a little unorganized it made more sense to do it this weekend.

I grew up in Florida, and I've definitely been through some storms, which, were worse on paper (in terms of Category, windspeed, and all that) than Sandy.

It was the worst I've ever seen, in terms of destruction.

If there's anything you can donate, please do so. Some impacted New Yorkers felt that the Red Cross didn't do enough, and I'm not sure how true that is, but they're always a good start.

Please don't forget about these people, especially after the news trucks go away and there's another big news story.

I've heard that they are in dire need of cleaning supplies. Donated a couple bags of clothes and blankets last week to a truck near Detroit that was going straight to Staten Island--- basically the forgotten people. I know they got more attention after that but all we kept hearing about was the Jersey Shore and the City. I hope they and Hoboken are now getting the help they needed.

Yes, cleaning supplies. I helped clean out flooded houses in SI and the cleaning supplies everywhere, even in Queens where I live, are in short supply. Also, construction equipment like pickaxes and sledgehammers are sold out, and everyone needs them. They seem to be good for regular clothes (winter gear is always needed), and there's just a TON of food everywhere.

Even in NYC, we weren't hearing much about Staten Island--it wasn't until Wednesday after the storm that the full scope of what happened there got out to the rest of the country.

Hoboken is much better--from what I can tell, most of my friends there were able to go back by last weekend, and they have power. There seems to be more infrastructure damage than actual structural damage.

The wind is wreaking havoc in Texas - especially bad in Lubbock, but even here in the Houston area trees and power lines are down.

I hope this winter storm doesn't mess with Hypo's flight home tomorrow. It isn't supposed to snow in NYC and we are only expecting about an inch that shouldn't stick to the roads but air travel is so messed up in some places, it could affect things if crews or planes can't get to where they need to be. Her dorm closes at 9 am so she'll be stuck at the airport. *fingers crossed*

We are supposed to get even MORE snow tomorrow here in Southern Illinois (we already have about 6 inches where I live). Since I live out in the country, I'm not a big fan of snow because it makes it hard for me to get to town. At least now I have a four wheel drive SUV instead of my old sports car! Hopefully the snow doesn't ruin my New Years plans :/

Send it to meeeeeee! This is my first winter in DC after growing up in the Chicago/NWI area and going to school at IU...and I am going through serious snow withdrawals. It snowed here Saturday but didn't stick :(

Aww. I wish I could send it over! I'm sick of it haha.

Bump!

I'm sure lot's of GCers are affected by the storms, so I figured I would post. I woke up in the middle of the night to lightening and thunder and when I checked my phone, I saw a HUGE line of very red looking storms form Michigan to Texas. We've had TONS of rain in Chicago. My high school is closed, my parents got water in the basement and parts of the Kennedy, Edens and Eisenhower (the 3 big highways basically serving the northern half of Chicago) are/were closed. My dad even just sent me a picture of a sink hole in the area that was on the news! Stay safe!

So glad I decided to work from home today.

Before going to bed last night, I noted a small puddle in our "garden apartment". We are now flooded, and trying to figure out how how to get everything possible off of the floor and/or bagged. It's only supposed to get worse, so we're trying to figure out how much to actually mop up.

The Dan Ryan is closed, parts of the Edens and the Kennedy were closed, and like half the lanes on the Bishop Ford are closed for flooding. Not to mention they just opened the flow of the Chicago River into Lake Michigan to try to relieve some of the suburban flooding. Complete opposite of this time last year when it was dry as a bone.

Do we still do this thread? lol

Watching my newsfeed blow up from family and friends back home in Chicago. Sirens were going off at my parents NW side neighborhood home about 20 min ago, as well as sirens going off in the loop! That's pretty rare, I can count on one hand the number of times I heard sirens going off in the city when I lived there.

On top of that, the Hawks may bring home the cup (at home) and the Cubs have a home game (Wrigleyville is a big party area and many people will be filling the streets there if the Blackhawks win).

Chaotic night in Chicago! Stay safe Chi-Town GCers!

Report from Houston - MORE RAIN? Please, God, no!

Our area is in Day Six or Seven of the Forty Days and Nights routine. This time I think He means it.

For all of you who are tired of the rain, PLEASE SEND IT TO CALIFORNIA!!!!

DaffyKD

If only I could, DaffyKD!

^ Amen to that.

My commute home was not the worst drive I've ever had to do, but it's up there. I have to drive through "Springfield" Town Center, and when I got there, I found out that Main Street was CLOSED. (This was NOT reported on the local radio station traffic reports.) The cops diverted all traffic from the main artery onto the back streets I normally take, and then they diverted all traffic to the even-more-back streets, and then they decided, "The hell with you, you're on your own." (Our tax dollars at work. Sigh.) I couldn't pick up a Google Maps signal on my phone, my Garmin was sending me in circles, my husband (who can't read a map to save his life) sent me on a wrong turn, and I got completely lost. AUGH.

Still, I'm sure there were a lot of injuries, maybe some lives lost, and plenty of property damage, so I count myself among the more fortunate as I (eventually) got home in one piece.