V.T. Eric Layton Posted August 28, 2011 Share Posted August 28, 2011 My bro reported no biggie stuff from Fairfax... some wind, some rain, etc. He's like me... a hurricane veteran from Florida. Now that earthquake was different. It freaked him out a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ross549 Posted August 28, 2011 Author Share Posted August 28, 2011 I just looked at the exterior of the house this morning and I could not find any storm related damage. I did have the small leak which I'll have to figure out, but that's it We still have power here.I am chatting with LilBambi, and she says they still don't have power, but also there was no damage to their house- at least not any that they could find.So, we're fine. Just waiting for everything to come back to normal.Adam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amenditman Posted August 28, 2011 Share Posted August 28, 2011 I just looked at the exterior of the house this morning and I could not find any storm related damage. I did have the small leak which I'll have to figure out, but that's it We still have power here.I am chatting with LilBambi, and she says they still don't have power, but also there was no damage to their house- at least not any that they could find.So, we're fine. Just waiting for everything to come back to normal.AdamAdam,Don't spend a bunch of time looking for a little leak that only showed up during a hurricane. The combination of massive rainfall and fierce wind from every direction will find a way in you might not be able to find. If you have a shingle roof, it could just be water going uphill (shingles are only water tight as long as the water flows down hill). I have been a home repair guy in Florida for many years and I see this kind of thing every time we have a major storm event. Just look around for any sign of damage or poor construction, if you don't see anything obvious, go back to bed and don't worry about it.It's my turn to watch and wait today, my Mom is in Warren, Rhode Island visiting her relatives. BlessingsBob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ross549 Posted August 28, 2011 Author Share Posted August 28, 2011 Don't spend a bunch of time looking for a little leak that only showed up during a hurricane. The combination of massive rainfall and fierce wind from every direction will find a way in you might not be able to find. If you have a shingle roof, it could just be water going uphill (shingles are only water tight as long as the water flows down hill). I have been a home repair guy in Florida for many years and I see this kind of thing every time we have a major storm event. Just look around for any sign of damage or poor construction, if you don't see anything obvious, go back to bed and don't worry about it.I am debating what to do. I may try to chase it down. It was leaking where my ceiling in the lower bedroom should be. I am working on renovations there now.https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphoto...04_488370_n.jpgSince the ceiling is already removed (I noticed water damage when I took it off- probably from Isabel), I want to try to figure out where it is coming from. Just a debate on how far I want to dig. ;)Adam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amenditman Posted August 28, 2011 Share Posted August 28, 2011 Adam, I've even seen a hurricane drive water through a thin spot in the stucco. In that particular incident a good quality paint job was all that was required to stop the water.Like I said, don't drive yourself crazy. Fix any obvious stuff and make sure things are generally ship-shape, about all you can do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted August 28, 2011 Share Posted August 28, 2011 Well, other than a pretty big wind gust last night that pushed over our Apple tree to a 45 degree angle (Jim propped it up - it is one of the trees that Isabel knocked over entirely), along with some massive branches from the spreading Chestnut across the street, we really did well with Irene.Our power is still out here. The wind was so bad that trees that were fine till overnight when we started getting the winds from the back side of Irene started being pushed over and Wakefield and Waverly power went out. Their power was on yesterday. But not today.No word as yet as to how long before our power is back on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted August 28, 2011 Share Posted August 28, 2011 By the way, one really good thing that came from this. The over 6,000 acres of burned area in The Dismal Swamp is now 99% out!!!!Yea!!! Now maybe we can all breath a little easier!If interested in that, go to WAVY 10 Hampton Roads and read about it or see the video that show what it looks like today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zlim Posted August 28, 2011 Share Posted August 28, 2011 I'm inland from Irene, in east/central PA but we got hammered. Across the street the power went out at 11pm and still hasn't been restored. I was feeling pretty good that we had power. At 2am, we heard a tremendous crash. I went to the livingroom to look out the patio and all I saw was tree trunks and leaves. My husband and I went to the attic and discovered 5 of our 2 by 10 roof rafters were broken and the roof was broken in two places with part of a tree limb sticking through the one hole. It was too dark and conditions were too dangerous to go out and figure out what happened. We put tarps and buckets up there to try and contain the water.From 3am to 4:30am, city trucks were aside of our house clearing a huge tree that had fallen across the road.We called our insurance around 4:30 and got the names of cleanup crews. We still weren't too sure what actually happened but we spent all night with tarps and old towels trying to keep most of the water running down the wall and inside our picture windows from doing more damage. Around daylight, near 6am, the first of the cleanup crew arrived to take pictures and draw sketches of the damage.Eventually we could go out and look. Two of the neighbors trees had uprooted and fell into one of our trees. We had 3 trees on the roof and ground. Around 6am, the cable and internet went out. I couldn't understand it because the trees had fallen 4 hour earlier and we were watching the weather on tv for a few hours.Once the trees started to be cleared, we saw the cable wire lying on the ground. The box had been torn from the house. We called Comcast and told it would take 12 to 14 hours for someone to get here.Magically, the cable and internet came back on. About 45 min. ago, the cable guy showed up. He said as long as it is working he would not try to string a temp line. Apparently even though the box was ripped from the house, all the connectors held.So, the roof has a huge tarp on it covering the 3 holes. There is an industrial dehumidifier and 2 air movers working in the living room to dry out the plaster. We have a few holes above the crown molding and a very long horizontal crack that water was dripping from. Three trunks are still on part of the house but they have most off the very damaged roof area. Now we wait for an insurance adjustor and an arborist to come and remove the 3 trees.I did take some pictures early on. I do not know how good or bad they got. Eventually I will post some pictures so you can see our mess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corrine Posted August 28, 2011 Share Posted August 28, 2011 Oh, Liz! How terrible. Fortunately you're both ok though. That is the main thing, even though you have to deal with the cleanup and repairs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted August 28, 2011 Share Posted August 28, 2011 I am so sorry to hear that Liz!!! :(Thank God you both are OK and hope the insurance folks are quick to get things going for repairs.So sad. A lady down the street from us has a single huge tree on one corner of her house, but not like your situation! Bad enough though. I don't know if they have insurance on their place.We have been traveling a bit since we have no electricity to see how bad it is. There are power lines down all over the place!! No wonder we had to drive all the way to Smithfield before they had power!We stopped at a place called Cowlings to get something cold to drink. LOL! I am using their complimentary Internet while we are here.Then we will be driving across 258 and down 460 to get a circular area to assess everything. In the aftermath of things like hurricanes and tornadoes, you can certainly understand Jo's statement regarding the F5 Tornado that hit their house when she was a child in the movie Twister; "Jo: You've never seen it miss this house, and miss that house, and come after you!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amenditman Posted August 28, 2011 Share Posted August 28, 2011 Liz,Sorry to hear you have that damage to deal with cleanup/etc. But no one is hurt and we can be thankful for that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zlim Posted August 28, 2011 Share Posted August 28, 2011 I called my 90 year old mom early this morn and she is okay. I'm not sure what we'd do if she had problems too. She lives an hour away from us and still living in the "family" home alone. She wants no part of senior citizen housing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted August 28, 2011 Share Posted August 28, 2011 I'm glad to hear that everyone is OK. Houses, trees, cars, etc. can all be replaced or repaired; people can't be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ross549 Posted August 29, 2011 Author Share Posted August 29, 2011 LilBambi's batteries gave out yesterday evening. She and Jim came over and we got them charged back up. They should be good to go now, especially since they were able to get some gas for the truck so they could charge the batteries up onsite. :)Adam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zlim Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 The people across the street from us haven't had power since Sat. night at 11pm. Today is the first day of school for students and in two of the homes without power directly across from us, people are teachers. It must be very disconcerting to have to use cold water to take a shower to get ready for the first day meeting your new students! Some school districts in the surrounding areas have either cancelled or have a few hours delay for the first day.I'm glad we have power because the industrial dehumidifier and two air movers are set up in the living room taking the moisture from the rain leaking in out of the plaster. Otherwise, I guess before work could start, mold would have to be removed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 Thank you Adam!!!We are still online despite our power still being out because of yours and Cami's generosity!Jim went to Williamsburg to take care of something for me this morning and there are still folks in Williamsburg with no power too. He stopped in a grocery store and they still had no power and their generator ran out. They had emptied their fridge/freezer units and were wiping them down with bleach water.Sad loss to lose so much food but hopefully it is covered by their insurance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 Thankfully, we didn't have much in the freezer. We made sure of so if/when the power went out, we wouldn't lose as much if it went awhile. With Isabel, we were without power for nearly 2 weeks.Hope it doesn't go that long. The pole and line damage isn't as bad, but there are still lines, poles, substations affected.Keeping fingers crossed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 The hardest thing is for most folks, this was less than Isabel, but for some, it was as bad or worse.There was still a lot of tornadic stuff, and individual gusts that did some oddball damage.When we were driving around, it was incredible. So much was still ok, but we saw a line of pear trees, 4-5 of them in the front yard of a home, the middle 2-3 were flat on the ground, the end ones were still standing.There werelots of similar situations...just oddball. And although not nearly as many lines/poles, some of the damage did affect similar types of things just in lesser amounts over all.In Isabel, they basically had to rebuild much of the lines/poles infrastructure here in our little town. Thankfully that was not damaged. I think it was a local wire coming lose for us initially on a pole, but then it turned into an outside issue with power to the town, or a good part ofthe town.We had to travel 45+/- minutes to even find a gas or grocery store in any direction because of the widespread outages here and the surrounding towns. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 Well it is now Wednesday and still no power here.Jim went to charge one of the batteries with the truck and after he had been charging it for awhile, the serpentine belt blew apart. Thankfully it happened parked at the house but still, there goes the way to charge the batteries. Sigh... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zlim Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 Our neighbors across the street have power again but on the same side of the street but at the end of our block, the neighbors don't have power and might not get it until Friday.Despite 4 trees hitting the house and tearing off the cable box, we have all our utilities. There was enough give in the cable wire that although it is mostly hanging on the ground and buried under trees, it is still connected.The service is up and down but that is widespread and not just at our house.Looking at what the folks in NJ and VT are enduring, I feel extremely lucky that we did not get all the flooding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 Well it is now Wednesday and still no power here.Sucking badly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ross549 Posted September 1, 2011 Author Share Posted September 1, 2011 Indeed. Sorry to hear about the serpentine belt. :(Adam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 Indeed. Sorry to hear about the serpentine belt. :(AdamThanks, Adam. Looks like the water pump is the culprit; so we have to replace the water pump and serpentine belt. Hopefully that will be all. Thankfully it is less than $100 worth of parts if Jim can do the work himself. WE HAVE POWER NOW!!!!! :w00tx100: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corrine Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 WE HAVE POWER NOW!!!!! :w00tx100: YIPPEE!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zlim Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 Hallelujiah! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 Yea!!! :DHere's some images that Jim and I took and uploaded to my Flickr! Photostream for Hurricane Irene August 2011 here:http://www.flickr.com/photos/lilbambi01/se...157627569701562 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ross549 Posted September 1, 2011 Author Share Posted September 1, 2011 That damage is worse that what I've seen on the Peninsula and southside.Adam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 That damage is worse that what I've seen on the Peninsula and southside.AdamYeah, it was interesting. The Northwest corner of the storm was amazingly strong and that is what hit us first...and what knocked out power here I think. We actually heard the 'freight train' sounds but were fortunate this time and didn't get the 'touchdown'. I really think the way some of those pictures are, it had to be tornado or wind sheer or a hurricane force gust that came early. We were still in tropical storm force winds area when some of that happened. But others started happening when the eye was 50-98 miles from Norfolk and forward. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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