[Tigger58]

Hurricane Isabel knocked out power to more than 4.5 million people as it weakened into a tropical storm and raced toward Canada Friday after swamping tidal communities along Chesapeake Bay, uprooting trees, disrupting air traffic and shutting down the nation's capital.


read more

http://www.roadrunner.com/v5/2/news/...~1~9000_499869

[BDANtheman29]

Thank you for the sad update. Isabel is headed my way. Government buildings, schools, businesses, everything is closed up here (decided to be closed yesterday), and yet we haven't even had a touch or rain or severe wind. Hopefully it will die fast so others aren't lost.

Bredan

[minnie*mickey]

isabel just missed us, thank god, im sorry to hear it has claimed life

[Disneyland1955]

I hear that it is just a tropical storm now, but still could be dangerous. I hope my aunt who lives in North Carolina is ok...I'M glad that the storm is passing now.

[Tigger58]

BDANtheman29 said: Thank you for the sad update. Isabel is headed my way. Government buildings, schools, businesses, everything is closed up here (decided to be closed yesterday), and yet we haven't even had a touch or rain or severe wind. Hopefully it will die fast so others aren't lost.

Bredan

Brendan

My family lives in western NY too, I called my son and he said they had nothing but a few drops and some wind.... Thank God.....

I feel bad for all those involved

[BDANtheman29]

Tigger58 said:Brendan

My family lives in western NY too, I called my son and he said they had nothing but a few drops and some wind.... Thank God.....

I feel bad for all those involved

I do too, Nancy. I am just glad that Western and Central NY haven't been hit. All we had yesterday was light showers and overcast skies.

Brendan

[BDANtheman29]

It is sad to say, but Isabel is now blamed for 25 lives.

Brendan

[MouseMan]

It is indeed a sad sitaution. However, people east and north-east of the gulf coast states now know what those of us here in the gulf states region always have to deal with when the hurricane season is upon us. We generally get most of the storms and they are devestating! It's odd that this storm tool the track that it did.

[Tigger58]

People in the east and northeast deal with a whole lot in the winter too! I know, I was there for 40 years....We had some bad winter storms which claimed lives while I was there, and in the midwest here we had 4 tornadoes touch down all around my neihgborhood this summer in one day....We were VERY lucky.....Lots of lives lost and homes just GONE!....Wiped right out...... So all of the country has their own devistation to deal with as far as weather goes....and its no fun for anyone who's affected by it all........

[MouseMan]

All the more reason to understand and support the various weather truamas other regions go through.

[MouseMan]

One Million Without Power After Isabel
Mon Sep 22, 9:17 AM ET
By BOB JORDAN, Associated Press Writer

KILL DEVIL HILLS, N.C. - Traffic lights were still out in some cities as drivers headed back to work Monday, and more than 1 million customers from North Carolina to Delaware remained without power following Hurricane Isabel.


Along the hard-hit Outer Banks, residents walked the trash-strewn beaches and ate breakfast in the few restaurants that were serving. Road equipment had plowed sand from major beach roads into 6- to 8-foot-high berms, but police checkpoints were still keeping outsiders from the coastal towns.


"Some of the stores are open, but they're not selling dairy products yet," said Erica Stephens, 30, of Kill Devil Hills, as she walked her dog Ozzie along the sand before her young daughter awoke. "We're trying to function. Everybody's trying to function."


She and her husband, a tile mason, planned to spend the day helping neighbors clean out and repair their damaged homes. Their own was mostly spared from the hurricane's destruction.


Across eastern and central North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Delaware, power companies were repairing downed lines to try to restore electricity three days after Isabel stormed the East Coast. For many residents of the hardest-hit areas, running water and hot meals were in short supply.


High water still had not receded in parts of Virginia. Two Old Order Mennonites died Sunday in Shenandoah Valley when their horse-drawn buggy was swept away as they tried to cross a flooded bridge.


The deadly effects of the storm also were being felt in Pennsylvania, where a woman died Sunday from fumes emitted by a generator used to power her house.


The post-hurricane hardships began to show in people's tempers, but many kept their cool by lending each other a hand.


"People have been very, very kind," said Adam Stiener, who had a 100-foot oak crash through his roof in Edenton, a Colonial-era town where towering oaks and magnolias became fodder for Isabel's fury. Stiener is only a part-time resident. Still, a neighbor insisted he come share dinner. Utility warned it might be a week before power was restored.


In one neighborhood, where toppled oaks and orange cones made the streets a maze of obstacles, Madison Phillips posted a rare sign of relief — "Well Water For Free."


Phillips hung a garden hose on the plywood sign beside his driveway. A steady stream of his hurricane-weary neighbors pulled up to fill milk jugs, empty soda bottles and large coolers on wheels.


"Water pressure's all gone and nobody can flush their toilets," said the 58-year-old laboratory worker. "I told them it wasn't good for drinking, probably, but you can at least wipe yourself off and use your toilet."


Across North Carolina, 83,591 homes and businesses remained without power Sunday evening, down from a high of about 691,000.


More than two-thirds of Virginians who lost power had it restored, leaving about 842,500 customers still in the dark, said Dominion Power, the state's largest provider. Maryland had about 600,000 people still without electricity, while Delaware had 24,000.


At least 30 deaths have been blamed on the storm, 17 of them in Virginia. North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Delaware were declared federal disaster areas.


Residents in Virginia's hardest-hit area were starting to wear down because of isolated price gouging and a general lack of information.


"Two days, we thought it was fun. We camped out," said Shawn Williams of Newport News, Va. "Four days is long enough."


Williams went to the Red Cross office in Hampton, Va., to get water for his three young daughters, but all the office had was rice, meat, gravy and pineapple. Workers posted signs declaring in underlined words: "We do not have ice."

Williams' money reserves were running low and he was disgusted to find a local gas station demanding $2.50 a gallon.

Long lines formed in many places where there was news of ice or water or hot showers.

Terri Ellis, who lived in Miami in the aftermath of devastating Hurricane Andrew, said Virginia's response to Isabel was abysmal. She vented her frustration Sunday at weary Red Cross volunteers, unable to control her anger at being told to call emergency numbers.

"They say 'call the emergency management office.' When I get home, I have no phone," she said.

The city of Newport News had its own complaints about the Federal Emergency Management Agency (news - web sites).

"We've asked FEMA for generators. We haven't gotten them," Newport News Mayor Joe Frank said Sunday. "We've asked them for water, we've asked them for food, we've asked them for ice. So far, we haven't seen any of that."

FEMA Director Mike Brown was on the defensive.

"We've distributed 650,000 tons of ice down to that area," he said Sunday. "I just find it difficult to believe that we're not meeting someone's needs — if, indeed, they've been articulated to us."

[ladyeowyn]

Umm..I know this is a late subject but I just (yes!!!) got my power back today. It has been well over a week and I am fed up. I live right on the coast near North Carolina so we were hit really hard!!

It figures our yard has the biggest and fattest tree in the neighborhood. It fell blocking the street and a cul-de-sac. This was over a week ago and they still haven't moved it!

I walked over to my neighbors during the hurricane. The wind was so bad that I got knocked over. A bucket was flying in the air and hit me. I also have a scar on my cheek right now of a tree branch. And at the beach one of the peirs flew away! The pictures were horrible, but to have been in it for a day, was very terrifying.

[MickeysGirl]

I am terribly sorry to hear that you have had to go through so much! I hope that the tree can be moved soon.
Are you and your family alright, aside from the scar on your cheek? (vitamin E oil will take that away if used consistently over a period of time)
It sounds like a terrible experience, I think I prefer our Earthquakes.

[Disneypro]

OMG!! That is horrible ladyeowyn!! I can't believe that they still haven't moved the tree. I understand that it might be sorta low on the priority list, but what if someone was in need of emergency services? How would they get to them?

We really don't have many hurricane type storms here in New England where the water causes such havoc. I'll stick to just having to remove snow anyday. At least the snow doesn't ruin your things if taken care of properly.

[BDANtheman29]

Like the rest of the members here at Talk Disney, I am terribly sorry to hear that you had such hardships during the storm. As DD said above, what if EMS needed to get through? I would try to see if you can get some NC state workers to get it cleaned up soon. I hope you are doing better now, and I am glad to hear that you got your electricity back. We're all thinking of you!

Brendan