Tag Archives: Irene

Hurricane Irene Made for a Hectic Weekend

Here’s how I fought Hur­ri­cane Irene last week­end in Philadel­phia, PA:

  • Drove wife and son to be with fam­i­ly in north­ern Va as they pre­pared to vaca­tion in, gulp, Corol­la, NC this week.
  • Watched news at moth­er-in-law’s house. Won­dered if Out­er Banks would still exist.
  • Slept.
  • Drove home to Philly at 6 AM. Caught in traf­fic twice behind ter­ri­ble acci­dents. Won­dered if I’d be stuck in traf­fic for hours both times.
  • Upon arriv­ing home, made per­func­to­ry ges­tures at shoring up base­ment storage.
  • Ate hot dog lunch in a light rain at Mem­phis Tap­room Beer Garden.
  • Ratch­eted up pan­ic by watch­ing nation­al and local news outlets.
  • Did­n’t eat din­ner. Drank a pitch­er of daiquiris instead while watch­ing Bourne Suprema­cy with friends.
  • Hid in bath­room, then base­ment dur­ing tor­na­do watch.
  • Fell asleep around midnight.
  • Awoke to howl­ing rain at 2:43 am.
  • Checked base­ment and ceil­ings. Found no leaks.
  • Tried falling asleep. Couldn’t.
  • Stayed awake until dawn when storm relented.
  • Walked over to friend’s house for coffee.
I still can’t believe that my house made it through rel­a­tive­ly unscathed. Watch­ing Twit­ter and Face­book I read a litany of things going wrong at friends’ homes through­out the region and I just could­n’t believe my house — which has leaked repeat­ed­ly — would be spared. (Here’s where I take a moment to praise Reit­er Roof­ing, as well as Port Fish­ing­ton’s rel­a­tive high ground for a river­ward community.)
I slept like the dead last night. I still feel com­plete­ly exhaust­ed. Helen and Char­lie will be in the Out­er Banks tomor­row morn­ing. I can’t wait to join them on Friday.