Hurricane Irene seems headed this way but DC and Alexandria residents are sitting pretty, thanks to their Depts. of Public Works, which have allotted each household five -- count 'em -- five free sandbags. So bring it on, Irene!
You may wonder, as I have, how much difference five sandbags can make, but residents line up for their free allotment of sand every time floods threaten. Earlier this month, in anticipation of heavy rain, people stood in the sandbag line for hours:
Eric Goldstein, who was waiting for sandbags, told us, "It's a pretty basic commodity. To not have it like this is pretty frustrating."And if the five sandbags fail to hold back the flood, maybe this will be the moment when Barack Obama will choose to use his magic to slow the rise of the oceans and heal the planet and all that. Or perhaps he's planning to influence the hurricane as he has the stock market, or downgrade it as he has the country's credit rating. Stay tuned to see which superpower he'll employ: Obama to address hurricane from Martha's Vineyard.
In each case, drivers had to wait about 30 minutes for a dump trunk to arrive with more bags that you would have thought were filled with gold based on the length of the line.
Most recent posts here. Twitter feed here. Amazon store here.
But the emperor has no clothes!
ReplyDeleteLOL great snark, Jill!
ReplyDeleteI hope you stay safe and that the storm ain't too bad when it gets near you. up here in NY's Hudson Valley, I am on high ground but mostly worried about wind damage from all the trees near my house and the possibility of losing power because we're on a well and will also have no water.
I have a new post up at my place with Hurricane Irene related music if you'd like to stop by! There is a classic from blues legend Lead Belly posted.
What I don't get if you are living on Madison or Fairfax ave in Old Town, why don't you have some sand bags already made? It kinda floods down there pretty often, in case they hadn't noticed. When I lived in Old Town we had sandbags at the ready so I didn't have to stand in those long lines. My mommy taught me to always be prepared, or maybe I was a boy scout in another life.
ReplyDeleteHonest to God guys, what is the big deal? Although a buddy of mine said rain and wind up there isn't like rain and wind down here. The rain runs off our land into the ocean, where the rain seems to build up and flood there, but still...
ReplyDeleteI am in Florida where I was about eight miles from the eye of Charlie. I watched as entire clumps of fifty foot trees uprooted and were pushed over as though an unseen hand had slapped them to the ground. They estimated 160 mile an hour micro bursts around my house. My buddy's house had its side ripped off, the ceiling of his garage sucked down and the garage door blown out, due to one of those bursts.
You guys are going to get wet.
And yes there will be one stupid, ignorant dumba** who will try to drive over a flooded out bridge or road, get swept away and either drown himself, his entire family, or end up in a tree clinging to a branch.
But outside that, it's rain. FOX is running the same potential horror story about how one in five Americans are exposed to this hurricane. A Cat 2? I stood working traffic at an intersection one year in a Cat 1 and in a car at another in a Cat 2.
Well at least BO is coming back early. That will help.
Be safe up there. Get water, batteries, canned food, a coleman, some wetnaps and some towels, maybe a generator and have a good time going "primitive" for a few days. I spent almost two weeks at my house, roof damaged, no water or electricity AND reported for duty every day. All you could do is take it in stride.
Be safe.
RW