she's baaaaack......

[mbhenty]

In my life time Hurricane Irene has visited the North Atlantic Four times, but hit the US only once. In 1999 Hurricane Irene hit South Florida as a Cat 1, missing Southern New England by a little more than 200 miles.

Well, here she comes again, for a 5th visit. This time Irene means business.

Tomorrow I will need to make a visit to Swansea to take down my sails on my sailboat (Chinstrap) and tie it to the mooring with extra lines, kiss its bow and wish it luck.

How exciting, though I don't see it as a good thing. Then again, I love running out to the middle of the road when its lightning.


(below photo of Chinstrap. Just beyond the trees to the left in the photo is the Borden Swansea Farm House, about 900 feet from shore. Also included is a map with the track of Hurricane Irene in 1999)

[kssunflower]

Good luck in weathering the storm. My prayers are with you.

[mbhenty]

Thank you, Kussunflower.

Last I heard it will hit as a Tropical Storm here in New England.

(Darn-it)

I was more concern with Lizzie's Maple trees coming down, which are getting on in age and shedding limbs........though still quite healthy. Very little chance. The winds should be out of the South, which would bring it right up Lizzie's driveway.

[shakiboo]

What kind of winds will Irene be packing when she reaches there? That's a nice looking boat, hope she rides it out safely! Let us know how it goes for you, Mb...God bless.

[mbhenty]

Yes, thank you Sakiboo.............

Being a Gemini, I discovered late in life that I usually have two of everything. Funny, really.

So, I have two boats. The small one is in the water and my larger boat (an off shore cruiser) is on stands at the boat yard where I keep Chinstrap. (my small Cape Dory)

Off course, with high winds, I would be much more worried if my bigger boat was in the water, but Chinstrap is my fun boat. She is well tied to her mooring, which is oversize for Chinstrap, and it has two back up lines attached. But what I worry about is one of the larger boats in front of mine breaking their mooring and crashing into Chinstrap. I'll be out there tomorrow when Irene hits to watch the fun.

Here in Lizzie Land we should be hit with tropical winds, with perhaps hurricane gusts. At least that is the way they are reporting it. (Like they know what they are talking about.) When it makes it's landing on Long Island it should be a Cat 1. By the time it crosses Long Island and hits Connecticut it should weaken some what. (If we can believe the weatherman)

The map below shows the rain fall accompanying the storm. The yellow color on the map is rainfall of 6-10 inches. We are over to the right, just into the small strip of purple, 2 to 5 inches of rain. The map also reflects where at the stronger winds will be..........somewhat.

I remember my first hurricane. I was only a baby. Hurricane Carol. (I'm not going to tell you how long ago that was. You'll have to look it up ) At that time we got two good size hurricanes, Carol and Diane, within two weeks of each other. I remember the big tree that fell and leaned against the house.

But, everyone up here likes to talk about the "38 Hurricane".........like it was the hurricane of all hurricanes. (Florida has experienced several 38 hurricanes just in the past decade)

Right now there's this jerky weatherman on TV, one of many, standing in the blowing rain on a beach in N.C., with water up to his knees and the wind nearly knocking him over, screaming out the obvious conditions around him and trying to give a report.

So dumb. They make it sound like it's the end of the world.

Such dramatic theatrics, such melodrama.........so hammy.

Go away weatherman.

[shakiboo]

Be careful out there tomorrow, and keep your camera dry!! Sorry to say, I think the weatherman standing out in the blowing wind and rain, do it for inlanders like me who wouldn't know a hurricane if I saw one. It gives the visual effect, followed quickly by the thought "Wow, that winds really blowing, and look at all of that rain"!! Joking aside, they are dangerous and cause alot of damage and if I see a guy on the news standing in water up to his knees taking pictures of a boat named Chinstrap, I'll probably have a good idea who it is! So, once again, be careful out there!

[mbhenty]

Yes, Thanks once again Shakiboo.

Went out early this morning to check on the boat. It was peak high tide. Though the radio claimed 4 to 6 surge in Narraganset Bay, I experienced less than 2 at Swansea Marina, summer home of Lizzie Borden.

Below are a couple of photos of Maplecorft during the pre-hight of the storm.

The first shot is of a tree that broke and fell into the backyard of Maplecorft. You can make out the corner of Maplecroft's garage in the shot.

The next shot is a photo of Maplecroft as the rain falls sideway, almost obscuring completely the homes across the street.

The last one is a shot of ONSLOE, checking out the damage in the back yard.

Just a couple of quick snapshots.

[mbhenty]

A friend of mine sent me this photo. He says he got it off the net and that the house is in Fall River.

I don't recognize it, nor can I find it on the net myself.

I don't think it's Fall River.

Either way, these poor folks are having a very bad day. Amazing tragic occurrence.

[mbhenty]

Nothing special happening at the Swansea Marina. Much of the wind was out of the East when I took these photos this morning. It is the best direction for the wind to arrive, causing the smallest waves. Though the eastern part of the Coles River is pretty well protected. You could never tell these photos were taken in 30 to 40 mph winds.

In one of the photos you can see the smaller Sailing Vessel Chinstrap riding on it's mooring. (second photo)

The surge is almost above the docks in the other photo, showing the mooring field at the Swansea Marine. On the opposite shore, just to the right and out of the shot, is River-By. (spelling???)

[mbhenty]

Yes, as the day wore on Irene became much worse as the winds turned from East to South. Right now, 4pm, there are some high gusts but less wind as Irene pulls away to the east and heading north into N.H., Vermont and beyond. My little boat, along with others whipped, dipped, sailed and twisted sideways on their pendants ropes. In one of the photos is the mouth of the Coles River, with Mount Hope just to the left.......general open scene of Mount Hope bay, with a dash of red color in the way of a channel buoy.

[mbhenty]

Even Oak Grove Cemetery did not escape some damage.

With every hurricane or Nor-eaaster, Oak Grove sheds a little of its treed canopy. All over the cemetery trees and branches littered the burial ground's quaint wiggly lanes.

Even close to the Borden Grave site, large boughs and small branches cluttered the yard. Though the Borden grave site was spared of any large tree limbs, one small branch fell right onto Lizzie's grave and lay over it,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, as if a gift from hurricane Irene.

[mbhenty]

It's 11:21pm and it's almost over.

Still some strong gusts.

But, Huddie William Leadbetter could not have said it better himself...................

Goodbye Irene. {sic}

MBhenty.....out!

[mbhenty]

Yes, JUST A COUPLE MORE PICTURES. TREES DOWN AT OAK GROVE CEMETERY.....,WHICH TOOK A BEATING. OAK GROVE CEMETERY CAN BE VERY CONFUSING, WITH IT'S TWISTY ROADS. AFTER MANY YEARS, I STILL GET LOST. WITH A TREE IN THE ROAD EVERY OTHER ROUTE I TOOK, FINDING THE EXIT WAS ALL THAT MORE BAFFLING.

[mbhenty]

.

[Angel]

Great pictures.

[mbhenty]

YES, thank you Angel........

On a down note.......(I know, I know, I'm full of them )

Here comes KATIA!

Everyone.....all together now: TURN, TURN TURN, HARD TO STARBOARD, TURN.

[mbhenty]

Watch out Kat, coming your way?????? Pull down those shades.

[mbhenty]

Yes, Oh, oh! Spoke to soon.




It is now reported that Hurricane Katia, if it remains on its current path, will hit the New England and New York area........making it Irene's sister.

The determining factor is TS Lee, which is pounding the gulf and the Louisiana coast with heavy rain.

Lee is expected to travel as a tropical depression towards the north east and help push Katia out to sea.

It's all a crapshoot right now. (trapshooting being the qualification needed to be a weatherman)

[kssunflower]

Those pics of downed trees and limbs remind me of living in north Georgia when Katrina came inland. I had relatives in Vermont affected by Irene's flooding. Let's hope Katia doesn't make landfall next week.

[mbhenty]

Yes Kssunflowe, it appears that Vermont got the worse of it. Who Knew?

When these storms hit a big city there's usually a small group who are directly affected. But when it hits a small town, it can decimate it.

Below is an interesting map of what I was talking about in the post above. This is of course a several day outlook.

The more TD Lee veers off to the west, the better chance Katia has of hitting the US coast.

Predictions are that Katia will veer off and not hit the coast. We'll see.......

[mbhenty]

Well, just when I thought my job was done here, here comes TS MARIA.

Though it looks like Katia may soon be a thing of the past, along comes still another storm which may threaten the US coast.

They are almost side-by-side.

This scenario makes for an interesting weather map.............below.