We have cabin fever...but we survived Hurricane Irene...

This last weekend was a little (ok a lot) different than most other weekends. Hurricane Irene came up the East Coast this weekend and caused lots of damage from North Carolina up into Maine.  The Hurricane was projected to hit us sometime Saturday and the government was projecting major floods and power outages that could last up to a week. We have our 72 hour kits and our water supply put together. Just in case things were going to be worse we went to the store and bought some more water bottles and stocked up on food.  I have always seen on t.v. the long lines of people waiting to buy water, batteries, gas, food, etc., but this time we actually experienced it. Every store around was out of water and batteries by Friday or so. Luckily we got our stuff a couple days ahead. There were also way long lines at the gas pump. It was something I have never experienced before. Seeing everyone get prepared got me all nervous and wondering if we were prepared enough. This weekend reinforced for me the importance of food storage. Living in Utah we never really had to live off our food storage, but now I realize how much relief it does bring to you if the situation actually does arise where you will need to use it.  After this weekend, Clint and I analyzed our food storage stuff closer and made some assessments about what we need for the future. Getting these things together will give us many FHE activities to do in the future. :) Well Saturday morning came around and I was slightly freaking out after seeing what was happening further down south.  Clint thought I was a little crazy but he was a good sport. I moved everything off the floor (which wasn't much since we don't have any furniture). I placed all of our necessary documents and are portable hard drive into a backpack by the door just in case we needed to move out fast.  I moved the mattress into the living room and shoved it in the corner away from all the windows. And so on and so on. After doing all of that it was like a waiting game. We had heard that storm was suppose to start hitting us with heavy rains and winds by Saturday, but that didn't happen.  Early Sunday morning around 2 am the hurricane began to roll in. The winds were blowing so hard and it was raining like crazy. I was so worried and scared and Clint just passed out next to me (not worried at all). I couldn't sleep all night and was grateful for the next morning when the sun came out.  We stayed inside all day Sunday (they canceled church because of the hurricane). It continued to rain and be windy Sunday morning, but nothing too bad. By Sunday afternoon the sun started to come out and luckily we had kept our power the entire time, but lost our internet connection.  In the end, 700,000+ people in Connecticut lost power, most of those people were cities close to us since we are only about 19 miles from the coast.  It sounds like we ended up the best out of most of the state. The east and south got hit and are still struggling with major power outages and floods. The west got hit with really high winds.  Since we fall right in the middle, we didn't get a lot of it.  The coast is what is struggling the most. Twenty five houses have fallen into the ocean and many others are ruined because of floods and tree's falling down on their houses.  Four days later, 200,000 people are still without power. Monday morning Clint didn't go into work because of the extensive power outages around us. We had cabin fever so bad from being in the house for 48 hours straight, so we went on a small drive around our neighborhood.  Trees were fallen down everywhere, many of them into the power lines and just hanging a few feet over the road.  Lots of wires were laying down close to people's houses waiting for professionals to take care of them.  The river which flows right next to the major highway was raised 8+ feet and you wouldn't even know there use to be a park by it. All you can see is the remnants of the wooden fence that lined the park.  But nothing was lost that can't be replaced. Clint and I are so thankful that the damage wasn't worse for us and our city. We are praying for the people near the coast who are still struggling and have lost their homes. Please keep them and everyone affected by Hurricane Irene in your prayers. Thanks!

Spider web that had caught raindrops from the storm

We heard a great tip about filling your tub and sinks full of water so if the water goes out, you can use the tub water to flush the toilet and wash up with. Here is our tub full of water.

Our food storage, emergency stuff, and everything else put up on the washer/dryer just in case our apartment flooded.

Sleeping bags ready to go if we needed them.

Clint and Oreo on the mattress shoved in the corner away from windows.

Made some cookies (a hurricane staple).

Oreo watching the news. ;)

The small river that began forming outside our apartment.

The restaurant that sites right along the river. The whole first floor is now flooded.

The pavilion at the park next to the Connecticut River.

The only indication that there was a park along the river is the top of the wooden fence and the trees.

A very normal site right now all over Connecticut. Tree's hanging on power lines.

One of the houses along the ocean that fell in because of the Hurricane.