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Monday, August 29, 2011

Hurricanes Are Emotionally Exhausting

image from picturephilly.com


So, Hurricane Irene hit us a little harder than I anticipated.  My God!  What an emotionally exhausting weekend!  Were you in harms way?  How did you fare during the storm?  We experienced lots and lots and lots of water.  High winds and tornado warnings.  Our home survived with very little damage, but other people in our area weren't so lucky.  Some of our friends lost power early on, and ended up with completely flooded basements (horrifying).  Other families in the Philadelphia area suffered major damage from floods and high winds.  I listen to their stories on the local news and my heart breaks.  It was a very scary night and I hope we never have to experience something like that again.


After this weekend, I learned a few things:

1.  We need a sump pump (and maybe a generator-- can't be too prepared!)
2.  We have way too much junk in our basement
3.  There's a leak near one of our chimneys
4.  My husband and I work very well together under pressure
5.  The Philadelphia news teams on ABC, CBS, and NBC are tremendous.  These people stayed on the air for 12+ hours straight, giving us the latest updates and weather reports.  They helped people stay connected and get prepared. 
6.  I'm so proud of my new city.


This storm has set me back a few days (let's put it this way: there are half a dozen storage bins in my office that were previously living in the basement).  The house is a total mess.  So, I need a take a quick little break from the blog this week to recover.  But, I promise to be back soon. 


Until then, I'm sending lots of love to you, my dear readers! 
Have a fabulous week!



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17 comments:

  1. Andrea JAugust 29, 2011 at 9:43 PM

    I'm so sorry that you got such a brunt of the storm. I'm in Boston, and while our street faired well, a few blocks over got hit a bit harder. Good luck as you recoup!

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  2. MaryBethAugust 29, 2011 at 10:02 PM

    Got water here in haverford but thank god no damage. If you do put in a sump pump remember a battery back up. Usually when you get water during a storm you lose power and then the pump doesn't work.

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  3. Erika MachamerAugust 29, 2011 at 11:16 PM

    I'm so glad you are safe! Good luck and godspeed the recovery!

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  4. Juniper and YorkAugust 29, 2011 at 11:41 PM

    So sorry to hear that, Kelly! Luckily in the village we barely saw the storm. Benefits of apartment living. Good luck getting everything back in order!

    -Geneva

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  5. kelleypAugust 30, 2011 at 2:07 AM

    so sorry to hear! take care.
    Kelley

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  6. AnonymousAugust 30, 2011 at 9:00 AM

    So sorry, but I'm glad you didn't have damage. As a former Floridian who has been through several, it is really stressful. I was trying to get back to NYC from vacation and ended up traveling 14 hours to my dad's house in Florida. Today we are flying to Baltimore and driving the rest of the way. We've spent about $2500 extra in air fare so far!

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  7. SusanAugust 30, 2011 at 12:06 PM

    It WAS emotionally exhausting, whew! I highly recommend a sump pump, although remember-if the power is out, it won't work. (unless you have a generator) So that's the catch. ;)

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  8. Mrs. WAugust 30, 2011 at 12:42 PM

    Glad to hear you are safe. Best of luck in the recovery. Knowing you and your husband can work well together under pressure is a very good thing to have!

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  9. HunyBadgerAugust 30, 2011 at 8:21 PM

    Just got power after 2.5 days in Delaware Co. I've never been so happy for hot water before in my life. :) So glad to hear the house did ok...ours too, thankfully. We were prepared with candles and ice but we'll be getting a generator for next time anyway. The freezer began to defrost onto the kitchen's wood floors which gave me palpitations.

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  10. AllisonAugust 30, 2011 at 11:41 PM

    My M-I-L has the coolest generator for her house. It AUTOMATICALLY starts up when the power goes off, and then shuts itself off when power is restored. Once a month it exercises itself without human interference. It's a beautiful thing.

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  11. Emily | RecentlyAugust 31, 2011 at 8:43 AM

    Oh, how scary! Thank goodness you are OK! Hope all is back to normal very soon!

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  12. jules @ The Diversion ProjectAugust 31, 2011 at 9:22 AM

    glad you made it through in one piece! good luck with all the clean up work and hoping you have some dry weather.

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  13. bethAugust 31, 2011 at 10:36 AM

    I am on Long Island. We still do not have power since Sunday am. It's a nightmare and very emotionally draining. Thankfully we didn't experience much damage to our home, but others have. Tons of trees, wires, transformers and electric poles are down. There are no answers for power restoration. It's very very scary.

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  14. DianaSeptember 1, 2011 at 1:07 PM

    Wow! Sounds like you got off at least not TOO bad. It's sort of nice to confirm that you and your husband work well together under pressure though. That's so important.

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  15. AnonymousSeptember 6, 2011 at 9:41 AM

    Thinking of you. I hope that you were able to clean everything up and get your life back to how it was pre-storm. So happy you were safe!!

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  16. Holly GruszkaSeptember 6, 2011 at 9:57 PM

    It was scary but you are so right about the news teams - they were amazing. I had Action News on all night and they worked their tails off to keep everyone up-to-date.

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  17. holly - livingston and porterSeptember 8, 2011 at 10:05 PM

    Hope you're recovering! Weather can be oh so scary!

    Do you know the book The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin? She wrote a nice piece titled "Why a Hurricane Filled Me With Gratitude" and I thought it was worth sharing.

    https://www.facebook.com/#!/notes/gretchen-rubin/why-a-hurricane-filled-me-with-gratitude/10150354039731068

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