FRANKENSTORM CHECK-IN THREAD

My nephew on Long Island finally got power restored on Saturday. They have underground wiring in their neighborhood but the feeds had to be repaired.

Holy cow. Finally coming up for air. Got power back on this Wednesday but took some time to get the rest of life back in order. My sitter is finally here today and I am back at work. SHE just got power THIS MORNING (in St. James).

I can't complain. I live in a densely wooded area and NONE of the houses on my street suffered tree damage, which is positively shocking. That said, the street was just DEVASTATED in terms of tree damage. DEVASTATED. I lost 3 enormous mature trees from my front yard. It's going to change the lighting in my yard dramatically. My front is 100% shade plants and groundcovers. I'd say that shade is now going to be almost completely gone. Stupid, petty small complaint given what my fellow islanders on the south shore are dealing with, I know... but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't on my mind constantly. My entire landscape was just changed dramatically in one fell swoop.

The insides of 2 of the trees were completely hollow. One was actually filled with HONEYCOMB and a full live bee colony. The tree guys sure loved that one! :) They were from Indiana. Poor guys. They sawed through that one and all the bees came racing out. Now all the mega debris is still waiting for the town. The linemen who handled my street were from TN; they did not have the supplies to replace the splintered and dangling electrical poles, so they attached the wires to TREES on the street! Yipes!!! But at least we had power. A second crew from KY came in on Friday night and replaced the poles. Just can't believe how far folks traveled to come here and help with the repair and cleanup effort. In the past 2 weeks, I have not seen ONE SINGLE LIPA truck. Not one. The folks who restored my sitter's power this morning were from Quebec. So incredibly grateful and humbled by the service provided by all of these men. I know that without them I'd still be freezing in the dark.

Now.... what to replace my trees with??? :) Need trees that grow FAST, like dappled light, and don't get too tall ;) Something tells me that having all these 80 foot trees around probably isn't the best idea moving forward...

We learned after Hugo that the best plan is to not do anything for at least a year to see how your light patterns evolve. Sort of like you would do if you had just moved into a new home. You might be surprised with what does survive in the new environment.

True....I lost a large crabapple in last year's storm, & my shade garden went to a sun garden......ferns & primroses did fine, but I lost my tiarella....will replace the crab one of these days!

I just heard from a friend on Long Beach. Nearly two feet of water went through their first floor. They had a lot of problems trying to be allowed to go back and salvage things, but no looting because the island was "locked down." On election day, the mayor announced that the citizens must be allowed back to vote (they had electronic voting on the mainland) and that is when they could spend some time to get winter clothes and try to pull out the rotten carpet in order to mitigate the molds through the walls running into the second floor. No place to dump but the back yard. Since other houses on the the beach were completely demolished, and since they could rent a summer home right away for the family, they were considerd lucky. Others with houses that were on stilts discovered when they returned that the houses were 16 feet above the ground level but dry inside.

We didn't get solar after researching it in MA because you can't use it yourself if the grid is down, same as Victor, same everywhere. Now we're not buying until there is a new incentive, though we did find a company that can install without drilling through the roof (we have a flat rubber roof where the sun is best, that would not keep its warranty). My DH would consider rigging up his own circuits from the solar units if we get a lot of storms in the future.

I really liked Doug's link about the lanterns. I think I'm going to return to some of my parents' generation's ideas for storm preparedness.

We used a battery operaed lantern that first night. Should pick up a 2nd one. Fireplace was ready to go if necessary.

Lots of looting in the Rockaways. To show how brazen and stupid some are, five guys attempted to loot a firehouse which is right next to the police staging area and the nat guard staging area, a total of about 2500 cops and guards. Duh. Needless to say...

Sorry to hear about Northport. Have a friend there. Wonder how she made out.

A friend who lives on the 23rd floor of an apartment building downtown NYC is sitll without power. He is staying in a hotel which is easier than walking up and down all thos floors which he has done several times for clean clothes, etc.

Had to drive up a different way to deliver a part to hubby, so many trees down, a whole line of about 25 young trees bordering a soccer field all broken, lots of HUGE trees that were uprooted are still there with just the tops cut off cause that's the part that was blocking the road or lying on power lines, saw a transformer still on the ground. It's going to take a long while to get everything cleaned up

These are all of damage in my front yard. *sniff*

1. Honeycomb bee colony in front yard tree!
2. Uprooted tree on drive to school
3. Uprooted tree at polling place
4. Scene on my street on MONDAY, A FULL WEEK AFTER Sandy!
5. Pole on my street as it looks TODAY

Wow!

frightening set of disasters. Hope the areas with wires become safe quickly.

I grew up on the north end of Syosset, not far from Northport, it is heartbreaking to see all the destruction from Sandy. All those beautiful old trees, so sad.

What a shame! Too bad about the bees, too--you were lucky to have a colony of pollinators right there.

I spoke to a customer in Idaho and she said that they just sent a crew to NJ. She worked for Idaho power. We seem to have mostly pine trees down. We finally got power back at work on Saturday. Several employees got their power back today.

Here are a couple of photos of my neighbors house. This was the day after Sandy. I thought the rootball was going to lift their house. One tree was laying on his roof and the other was across the street. That is the size of the trees that are on 3 sides of my house.
I

Have a friend/former colleague in Syosset.

sorry about the damage...Sheameister & Elsie.. terrible stuff

Finally heard from Louise & Hank!! Yippee!!!

Good to hear, Celeste

Hubby was back up in our old town yesterday he said I'd cry if I saw it 40 houses in 1 area were lifted right off their foundations
1 of the cops in town went outside and saw the water starting to come down the street he grabbed a dog under each arm, he said the other dog could swim, so off they ran to the truck, they didn't even make it to the truck the water was chest high so they just took off for higher ground at the municipal ball fields
1 of the firemen, said the water lifted the freezer in his basement and rammed it thru the ceiling/floor into the 1st floor

Yay, Pixie!

Sorry to hear, Jen

My nephew got power back late yesterday afternoon.

I bet Louise & Hank are in Florida

that's horrible Jen.. glad you heard word from Louise Celeste!!!

Sorry I didn't check in. I was actually in Vt making sure that house was OK, while DH stayed in Nantucket to mind it and the boat. All was good. Lots of branches down, but house is fine. Island had some trees down, some waterfront areas had damage and lots of street flooding, but mostly in expected spots though some houses and stores had water damage. The Yacht club had serious dock damage and all the tennis courts got messed up seriously as the fetch came straight at it with the full force, but Steamship Wharf next to it survived better with its big steel bulkheads. We had no boats or planes for several days and again with the Nor'easter though I was here for that. It blew hard for a couple of days, but again minor damage compared to many places. More boats came ashore during the Nor'easter and DH is working with salvage people to get them off the shore before they get totally trashed. This is a random video that gives the flavor of Sandy that I found online. http://vimeo.com/52434932

Glad every one is ok, but horrible to see and hear about some of your damage and that of your neighbors. Patti

This message was edited Nov 14, 2012 10:34 AM

Scary waves! They were like that in LI Sound also, & had no place to go, so major damage....Sherrie, Hank & Louise aren't in FL yet.....wish I was, though!

Just announcing by 1 of our congressmen, they are opening up Army housing and having a lottery to house some families that lost their homes

Sheameister, I'm glad your house didn't get damaged, but sad to hear about all those trees down. I can't believe all the devestation I've been reading about, and all the people from so many different and far-away places who have come to help out. Amazing. This storm was devastating for so many people/places. I was thinking you could put silk trees in your yard. They don't get huge, and they provide dappled shade. A weeping cherry would be very nice. Not the 'Snow Fountain' variety. I don't know the variety name, but it gets bigger than 'Snow Fountain', and has a more "airy" appearance.

I'm reading these posts on the computer at the library, as my computer is not ready to be picked up yet. As I read it I want to just jump up and start reading it out loud to everyone here, it's just all so aweful!

I'm sure glad to hear you're okay, Patti, and that you guys didn't get any damage. I thought I had heard Nantucket was hit pretty hard, so I was concerned about you guys.

Also glad to hear that Hank and Louise are okay.

Karen

Good idea for the housing but sad for the ones that won't get in with the lottery.

I hope that there is a great amount of housing to be had.

There are 3 bases and can house between 400-600 families

I bet it messes up the kids schools, but great to have a place to live.

Piece on NBC news tonight about 2 schools joining because of damage to one. Wonderful picture of co-operation.

Well all that moisture must have been too much for this arborvitae, I looked out our north side window and noticed something didn't look right

It's ok though, I didn't like those so close the house anyway

that can be dug up and replanted with help from your hubby jen.

eh, don't know if I want to keep it, may be if I put it ALL the way in the back of the yard

Pretty dramatic collapse after all the rain. Its roots being so close to the house was probably not such a good idea as it gets bigger so I would move it if you can, as it will always have a story. Lots of work though, but this is a good time to do it. You can tie up the lower branches to make it easier to move, just keep it well watered. Good luck. Patti

The deer don't eat it? My neighbor's hedge was chewed into a very odd shape by them.....

Many people end up planting arborvitae too close to the house. They get bigger than people realize. Deer do like to munch on them.

Karen

deer ate one here and i am still waiting for it to grow back - lately i have noticed their prints all over the backyard - need to do something about it

Not a fan of them.

Arborvitae or deer?

Karen