This storm was weird to say the least the way it hit NJ. Parts of Trenton got lucky with rain that the storm drains were able to take and some just a couple of blocks away that are flooded like crazy. Some of this in Trenton isn't helped by the fact that some parts of the city have what's called a combined system where the sewer and storm drains share the same pipes and some are separate pipes for each. And this happens even on the same block.

The Sun Bank Arena in Trenton was home to evacuees from the Jersey Shore area. At least they had some place to go.

Herb: Man, when did you move away from here? I wonder if we ever hung out at any of the same places or may have met in passing or anything? Maple Shade is like 25 minutes from me. I remember my first hurricane....was pretty bad from what I remember....Agnes...I hated that name the whole time I was a child because of that hurricane. LOL!

Oh man, scary story there on the generator...you got more guts than me...I don't think I would have attempted that one. Glad you fixed it without getting hurt. Yeah I didn't tell my dad what I did either. I think he woulkd have went off on me...then again, he was so out of it that night, I nearly had to jump on him to wake him up so I could move him to the basement when the tornado warnings came through.

I ordered my generator yesterday. Decided to go with one of those big residential units that runs on natural gas and kicks in automatically in like 5-8 seconds. They should be here Thursday to hook it up....whew, no more power failures for me! :)

Old55: Thanks so much...I'm pretty glad too. I'll tell ya, I've scheduled a team of builders to come in here and fix all my issues with the water once and for all. But even at that, I sincerely don't think I'll stay here for another storm again. CAT 1 or not, that thing was a beast of a woman. I can't fathom a CAT 2 or 3...but if anything else comes this way, I told Dad we're going out to Vegas for a few days. I also applied for flood insurance as well...so between my home owners and the flood insurance, I don't care what happens when I'm not here. Ok, well, I care...but you know what I mean. I was pretty scared of the flooding destroying my house so I stayed here to take care of it really. I knew if it was bad, I'd really have to spend some bucks and I probably wouldn't. This house is old...been here since 71, lots of great memories, great neighborhood...but I think it would be time to start fresh if I had major damage especially if it was damage like what agape posted. I'm still a bit shaken by those photo's.

Glad to hear your mother, brother and sister are ok. At least your mom had som support if she needed anything. As much as it pains me to say this, I'm glad my mom wasn't around for this...she would have had a heart-attack. Poor dear was terrified of thunder and lightning...God forbid a hurricane...she would have been a mess. I'll tell ya, I think it makes it a bit easier if you don't lose power. I was so busy working and watching the TV, time was passing by so fast. But as soon as you lose that power, you know there's nothing you can do and then you can hear the storm...it's kinda creepy. I was fine when I didn't hear much of it due to my pumps and vac going...TV up pretty loud...but when it all went dark...it was me, God and Irene. I felt pretty positive though. I'm not a super religious guy...I say my prayers several times a day and thank God for health, family, friends, hopefully good decision making, protection from evil etc...but it was just so weird that as soon as I prayed everything got calm and I really felt confident and comfortable. Like Jesus was there with me and I wasn't even scared anymore. Really great feeling. :) 

It was a little rough without the power at first, but then it just stopped as suddenly as it came. The freakin' news tries to scare people I think...because they don't even know what the deal is at times. I'm watching the radar on TV, I see the storm passing over me...I see all the red and yellow bands are beyond my town...I know the eye of the storm is usually pretty calm and there are serious winds following the eye...but they kept on saying "the worst is yet to come" and I'm like..."where!? I don't even see anymore red bands!" And the power dies. LOL! But even then, it wasn't bad for too long when the power died. Was still a bit of a struggle though, that's for sure.

Then I tried to sleep last night and my neighbor across the street had a generator running in his front yard. I tried my best to be a good guy and ignore it...but after the night I had, I really needed sleep and because it was cool out and I had no electric, I had to open the windows. RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA this thing in my ear so loud...like a lawnmower on roids. I stuck it out as long as I could and wanted to go over there sooo bad! Finally, I just lost my mind and saw him come out for a smoke at 5 am. I mean seriously...ok, I get it...you got a genny and I don't and though I'm jealous, I really just want to sleep more than I want power at this point. I just thought it was so inconsiderate to leave that thing out front without any type of baffling. I put up with it for the entire day...at least give me a break at night when it's time to sleep, ya know?

I go over to the guy and ask nicely....no wait, not even ask nicely, I say "excuse me, I'm so sorry to bother you, but is there any way you could please move that thing in your back yard and maybe put some wood around it to baffle the sound or something?" He says "yeah it is pretty f'n loud isn't it...but it sure is cool watching TV and having my fans on hehehehe". I said "that's great, but bro...I just had the worst time pumping water and taking care of flood control. That thing is blasting at my window...could you please help me out here...I really need to get some rest." He says "yeah, I'll do something about it later today." I said "later today? You're kidding me right?" He smiles and walks away. Now I don't know this guy..but I know his wife. She's lived here as long as me nearly. So I go in my house...I feel I was calm, polite and wasn't mean at all.

Well, 30 minutes goes by and this thing is still running. I figure I got three choices now because I'm upset...and hell hath no fury when I get upset. I'm either going to call the cops...nah, I don't want to do that...I'm going to knock on the door and rip him out of the house and...nah, I'm not gonna do that either....I got it!!

I run over as fast as I can....I'm talking like a cheetah, and turn it off, grab the key and run back to my house. LOL!! I thought for sure he would have known it was me and come over...just as well he didn't or for sure one of us would have been...well, you know. :) When he and his wife went to work, I went back over and put the key back in the ignition. LOL! Gotta do what ya gotta do sometimes! Better than being violent anyway. ;)

Glad your family is ok. :)

-Danny

Danny Danzi

I ordered my generator yesterday. Decided to go with one of those big residential units that runs on natural gas and kicks in automatically in like 5-8 seconds. They should be here Thursday to hook it up....whew, no more power failures for me! :)

-Danny

I've been looking at standby generators for some time; WAY before Irene went through. Home Depot has a pretty good video on them: how they work, what to look for in terms of specs, how to prep for installation, the whole nut. Some of the newer ones have pretty good sound shielding so you won't need to build a separate shield. Some have housings made to work better for those in a salt air environment like down at Wildwood or Seaside. And on the installation side they have some packages that include a good bit of the hardware needed for installation: transfer switch to automatically switch from incoming commercial power to generator, a new load center for the stuff you want to power off the generator and for install some have a pre-made pad for the unit to sit on so you don't need to pour a concrete pad.

One of the things that's stressed is to have a professional electrician install it and hook it up. Something you may not have thought of is more likely than not you'll need to have the city electrical inspector come out and inspect the installation after it's done. Oh yeah - almost forgot - you may have to get a separate install guy like a plumber to do the gas hookup.

I saw that "12" might end up tracking the same way Irene did. Whatever you find yourselves doing out there be careful.....