Hurricane Ida

PRlady

Cowardly admin
Staff member
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45,618
PA got hit HARD from Ida. Between the flooding and the tornados, it's awful. The suspected tornado 2 miles from my home condemned 7 homes, caused major damage to 9 more, and additional damage to 40. Other nearby damage was bad too. And yet we're fine. Not even a branch down? NJ had horrific tornados.

The flooding all over Chester County, PA is horrific. Bridges and roads washed out and water rescues still happening. At least 1 (or 2?) covered bridges are gone. The photos friends have shared in Downingtown are terrifying. The Brandywine has reached historic flood levels. Near Philly the Schuylkill is also flooding.

It's unbelievable. My property is surrounded/bordered by creeks, but they're at the low point and we're at the high point and on several acres. I just feel very fortunate right now.
My stepsister lives at the top of the hill that is the Manayunk neighborhood in Philly; she’s ok but lower down towards the river it is catastrophic. I’ve never seen the Schuykill river flood like that in my whole life and I was born in ‘56. A friend in Brooklyn is staying with friends after being flooded and her apt is up a flight of stairs in a brownstone!

Nobody predicted this kind of damage here.
 

Sarah

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,601
Additional roads near me have closed yesterday and today as flood waters have started to go down. One road, which looked 100% fine and was open throughout the storm is now closed indefinitely as the drainage pipe/culvert underneath washed out and the road collapsed…

we also lost a historic covered bridge. Built in 1880, it just washed away and the remains washed up down stream. The bridge is just gone. Several other bridges were lost though no other historic ones.

7 tornado hit the Philly area. This was definitely way worse than Sandy for us. I feel awful for my community who sustained severe damage and yet incredibly fortunate that other than rain we’re completely fine just 2 miles from where the tornado touched down (we might have some trees or branches in the woods but we always have trees/branches in the woods even when it’s sunny).
 

Matryeshka

Euler? Euler? Anyone?
Messages
16,419
Sixteen years ago, I remember watching MY STREET flooded as hell on CNN from Hot Erica's apartment in Baton Rouge. I sort of detachedly noted that hey, that looks like my dresser bobbing by and Hot Erica asking me if I was, in fact, OK. I was not. I was worried. Not only about my dresser, but my students. That was my first adult job as a teacher. We had been in school four days before Katrina hit. I had just learned all their names. We were making country flags to decorate the classroom (middle school) because as a school in the Seventh Ward projects, it was rather grim (and this is the NICEST adjective I have for that school). I was worried about my kids because many of them were not leaving, not only because they didn't have funds, but they'd heard that FEMA wouldn't help them IF the storm hit if they weren't there physically so they were staying. I told them I was sure that wasn't true, but what does a 24 year old white lady from suburbia know? (Fair.) As for those students and what happened to them, to quote the Shadow and Bone series (now on Netflix), no mourners, no funerals.

Ida is NOT that situation. VERY few casualties. The levees held. The biggest problem is Entergy and its lies and corruption about what it was doing with tax payer money. (Helena Moreno, Journalistic Gods Bless Her, is going after them full force.) Louisiana allows utility monopolies, and it's like living in the Wild West/Robber Barron Capitalism/America's Banana Republic, take your pick, they all have some truth to them. Entergy taxed people on the promise that its grid would hold, hence the higher "hurricane surcharge" (yes that's a thing) on EVERY bill and that it would be independent. Well, now, it turns out that part of the reason for the lights being out is because it has to borrow from the Slidell, LA grid. So...errr....I have questions...

I'm going to address several things that have been said in this thread about why people continue to live here. We live here for the same reason people live in California despite earthquakes and horrific fires. You want to talk about a precarious situation? At least hurricanes are predictable in advance. California could break into Pacific at any minute with very little warning. We live here for the same reason people live in Tornado Alley. We live here for the same reason people live in Chicago which has to be the coldest place on Earth, and yes, I've been to Siberia. We live here because it's home. It also takes money to move. These are people with shrimp boats. Oyster boats. What the hell are they going to do with those skills in Ohio? I will tell you the story of the hurricane that wasn't. For a time, every damn hurricane to come to this area, people evacuated because it was news. I think it was Ivan. My whole family evacuated to the hill country of Texas why my uncle lives. It was the usual nonsense pre-hurricane--no gas, no groceries. Well, Ivan petered out. It was nothing. But that evacuation cost us over $1000 AND missed work. The cost was food on the way, two hotel rooms, and boarding for five animals as the hotel didn't allow dogs/cats, so we had to find a vet, and emptying all the food in our freezer/fridge before leaving. And the price gouging before/after a hurricane was AMAZING. And if there's no disaster, well, there's no disaster money. If you like many people in poor states live paycheck to paycheck, you can't afford to evacuate if there is or is not a disaster. Remember, aid comes AFTER not before. So you can't check into a hotel without money to start with on the promise FEMA will pay and a lot of people, such as myself, our only family/friends is mostly here. What if you get halfway down I-10 and there's no gas and you're stalled on the road? This happens. A guy in Baton Rouge drowned because of this.

Now for my situation and what is not making national news. The hardest hit area was not New Orleans, but St Tammany Parish and an area called Grand Isle, which has now been deemed unlivable and no one can return (though to be fair, they will. No one keeps Grand Isle people out of Grand Isle. Like a way less serious Chernobyl.). The eye went right over my high school and apartment, cause I have a talent. (Just like in Katrina, the hardest hit was not NOLA, but Chalmette, and the Gulf Coast of MS/AL sure could have used some more attention). If y'all are friends with me on FB, I'm going to go on the requisite post-disaster tour of my area and film it all for your voyeuristic pleasure. As for why I stayed during the hurricane when I do currently have the means to leave as I was saving up for a new sofa, new couch, new everything to go to my new house...which I was supposed to move into on Monday. :shuffle: (ooops). My lease is up September 1st, and my mom's October 1st. We received letters from our apartment complex earlier that state if it appears we no longer live there, they have the right to come in and seize all our stuff. And remember, y'all, this is the South. Things you think happen in other countries happen here. Here, the rights are with the property owner, not the tenant, and it's perfectly legal. Tenants have no rights AT ALL. It drives my brother, who lives in Brooklyn now, insane. :lol: My mom, who is a borderline hoarder, is terrified of this. She refused to leave because what if they use that as an excuse to seize our stuff?!! I mean, for me, it would just mean I wouldn't have to pay for movers, but she has way more attachment to stuff than I do, so I understand. Yesterday, we received an email stating that the maintenance people would be coming in to all apartments to "check" and clean out fridges. There are A LOT of people leaving this month, and I know exactly what that means. If I don't stay here, I'm basically homeless. I can't get to my new house as there's sort of a power line dangling across the road and a big ass tree nicely hugging it. Even if I could get movers, they couldn't get there. So I'm technically a squatter. Now it did get so hot that my mom's health was in danger and and so me, mom, and the pups went to stay with a friend in MS for a few days, but we came back. Luckily, because we are on the same line as a hospital, power was restored yesterday (though god, it is flickering on and off as they try to find the best way to get everyone online).

The maintenance people btw are out in their little golf carts knocking on doors. The only thing that protects me, as I know I'm an illegal squatter by La standards right now, is my Brooklyn brother is a Harvard lawyer and that scares the crap out of the evil management. (My mom added him to her lease last year specifically so he could scare the crap out of them--you have no ideas the rounds residents have gone through with these people).

So here I am like a crazed gun-nut grandpa with his old-ass hounds, protecting his property from the carpetbaggers.
 

TanithandBenFan

Author of the Ice and Edge Series
Messages
9,256
Sixteen years ago, I remember watching MY STREET flooded as hell on CNN from Hot Erica's apartment in Baton Rouge. I sort of detachedly noted that hey, that looks like my dresser bobbing by and Hot Erica asking me if I was, in fact, OK. I was not. I was worried. Not only about my dresser, but my students. That was my first adult job as a teacher. We had been in school four days before Katrina hit. I had just learned all their names. We were making country flags to decorate the classroom (middle school) because as a school in the Seventh Ward projects, it was rather grim (and this is the NICEST adjective I have for that school). I was worried about my kids because many of them were not leaving, not only because they didn't have funds, but they'd heard that FEMA wouldn't help them IF the storm hit if they weren't there physically so they were staying. I told them I was sure that wasn't true, but what does a 24 year old white lady from suburbia know? (Fair.) As for those students and what happened to them, to quote the Shadow and Bone series (now on Netflix), no mourners, no funerals.

Ida is NOT that situation. VERY few casualties. The levees held. The biggest problem is Entergy and its lies and corruption about what it was doing with tax payer money. (Helena Moreno, Journalistic Gods Bless Her, is going after them full force.) Louisiana allows utility monopolies, and it's like living in the Wild West/Robber Barron Capitalism/America's Banana Republic, take your pick, they all have some truth to them. Entergy taxed people on the promise that its grid would hold, hence the higher "hurricane surcharge" (yes that's a thing) on EVERY bill and that it would be independent. Well, now, it turns out that part of the reason for the lights being out is because it has to borrow from the Slidell, LA grid. So...errr....I have questions...

I'm going to address several things that have been said in this thread about why people continue to live here. We live here for the same reason people live in California despite earthquakes and horrific fires. You want to talk about a precarious situation? At least hurricanes are predictable in advance. California could break into Pacific at any minute with very little warning. We live here for the same reason people live in Tornado Alley. We live here for the same reason people live in Chicago which has to be the coldest place on Earth, and yes, I've been to Siberia. We live here because it's home. It also takes money to move. These are people with shrimp boats. Oyster boats. What the hell are they going to do with those skills in Ohio? I will tell you the story of the hurricane that wasn't. For a time, every damn hurricane to come to this area, people evacuated because it was news. I think it was Ivan. My whole family evacuated to the hill country of Texas why my uncle lives. It was the usual nonsense pre-hurricane--no gas, no groceries. Well, Ivan petered out. It was nothing. But that evacuation cost us over $1000 AND missed work. The cost was food on the way, two hotel rooms, and boarding for five animals as the hotel didn't allow dogs/cats, so we had to find a vet, and emptying all the food in our freezer/fridge before leaving. And the price gouging before/after a hurricane was AMAZING. And if there's no disaster, well, there's no disaster money. If you like many people in poor states live paycheck to paycheck, you can't afford to evacuate if there is or is not a disaster. Remember, aid comes AFTER not before. So you can't check into a hotel without money to start with on the promise FEMA will pay and a lot of people, such as myself, our only family/friends is mostly here. What if you get halfway down I-10 and there's no gas and you're stalled on the road? This happens. A guy in Baton Rouge drowned because of this.

Now for my situation and what is not making national news. The hardest hit area was not New Orleans, but St Tammany Parish and an area called Grand Isle, which has now been deemed unlivable and no one can return (though to be fair, they will. No one keeps Grand Isle people out of Grand Isle. Like a way less serious Chernobyl.). The eye went right over my high school and apartment, cause I have a talent. (Just like in Katrina, the hardest hit was not NOLA, but Chalmette, and the Gulf Coast of MS/AL sure could have used some more attention). If y'all are friends with me on FB, I'm going to go on the requisite post-disaster tour of my area and film it all for your voyeuristic pleasure. As for why I stayed during the hurricane when I do currently have the means to leave as I was saving up for a new sofa, new couch, new everything to go to my new house...which I was supposed to move into on Monday. :shuffle: (ooops). My lease is up September 1st, and my mom's October 1st. We received letters from our apartment complex earlier that state if it appears we no longer live there, they have the right to come in and seize all our stuff. And remember, y'all, this is the South. Things you think happen in other countries happen here. Here, the rights are with the property owner, not the tenant, and it's perfectly legal. Tenants have no rights AT ALL. It drives my brother, who lives in Brooklyn now, insane. :lol: My mom, who is a borderline hoarder, is terrified of this. She refused to leave because what if they use that as an excuse to seize our stuff?!! I mean, for me, it would just mean I wouldn't have to pay for movers, but she has way more attachment to stuff than I do, so I understand. Yesterday, we received an email stating that the maintenance people would be coming in to all apartments to "check" and clean out fridges. There are A LOT of people leaving this month, and I know exactly what that means. If I don't stay here, I'm basically homeless. I can't get to my new house as there's sort of a power line dangling across the road and a big ass tree nicely hugging it. Even if I could get movers, they couldn't get there. So I'm technically a squatter. Now it did get so hot that my mom's health was in danger and and so me, mom, and the pups went to stay with a friend in MS for a few days, but we came back. Luckily, because we are on the same line as a hospital, power was restored yesterday (though god, it is flickering on and off as they try to find the best way to get everyone online).

The maintenance people btw are out in their little golf carts knocking on doors. The only thing that protects me, as I know I'm an illegal squatter by La standards right now, is my Brooklyn brother is a Harvard lawyer and that scares the crap out of the evil management. (My mom added him to her lease last year specifically so he could scare the crap out of them--you have no ideas the rounds residents have gone through with these people).

So here I am like a crazed gun-nut grandpa with his old-ass hounds, protecting his property from the carpetbaggers.
Is your apartment in River Chase by any chance? The situation with the power and the hospital sounds similar to what I’ve been told at my complex. I just moved in two weeks ago.

I’m so sorry for all the craziness you’re going through. I hope you can get into your new home soon!
 

Simone411

To Boldly Explore Figure Skating Around The World
Messages
19,062
For what it's worth, the power company in my area located in northwest Louisiana have responded to Ida. Here is an outage map of where they're located at the moment.


I know other power companies have volunteered from other states. My prayers go out to everyone that is still out of power.
 

TOADS

Toad whisperer.....
Messages
21,999
The whole downtown area of the town I grew up in northern New Jersey was flooded out. What a mess.

I’m glad my parents are not alive to see this. The flood took out our favorite delicatessen which we went to as kids and my dad’s favorite hardware store…
 

Matryeshka

Euler? Euler? Anyone?
Messages
16,419
Is your apartment in River Chase by any chance? The situation with the power and the hospital sounds similar to what I’ve been told at my complex. I just moved in two weeks ago.

I’m so sorry for all the craziness you’re going through. I hope you can get into your new home soon!
No I'm on the Northshore in Covington, but weirdly, owned by the same property management company. I had a friend who lived at River Chase, she really liked living there.
 

Aceon6

Wrangling the duvet into the cover
Messages
29,731
My niece in law posted a video of their cleanup/dry out. From what I could see, there might be less damage than originally thought as all of it was rainwater, not street water. Fingers crossed.
 

Dobre

Well-Known Member
Messages
16,902
Hopefully this will be good news for some of the people who have had trouble getting insurance companies to cover them due to the evacuation being "non-mandatory."

Insurance companies will cover some additional costs for Ida victims in Louisiana after Biden push​

  • "Allstate and USAA have agreed to cover additional living expenses for policyholders in Louisiana who evacuated their homes, a White House official told CNBC.
  • More companies were expected to follow suit, said the official, who requested anonymity in order to discuss efforts still underway.
  • The insurers are heeding President Joe Biden’s call that they cover additional living expenses for policyholders who were not under specific mandatory evacuation orders."
 

MacMadame

Doing all the things
Messages
57,957
I'm going to address several things that have been said in this thread about why people continue to live here. We live here for the same reason people live in California despite earthquakes and horrific fires. You want to talk about a precarious situation? At least hurricanes are predictable in advance. California could break into Pacific at any minute with very little warning.
I would never ask why do people live in a hurricane zone because I understand that there are no safe places and that people are attached to the area they consider home and that moving takes money. But I want to say that it is not true that CA could break off and into the Pacific with little warning. :D That's a myth that gets perpetuated for a number of reasons. It's not how our fault lines work. Sorry. 🤷‍♀️

But if people want to hate on CA, climate change is going to put a lot of the coast underwater.

Btw, congrats on the house. I hope Ida doesn't screw things up with it too badly.
 

Lacey

Well-Known Member
Messages
12,358
Wow, @Matryeshka, just WOW!

For us on the northeast coast, I'm not sure many of us were paying attention to IDA as it came up the east coast because it was a southern problem.

We just happened to have the local news on and all of a sudden they were talking about a Tornado, and then were saying here's another one, and another, and so on until I think there were 7.

But it turned out the flooding later might have been worse.

Scary storm.

But your story is incredible, and as you said, you live there because it's home, and it also takes money to move.
 
Last edited:

Matryeshka

Euler? Euler? Anyone?
Messages
16,419
@TanithandBenFan , I'm an idiot. Are you talking about the River Chase in Jefferson, or the River Chase in Covington right off of I-12? If it's the one off of I-12, then yes, that's very, very close to me. I'm across from Pinnacle Parkway on the other side of 12.

So update. MORE FUN! Soooo, the apartment manager called me and said they had rented out my apartment and I need to be out NOW. I don't know when they would have done this and am absolutely sure she's lying because it sure as hell wasn't rented before Ida, and they have to clean the apartment anyway (paint, carpet, etc. and those workers will be hard to come by) so at the earliest, a tenant would be moving in week after next. I know, I've lived here four years. There's AT LEAST three weeks between renters. But whatever, I'm out. So I found some, umm, interesting movers online. In Slidell, which is where dreams go to die/North Chalmette/asscrack of the Northshore, take your pick. They charge 185/hour. PLUS drive time from Slidell to Covington to Abita Springs (new house location). Plus, are you ready for this, AN HOUR EXTRA FOR EACH FLIGHT OF STAIRS. I live on the third floor. But the office opens on Tuesday, and I have to be OUT, and to find movers post-hurricane on Labor Day is its own miracle, and the more stuff they break/goes missing, the less I have to unpack, right?

But the absolute best part? My house is not scheduled to get power for THREE WEEKS. That's OK, right, I can use my mom's apartment. Welllll, but there's no internet, and on Thursday, I'm supposed to start teaching remotely. Why is there no internet? Because Tuesday, the day after Ida, our service was supposed to switch over to the new place. And for some reason, AT&T can't just switch it back on at the old location, they have to send out a technician, which they can't do till the 11th. Which makes no sense, as the equipment is here. With us. And we were just MOVING IT. So screw AT&T, going with Spectrum. Except no Spectrum until the power comes back on in new place. In three weeks.

However, on a happier note, google image search Covington Dominos Dumpster. Someone threw out the dough in the trash bin...and it grew. And grew. AND GREW. The thing looks like it's about to gain sentience. If it meets up with the killer tomatoes, Western Civilization is OVER.
 

once_upon

Better off now than 4 years ago? Have TP now
Messages
29,882
Hopefully this will be good news for some of the people who have had trouble getting insurance companies to cover them due to the evacuation being "non-mandatory."

Insurance companies will cover some additional costs for Ida victims in Louisiana after Biden push​

  • "Allstate and USAA have agreed to cover additional living expenses for policyholders in Louisiana who evacuated their homes, a White House official told CNBC.
  • More companies were expected to follow suit, said the official, who requested anonymity in order to discuss efforts still underway.
  • The insurers are heeding President Joe Biden’s call that they cover additional living expenses for policyholders who were not under specific mandatory evacuation orders."
Yeah, except my high school friend who lives in New Orleans (not sure where) just posted her deductible for hurricane damage is $16,000.
 

once_upon

Better off now than 4 years ago? Have TP now
Messages
29,882
That's an outrage, $16,000 deductible!
She said all insurers set much higher deductible for hurricanes after Katrina. Other homeowner claims incidents are much, much lower.

Several people who live in NO are responding to her with - we aren't bothering with a claim because we won't meet the deductible.
 

TanithandBenFan

Author of the Ice and Edge Series
Messages
9,256
@TanithandBenFan , I'm an idiot. Are you talking about the River Chase in Jefferson, or the River Chase in Covington right off of I-12? If it's the one off of I-12, then yes, that's very, very close to me. I'm across from Pinnacle Parkway on the other side of 12.

So update. MORE FUN! Soooo, the apartment manager called me and said they had rented out my apartment and I need to be out NOW. I don't know when they would have done this and am absolutely sure she's lying because it sure as hell wasn't rented before Ida, and they have to clean the apartment anyway (paint, carpet, etc. and those workers will be hard to come by) so at the earliest, a tenant would be moving in week after next. I know, I've lived here four years. There's AT LEAST three weeks between renters. But whatever, I'm out. So I found some, umm, interesting movers online. In Slidell, which is where dreams go to die/North Chalmette/asscrack of the Northshore, take your pick. They charge 185/hour. PLUS drive time from Slidell to Covington to Abita Springs (new house location). Plus, are you ready for this, AN HOUR EXTRA FOR EACH FLIGHT OF STAIRS. I live on the third floor. But the office opens on Tuesday, and I have to be OUT, and to find movers post-hurricane on Labor Day is its own miracle, and the more stuff they break/goes missing, the less I have to unpack, right?

But the absolute best part? My house is not scheduled to get power for THREE WEEKS. That's OK, right, I can use my mom's apartment. Welllll, but there's no internet, and on Thursday, I'm supposed to start teaching remotely. Why is there no internet? Because Tuesday, the day after Ida, our service was supposed to switch over to the new place. And for some reason, AT&T can't just switch it back on at the old location, they have to send out a technician, which they can't do till the 11th. Which makes no sense, as the equipment is here. With us. And we were just MOVING IT. So screw AT&T, going with Spectrum. Except no Spectrum until the power comes back on in new place. In three weeks.

However, on a happier note, google image search Covington Dominos Dumpster. Someone threw out the dough in the trash bin...and it grew. And grew. AND GREW. The thing looks like it's about to gain sentience. If it meets up with the killer tomatoes, Western Civilization is OVER.
I’m in River Chase in Covington so we are very close to each other! I looked at your complex, but I wanted a garage attached to my apartment and this was only one of two that offered it.

I am so sorry your issues with the move are continuing. If you haven’t committed to that moving company, I can highly recommend the company I used two weeks ago. It’s called MovnBid and they charged a flat rate. They brought five guys and had all my stuff unloaded in 30 minutes.
 

Matryeshka

Euler? Euler? Anyone?
Messages
16,419
Oh man, all this time we could have been watching skating together! We've probably passed each other in Target :lol: or the old Charming Charlie's :wuzrobbed

And trust me, you made a good decision not going to Brookestone. It has gone REALLY downhill in the past year and a half. I was planning to move last year, but with the crud going on, it didn't seem safe and honestly I didn't need any more changes in my routine.
 

TanithandBenFan

Author of the Ice and Edge Series
Messages
9,256
Oh man, all this time we could have been watching skating together! We've probably passed each other in Target :lol: or the old Charming Charlie's :wuzrobbed

And trust me, you made a good decision not going to Brookestone. It has gone REALLY downhill in the past year and a half. I was planning to move last year, but with the crud going on, it didn't seem safe and honestly I didn't need any more changes in my routine.
I’ve only been a Northshore girl for two weeks (though I’ve worked over here for 17 years) so I haven’t had a chance to frequent the Target much yet 😉 I was a Best Banker before that since birth. I’ve been really impressed with my apartment complex so far. I’ve owned a home the past 22 years and have never lived in an apartment, so this is an all new experience for me.
 

BittyBug

Disgusted
Messages
26,566

Lemonade20

If I agreed with you, we’d both be wrong.
Messages
2,379
My heart goes out to everyone on the East coast dealing with the remnants of this storm.
 

Catherine M

Well-Known Member
Messages
13,279
Just a quick update: still living the life in Houston. Have permission to work remotely so did a few days last week and will continue probably to Friday of this week. Thankfully I thought to pack my work computer. I did not learn from Katrina and only packed a few days worth of clothes so the washing machine at my nephew's is getting a work out.

My plan, which is fluid, is to return to NOLA next weekend, but only if my sister has power at her house. My home unfortunately needs an electrician to visit and repair some damage in my attic so I'll be a nomad for a bit longer. Due to miscommunication with my insurance company--they were calling my WORK number, instead of my cellphone number, I don't have an adjustor appointment till 9/12.

What I'm experiencing is minor compared to so many others. Smartest thing I did was make the trek over here to Houston and not deal with Ida and the aftermath but I'm now anxious to get back home.
 

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