Be glad you don't live here...

Dave Sutton

Dave Sutton

Banned
Living on the ocean is usually good, living on the coast my entire life has caused me to see a number of big storms, but nothing like we are going to have in about 12 hours. For those not watching the eastern seaboard of the USA is having a very strange storm: A tropical hurricane that is morphing into a winter nor'easter, meaning snow and rain and wind. Not fun.

Now picture this: EXPLORER, my 42 foot dive boat and erstwhile floating headquarters is all loaded with diving gear at her dock, we were supposed to start transit to Florida (1500 miles to Key West) yesterday. She's well tied and secure, but:

My house and Little Diveshop of Horrors is about 200 yards from the beach, and is about 6 feet above sea level. Here's the tide prediction:


AT SANDY HOOK...NEW JERSEY (SANDY HOOK BAY)...THIS MORNING`S
HIGH TIDE OCCURS AT 801 AM...WITH A FORECAST TIDE LEVEL OF 9.5
TO 10 FEET ABOVE MEAN LOWER LOW WATER. THIS EVENING`S HIGH TIDE
OCCURS AT 822 PM...WITH A FORECAST TIDE LEVEL OF BETWEEN 11.5
AND 13.0 FEET ABOVE MEAN LOWER LOW WATER. THE LATTER FORECAST IS
A FORECAST OF RECORD TIDAL FLOODING. .


Uhh.... do the math (sigh). I had water in the garage at this morning tide, two more feet will flood the house.

The good news is that just about all that is in the house and shop is diving gear. I guess I could be a stamp collector. Looks like we will have some drying out to do tomorrow. Looks like a night spent in the van inland and a meal of cold beans eaten with a spoon outta the can is on the bill of fare.


Oh well. Such is life along the ocean.

The sea giveth, and the sea taketh away.


Dave

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It's part of life on and near the sea...

I went thru Donna in 1960 as a one year old, been thru another dozen hurricanes since, in garden spots like Rhode Island, New Jersey, Florida, and Louisiana. Was on a construction diving barge in saturation decompression with 4 more days to go to surface once when we were driven up against a platform and holed bellow the water line while being towed into port for a hurricane, and were then prepared to sink to the bottom inside the sat chamber and drown when it reached equalization pressure, or be unpressurized on deck and die of DCS as an alternative if they could not keep the rig afloat ... so... <shrugs>... (and one day I should write a book, but that's another matter)...

Lose my house? By comparison to that this is just an annoyance. A bad annoyance, but..... <sigh>.


Dave

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These are the guys to pray for: The USCG will need to send out a surface cutter to rescue the crew. That'll be a 12 hour or so offshore run, once they get a cutter underway. These guys are in their rafts right now, in the middle of the storm, and it cannot be pretty. They could be there a day, there is no way to do a helo evacuation. They can probably drop gear out of a Herk flown out of Elizabeth Cith NC, but that'll do bugger all to help. If you have ever been in a raft, even in training, you know how badly it sucks. Even once close aboard with a cutter, getting survivors from the raft to the deck is a life threatening event in the seas forcast to exist.

No joke folks, for every wreck we dive, there is a terrible story.

Take a moment to give a word to the big man upstairs to look out for these guys.


Dave




Seventeen people from the replica HMS Bounty abandoned ship while stranded at sea off North Carolina in the path of the hurricane, roughly 160 miles from the center of storm, the U.S. Coast Guard said on Monday.

"The 17-person crew donned cold water survival suits and lifejackets before launching in two 25-man lifeboats with canopies," the Coast Guard said, adding it was determining which aircraft or vessel was best-placed to launch a rescue.

The three-masted tall ship was built for the 1962 movie "Mutiny on the Bounty."
 
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We had to suspend our dive project in Linden, NJ, and have moved all the dive barges to supposedly safer mooring in Bklyn :uhh:. At least my Superlite is safe, coz I've just sent it for the annual cert. Presently, I am at home, in Connecticut, on stand by, registered with state, as a emergency responder.
Good luck to everyone involved.
rgrds
Tomek
 
I hope I'll be back at work in Bayway on Wed,. Stay safe my friend, and don't let Sandy into our little shop of horrors. There is to much valuable commodities in there. If you need any help let me know. Regards to Jitka.
Tomek
 
Good luck, Dave.

I'm in Norfolk, VA, being very grateful that Sandy decided to skirt landfall here. I went thru all of the usual preps for my boat. Even being on a relatively sheltered bay and on a floating-concrete pier, you just never know what Mother Nature will throw at you.

Sandy looks nasty. She's pushing a lot of water your way. Be safe.
 
Thanks...

I've got the van inland set up as a camper, have the Suburban parked about 200 yards away, on higher ground, and am ready to leave. Jitka is leaving at 6:00PM to go to the van, I'm going to wait and see how the 8:22PM high tide looks, and will evacuate if it looks serious. Have a TLS-350, float coat, and PLB ready to put on in case things get really serious. Kayak ready to use, and I'm outta here.

Right now it's just boring... waiting for the inevitable.


Dave


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You need to appreciate the fact that the NWS (National Weather Service) is now dropping jargon and is speaking in plain language. I rode thru the '62 storm at age 3, and still rememeber it...


This is going to be a long night.


Dave


++++++++++++


PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ
241 PM EDT SUN OCT 28 2012

...AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS STORM TO IMPACT THE AREA...

SANDY IS EXPECTED TO SLAM INTO THE NEW JERSEY COAST LATER MONDAY
NIGHT, BRINGING VERY HEAVY RAIN AND DAMAGING WINDS TO THE REGION.
THE STORM IS A LARGE ONE, THEREFORE DO NOT FOCUS ON THE EXACT CENTEROF THE STORM AS ALL AREAS WILL HAVE SIGNIFICANT IMPACTS.

THIS HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BE AN HISTORIC STORM, WITH WIDESPREAD WINDDAMAGE AND POWER OUTAGES, INLAND AND COASTAL FLOODING, AND MASSIVE BEACH EROSION. THE COMBINATION OF THE HEAVY RAIN AND PROLONGED WIND WILL CREATE THE POTENTIAL FOR LONG LASTING POWER OUTAGES AND SERIOUS FLOODING.

PREPARATIONS SHOULD BE WRAPPING UP AS CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED TO
WORSEN TONIGHT AND ESPECIALLY ON MONDAY.

SOME IMPORTANT NOTES...

1. IF YOU ARE BEING ASKED TO EVACUATE A COASTAL LOCATION BY STATE
AND LOCAL OFFICIALS, PLEASE DO SO.

2. IF YOU ARE RELUCTANT TO EVACUATE, AND YOU KNOW SOMEONE WHO RODE OUT THE `62 STORM ON THE BARRIER ISLANDS, ASK THEM IF THEY COULD DO IT AGAIN.

3. IF YOU ARE RELUCTANT, THINK ABOUT YOUR LOVED ONES, THINK ABOUT
THE EMERGENCY RESPONDERS WHO WILL BE UNABLE TO REACH YOU WHEN YOU MAKE THE PANICKED PHONE CALL TO BE RESCUED, THINK ABOUT THE
RESCUE/RECOVERY TEAMS WHO WILL RESCUE YOU IF YOU ARE INJURED OR
RECOVER YOUR REMAINS IF YOU DO NOT SURVIVE.

4. SANDY IS AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS STORM. THERE WILL BE MAJOR
PROPERTY DAMAGE, INJURIES ARE PROBABLY UNAVOIDABLE, BUT THE GOAL IS
ZERO FATALITIES.

5. IF YOU THINK THE STORM IS OVER-HYPED AND EXAGGERATED, PLEASE ERR
ON THE SIDE OF CAUTION.

WE WISH EVERYONE IN HARMS WAY ALL THE BEST. STAY SAFE!

$$

NWS MOUNT HOLLY, NJ
 
Abandoned ship two hours ago. Neighbor reports water flowing thru my windows.

Oh well... Houses are over rated. Plus most of my stuff is diving gear. Ill wash it off and bulldoze the house.


Dave


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Dave Sutton said:
Abandoned ship two hours ago. Neighbor reports water flowing thru my windows.

Oh well... Houses are over rated. Plus most of my stuff is diving gear. Ill wash it off and bulldoze the house.


Dave


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Click to expand...

Good luck, I hope it doesn't come to bull-dozing.
 
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