Hurricane Irene

[Dave McElderry]

Hey Bobby, I just saw the most likely projected path for Irene on the evening news. It looks like it's heading smack for Oak Island. We'll be keeping you and the east coast in our thoughts and prayers.

[Chuck Engels]

Stay safe Bobby !!

[Bobby]

Thanks. Been busy all day with emergency meetings and getting my place prepared.

We were a lot more comfortable 24 hours ago but the storm track has drifted back west a bit towards us.

Right now (11pm) it looks like the storm will pass to the east of us by about 80 miles. We may get 8" of rain and perhaps 70mph gusts. We plan to stay, but we will make the final decision tomorrow.

Keep y'all posted...

[Paul LS]

Good luck Bobby and keep your head down.

[Bobby]

OK folks - this is it! We are now firmly in the outer rain and wind bands; it is pretty dark outside.

But the good news (for us here on Oak Island at least) is that this morning's maps show that Irene's path has moved further to the east again, and that it has lost intensity and size. This means less rain and wind for us.

At our Emergency Operations Center meeting this morning, they said that we were looking at 8" of rain and winds about 50-60 mph - gusts up to 74 (i.e. just at minimum hurricane strength).

The major issue is going to be flooding, depending on how much rain we get. The ground is pretty saturated - we are still in a drought by the numbers but we have had a lot of rain lately. That means more and quicker runoff into the streams and that causes issues with the many small bridges in the county.

About ten years ago when we were hit by Floyd we were living in Raleigh but had our house here on OI for weekend use, etc. It took us two weeks to get down to check the house because of all the local flooding.

But we are hunkered down and don't anticipate any problems at all!

[Dave McElderry]

As good of news as could be hoped for under the circumstances. Glad the worst is out to sea. That's an awful lot of water you've got coming. Thanks for the update Bobby.

[Bobby]

Once the rain and wind bands hit the land, there was a dramatic decrease in intensity. Irene is now a Sev. 1 and it looks like it will not strengthen at all.

But it is pretty brisk right now and should peak about 2PM. No flooding here; it is hard to flood an island, it just runs off into the sea.

Still have power, although there were two short glitches. Next post probably tomorrow morning.

[Steve Grisetti]

Glad to hear you're faring well, Bobby! Looking forward to hearing word of your All Clear.

[Bobby]

All clear!

I just got back from the town emergency center, and no issues at all. Minor damage and a couple of trees down. We never even lost power. But lots of rain and about 21 total hours of wind. 12,000 homes in the county still no power but crews out.

Now we'll see what happens up north...

[sidd finch]

Awesome news Bobby.

I wonder if you can leverage this good news in you run for Mayor. "Because of your leadership- The storm was forced to move aside"

Thats gotta be good for a few more votes" .......

Sidd

[Dave McElderry]

So glad to hear that things are okay. I hope it goes as well for the remainder of the folks in its path.

[Greg mgm]

Awesome news Bobby.

I wonder if you can leverage this good news in you run for Mayor. "Because of your leadership- The storm was forced to move aside"

Thats gotta be good for a few more votes" .......

Sidd

[Peru]

Nice to hear no major problems.
Losing power is not too bad if you're prepared for it, I suppose.

Good luck again, Bobby, on the campaign trail.

[Jayell]

Glad to hear things went better than expected, Bobby!

[hpharley90]

Now we'll see what happens up north...

Were right on the eastern edge of the path. 6-12 inches of rain and 60 to 75 mph gusts.
From 2am to 2pm Sunday max wind and rain forecast . Were eating dinner in about an hour then were going to hunker down and wait.I can't get anymore prepared than what we are.
I have two big maple trees in the back. With the ground so saturated from previous rain the experts are warning about trees falling over because of the weak root base.