Hurricane Ida - Aug 2021

My little town was all over the news yesterday due to historic flooding in the downtown area. I was incredibly fortunate to be mostly unaffected since I live on a hill above the most populated downtown area, the latter of which is filled with charming shops, cozy cafes, historic row homes, gorgeously restored Victorians, and grand old mansions. Everyone here (myself among them) apparently disregarded the predictions for heavy rains, which I think is partially from a “boy who cried wolf” mindset; every time there’s even a chance that the Delaware River and its tributaries will rise, residents are advised by city/town governments to take precautions that, 9 times out of 10, are totally unnecessary because the waterways end up not rising any significant amount. So it seems likely that most people (unfortunately) assumed that would be the case again. The waters rose FAST, though, which is the other reason the devastation is so great here—one apartment complex apparently was fine for about an hour after the rain began to fall heavily, and sometime in the next 20-30 minutes, a nearby creek breached its banks and totally flooded the first floor units and stairwells, leaving people trapped on the second story until early this morning (and the electric company here, JCP&L, didn’t cut power to anyone, so would-be rescuers were unable to attempt to get folks out in boats, lest they touch electrified water. Many people here have lost everything; some of even the “lucky”/less affected people in town have had their cars ruined by floodwaters. You can see our poor little town in the slideshow here: https://www.nj.com/news/2021/09/a-wall-of-water-from-ida-devastated-this-nj-river-town.html

How frightening @realanastasia! I’m so sorry about your sweet little downtown. My town here in Oregon (quite like yours) went through something similar on Jan. 1, 1997. I know your residents will pull together through the shock and heartache and do the necessary hard work. My dh took a day off from work to help muck out our favorite restaurant. You will recover. Hang in there! Hugs!

I'm sorry for all that you and your town went through. I love that little town too and the bike path along the canal, and New Hope across the river. I have a friend who has a house there too, though she spends more time at the Jersey Shore in her other house.
I take tornado warnings seriously enough each and every time we have one (not that often, but more so now) and I put myself and my 2 cats in the basement right away. DH takes his time as the man in him seems to want to check things out first. He did come down with me and we actually sensed it passing us by (not directly over us). We could see out the two tiny windows that the wind was really blowing and we heard a crash, which turned out to be a large tree limb falling on and breaking a birdbath. Lots of branches down and planters turned over. Nothing like what some nearby neighborhoods experienced.
After reading about the path and seeing the nearby damage, it definitely shook me. Turns out it was an EF-3 tornado, wind speeds up to 150mph. Again - in Jersey? And all so random :(

And hugs for you too, @zecats! What a scary ordeal. I never would have thought of tornadoes in NJ. I’m so sorry about all the damage in nearby neighborhoods.
 
My daughter sent me a video yesterday of her police officer friend in your town. He was out in a boat, going up and down streets, looking for people who needed to be rescued. Same with 287. I hope you are safe.
My little town was all over the news yesterday due to historic flooding in the downtown area. I was incredibly fortunate to be mostly unaffected since I live on a hill above the most populated downtown area, the latter of which is filled with charming shops, cozy cafes, historic row homes, gorgeously restored Victorians, and grand old mansions. Everyone here (myself among them) apparently disregarded the predictions for heavy rains, which I think is partially from a “boy who cried wolf” mindset; every time there’s even a chance that the Delaware River and its tributaries will rise, residents are advised by city/town governments to take precautions that, 9 times out of 10, are totally unnecessary because the waterways end up not rising any significant amount. So it seems likely that most people (unfortunately) assumed that would be the case again. The waters rose FAST, though, which is the other reason the devastation is so great here—one apartment complex apparently was fine for about an hour after the rain began to fall heavily, and sometime in the next 20-30 minutes, a nearby creek breached its banks and totally flooded the first floor units and stairwells, leaving people trapped on the second story until early this morning (and the electric company here, JCP&L, didn’t cut power to anyone, so would-be rescuers were unable to attempt to get folks out in boats, lest they touch electrified water. Many people here have lost everything; some of even the “lucky”/less affected people in town have had their cars ruined by floodwaters. You can see our poor little town in the slideshow here: https://www.nj.com/news/2021/09/a-wall-of-water-from-ida-devastated-this-nj-river-town.html
 
Yesterday, my SO gave away a complete bedroom set and a living room set to 3 families who got flooded out and lost everything. I have a dining room set I was going to sell but I’m looking for a family now who may need to replace theirs.
 
How frightening @realanastasia! I’m so sorry about your sweet little downtown. My town here in Oregon (quite like yours) went through something similar on Jan. 1, 1997. I know your residents will pull together through the shock and heartache and do the necessary hard work. My dh took a day off from work to help muck out our favorite restaurant. You will recover. Hang in there! Hugs!



And hugs for you too, @zecats! What a scary ordeal. I never would have thought of tornadoes in NJ. I’m so sorry about all the damage in nearby neighborhoods.
Thank you @Lilibet. We are able to drive by some of the areas now, as some are on major roads. I can't get my jaw back off the floor when I actually see what this tornado did. Someone tracked and posted the path on our local FB town page, and I was able to see that it actually began about 1/2 mile down the road from us - closer than I originally thought. It did start out as an E-F 0, and then gradually increased up to E-F 3. That's where most of the damage occurred. Another little town not too far away and in the path, had every large oak tree that lined their pretty main street uprooted and overturned. It's a complete disaster. :(

But the turnout of volunteers to physically assist with tree and debris removal, food and water provisions, etc etc, warms my heart.
 

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