NY 1 - Irene 0 Makes Landfall at Coney Island .. little damage in Brooklyn...

This was for the NYC area mostly a tree trimmer storm.... as my son says, the word of the day is "foilage" and there is a lot of it all over Brooklyn and the rest of NYC.

As I said a few days ago after being at the beach with Irene... she never seemed to have the punch on the ground that she had up at flight level where her winds seemed stronger. Just a strange storm, large, hulking, big, lumbering her way north steadily and yet... mostly rain and flooding.

People are already back at the beach on Coney Island doing ummmm their thing that people do on Coney Island Beach I suppose. Great pic from Twitter:



Oddly other areas far from landfall are getting stronger winds than Crown Heights and Boro Park and Flatbush got and that's where most my sources were tho friends in NYC said the same.

The beaches on Long Island that were just right of the "eye" got the most storm surge and impact as beach cities often do. The lifeguard station came lose and blew into the pier on TV for all the world to see. Staten ISLAND had problems... and NJ has had a lot of minor damage and power is out to the multitudes there... not in NYC but in NJ, go figure.

North Carolina has already phoned home to say the damage was minor compared to other storms, a few piers damaged... minor beach damage, they are still checking and there was that mall in Goldsboro that lost it's roof.

People did lose their lives. It was a big storm that affected a lot of people across a wide geographic area and there will be stories for days to come.

This storm will be remembered by me as when I fell in love with Twitter. I finally, finally got Twitter, loved it... didn't post much as mostly I watched and learned but I will tweet more in the future and this is EARLY still in the season, not yet September.

Some stories worth mentioning:

There is a dog missing in Crown Heights, someone found it...everyone is trying to reunite it back with it's owner ;)

He's male, he's really sweet.... if you know his owner check out Twitter:

http://twitpic.com/6cb79v

Jason Kip took awesome pics and posted them and this is what Irene sounded like in NY:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MO9peQLkxLM

Not much more intense than she seemed in Miami or Raleigh tho at the height of the storm the beach was awesome and the Lower East Side was a little lower and under water. Far from the disaster movie scenario that TWC and History Channel have been advertising.

Info from one of the most beautiful towns anywhere Oriental, NC

http://towndock.net/news/irene-canoeing-the-streets-of-oriental?pg=1

The infamous video from the lifeguard station on TV slamming into the pier:

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/video?id=8331381

One of my favorite tweets this morning, one that I agree with 100%


HaroldItz Harold Itzkowitz
by nydailynews
.@nydailynews is pummeling the @NewYorkPost and @nytimes on storm coverage far worse than #Irene pummeled the city.

The NY Daily News rocked with the best coverage anywhere... the NY Times did not even come close. Almost as good as Twitter feed...probably better.

LASTLY ....this is FAR from over... it's over in Brooklyn, but not around the rest of the area. There will be WIDE SPREAD INLAND FLOODING from this storm. That drama has just begun....



As to what happened to the South Side of Irene, I've seen a lot of storms weaken but rarely have I ever seen a storm weaken in the way Irene weakened last night. It's like it was a big cherry pie that someone came down and took a bit slice out of from 3pm to 6pm and it was just gone... "poof" and far from landfall in Coney Island there are strong winds on the tip of Long Island and in CT...

Everyone who made it through Irene safely should really offer a prayer of thanks and appreciate how bad it could have been and how many prayers were answered.

Either that or Irene Loves New York as much as most people do...

Prayers for those who are now suffering far away from NY and everyone please be careful, very careful cleaning up the debris and go slow... breathe, enjoy life, be happy and be careful.

And, remember the set up that brought Irene this way could bring another storm in a few weeks or another month.

We are far from out of the woods and really just getting into the thick of the tropical woods as we approach September in a few days.

LASTLY.... PLEASE BE CAREFUL OUT THERE... AS ALWAYS PEOPLE ARE DYING DURING THE AFTERMATH WHEN THEY MADE IT SAFELY THROUGH THE STORM. WIRES ARE OFTEN LIVE AND LYING IN PUDDLES.... BRANCHES FALL THAT WERE WEAKENED WHEN YOU ARE CLEANING UP. THIS HEART BREAKING STORY HAPPENED EARLIER, ALL ACROSS THE AREA IT WILL BE HAPPENING LATER TODAY. OFTEN MORE PEOPLE ARE KILLED CLEANING UP WHEN THEY LET THEIR GUARD DOWN. KEEP KIDS INSIDE, LET RESCUE CREWS DO THEIR THING... LET THE CITY DO THEIR THING AND RELAX, BREATHE AND REMEMBER IT SOMETIMES LOOKS BETTER THAN IT IS... THERE ARE HIDDEN DANGERS EVERYWHERE AFTER A STORM, EVEN A WEAK ONE...

http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/article.php?p=101563

So, keep watching and give thanks and just relax and enjoy the electricity that stayed on and watch TV, eat up your hurricane supplies and give thanks and enjoy life today in Brooklyn.

As for me, I'm in an online class with friends in Crown Heights and around the world which I didn't expect to have as I figured the electric and cell phones would be off. Loving it... after being up til almost 4am with my daughter on Facebook while we watched the Twitter feed together.

Besos Bobbi

Ps... the storm is gone but the danger is not gone, be careful cleaning up!