Me – Isabel’s a Bitch

You heard me.

Downgraded from terror to hissy fit, ISabel rolled through my neighborhood, leaving annoyance in her wake. I’m one of the poor annoyed, who have lost power for about 32 hours.

Soon after I want offline at 8:45 PM, computers off, the lights went. But we were ready. I always have a little light with me, a mini mag-lite keychain, with ten AAA batteries. There is also the emergency light, which is constantly recharged. It only has about an hour or so of power, but is a good supplement.

That night I brought up my CD player, Gameboy Advance and little light to entertain me for a few hours before I want to sleep.

The next day, after sleeping through the worst of her hissy, I woke with a desire to look around the area. Hearing that there was flooding near the strip mall a mere 15 mins walk away, I was quite eager to see for myself.

So I set up my kit, with reading material, GBA, CD player, snacks, a little lunch soup package in case I couldn’t find food out there, camera, umbrella, portable TV and scads of AA and AAA batteries, then headed out.

With no power, there wasn’t a lot to do at home.

First thing, I walked along a bike path that I thought led to the area I heard of. As it turns out, when I ran into a guy and a pack of youngsters, I was told I was headed in just the wrong direction. Though I hadn’t been idle as I trekked. The bike path was littered with tree debris and I cleared the most treacherous away as I followed it. At one spot, there was a tree across it I couldn’t move, but beyond that I generally did my small part to help along bikers.

A few minutes after passing that group, I decided to leave off the path I had taken and head the right direction. During my trip, I was periodically popping on the TV to listen and hear what’s going on in the news. We’d lost power at the water stations, which meant potential water problems. Later that day, though, the power was restored to them. We had to give them 24 hours just in case the water was contaminated, they’d be checking soon after getting everything back running.

Soon I caught back up with the small group that I passed and we sorta traveled along together, though I and my cam took detours to check out areas and snap some images of the mess around. I continued to clear things as I was st ill moving along the bike path. At one point there was a tree with loads of underbrush across the path. Took some limb snapping and shoving, but a loose path was cleared through it and the group continued on.

The tales of flooding were true. It encroached a little on the parking lot and a little ways down the road by it the water was in ownership of the street. Though one that’s bowed up in the middle had a little island hump in the middle of the street. I was amazed. I took several pictures and AVIs of the mess, moving around the area. The police were there(and everywhere else) in force and I was turned back from going further.

In the spirit of reducing complications, I obeyed and contented myself with walking around and looking at the rescue workers and their small boats from rescuing people who were trapped in the nearby neighborhood before. The water had been higher before, but had receded considerably. I wish I had seen it at its height. There was a hint by a BMW that was still submerged up to the bottom of its chassis. Peering inside from a few feet away, on dry land, I could see that there was light debris inside its open window. Water had been inside the car. Over the level of the seats, I think.

I dropped by Safeway, which had power, and purchased a soda to add to my provisions. I continued to skirt the area and started walking along the road that my bus to the Huntington Metro takes. I got some more images from the water that took up some of the surrounding neighborhood. It wasn’t even close to getting up the hill to my area, so I wasn’t worried.

It was a long walk after that. Along the way I noted an accident that already was, with someone from one of the vehicles being evaced. Again, I didn’t linger, only until I was able to cross the street and carry on. At that time, I decided to make for Boston Market and see if they were open. Seeing the strip mall with power had be heartened.

It was a long trek up a long hill, but I was resolved and made my way. Along the way I saw a downed power line. I also saw a disaster relief truck picking up donuts and Krispy Kreme. Likely on the way to a shelter for those folk who were pushed out of their homes by water. I also dropped b a bookstore to grab a magazine, a little more reading material. Finally, after almost three hours after leaving home, I made it to Boston Market. They were open and I got lunch. No water for the soda machine, though, so I had lemonade from a self contained dispenser.

The walk home was easier after that and I got back after about four hours of exploration. The power was still off, so I took my gear upstairs, along with the little god, and relaxed. There was a mini radio that worked off AAA batteries. I plugged that into my little speakers and turned it on, listening to it while I played Gameboy Advance and read. The power remained off. Later that afternoon, I finally ate one of the little lunch soups, it not being too bad cold. With a bottle of gatorade, I was set for the approaching evening. Though I occasionally glanced at my clock radio, waiting to see it flick on and flash. Didn’t come as the sun was going down.

After a while, it was too dark to see my Gameboy Advance screen, so I read by flashlight. Then it was too much trouble to read by flashlight, so I went to sleep. Before 8 PM, but oh well. I’m up early now. 😉 Finally, at about 4:45, I woke up to see that my clock radios were flashing merrily at me. Thus, with enough sleep under my belt, I am now up.

It has been an entertaining day. I’ve been washing my hands with water from a gallon jug of generic spring water because we’re not supposed to use tap water yet. I’m going to give some of that to the dog soon so she can have fresh water. I took loads of pics, which I’m sure I’ll post up for you all, though I’ll have to remove the vacation pics to make sure i have room.

As I was spending time with the radio, I heard people lamenting to the host. Some truths were told. That underground wiring would make interruptions like this even more rare. Pepco, one of the local power brokers, was passing out dry ice again, which generally created massive traffic snarls from those seeking some. They ran out at one point as the place that made the dry ice(in Maryland) lost power. Generally people were upset about how long it took, but they haven’t seen what general havoc the storm caused. I saw several trees down and some power lines as well. Overall it was bad for all.

But, like most similar times, people generally came together. As I was walking around I noted couples, families and individuals out exploring. People were generally in a good mood and helpful. More saints than sinners as the terms were used by someone on the news, talking about the feel good stories he’d heard around the area.

But now I’m back online and once the water is deemed clean, I’ll be back to normal. Two days of leave wasted, but some interesting things seem. I suppose that balances out. And today I will check to see if aMC is up and running. I wish to see Underworld today.