Underwhelmed in VA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's a huge triumph of science that meteorologists are able to track hurricanes days in advance. There is so much they can tell us now about the nature of hurricanes, their intensity, and their path. In the past, people might only have hours or less warning before getting slammed.
As much as the forecasting abilities have improved, it is still not (and probably never will be) an exact science. They knew the regions of the east coast that would be impacted. They could not give exact locations. As it turned out, our impact was less than further north.

The "trade off" of the improved forecasts is that sometimes an area might be over prepared.

I think that's an easy trade off.

Part of the reasons things went well in this area is that they did go ahead and close everything down. Face it, our traffic is already dreadful. It takes very little for there to be a cascading effect. Were you around the time people were trapped in their cars for 6 hours during a snowstorm?!?! They told people to leave work early, it "didn't look bad" so lots of people didn't leave until 5, and then it was complete chaos. Eventually thousands of people got home to nice warm houses, but it was a complete mess before that, and the whole thing could have been avoided if people had followed instructions and left when the government shut down.
So yes, things in Virginia aren't as bad as they could have been, and it would be one thing to post a message expressing gratitude that you were spared.[b] I think OP's attitude of one big eye roll is a sign of a completely self-absorbed person. As others have pointed out in this thread, the storm didn't spare EVERYONE in the DC metro area, and we all would have been paying the price if our local governments did't take weather events seriously. By staying home and off the roads, we did our part, and the whims of Sandy did the rest to spare us the brunt of the storm.

I think the reason why people such as the OP and others have such a cynical attitude, is that the storm was and still is being overhyped. Of course there was damage, as one would expect for a level 1 hurricane, but the damage is not over and beyond that of all the other hurricanes that hit the southeast every year, and those storms do not receive this type of coverage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This facebook posting from a friend says it all....

While Virginia closes up all schools & businesses because its raining & blowing 25-30 mph... our counterparts in WV have schools open with blizzard conditions... and we make fun of them.

BS - a quick google search tells me that schools are closed in at least 39 counties in W. Virginia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here: I am still underwhelmed in Virginia.

That's good news for you. We're in McLean with a tree on the roof and no power since 9 pm. And have flooded family in NY and NJ. I wish I could be underwhelmed. Just know a blessing when you experience one.

Sorry, not impressed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This facebook posting from a friend says it all....

While Virginia closes up all schools & businesses because its raining & blowing 25-30 mph... our counterparts in WV have schools open with blizzard conditions... and we make fun of them.

As someone who grew up in the rugged Appalachian mountains in West Virginia, with a coal miner father and coal miner brothers, I can assure you, WVA is not full of whiners and complainers. It is shocking to see an entire region full of such privileged people who engage in so much bitching and complaining. Believe it or not, there are people in WVA who live in homes without electricity, on a daily basis....people who cut coal out of the sides of the mountain roads to heat their house. And guess what? Many of them are happy! Imagine!

I did not even know that I grew up in poverty until I moved here. I guess having it hard is a matter of perspective. For some, that means rain and wind, for others, that means losing your father to a horrid lung disease, so people can run their 45 appliances and rev up their heaters up to heat all 5,000sq feet of their home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here: I am still underwhelmed in Virginia.

That's good news for you. We're in McLean with a tree on the roof and no power since 9 pm. And have flooded family in NY and NJ. I wish I could be underwhelmed. Just know a blessing when you experience one.

Sorry, not impressed.

No one said impressed. It was "not underwhelmed"; there's a difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here: I am still underwhelmed in Virginia.

That's good news for you. We're in McLean with a tree on the roof and no power since 9 pm. And have flooded family in NY and NJ. I wish I could be underwhelmed. Just know a blessing when you experience one.

Sorry, not impressed.

Wow, really? PP, take a good look at yourself and the person you are. What a fucking C* you are, to say this to a person experiencing devastating personal loss. How would you like to be displayed from your home for months at a time? Nobody asked you to be impressed, but have a heart.

It makes me really sad that people like you aren't just in the world, but that you're raising kids. I hope they get some empathy from someone else, since the parent posting here doesn't have it.

[Anonymous]

Arlington didn't lose that many trees because we lost all the weak ones in Derecho.

We got off easy, but there was no way to know that would be the case.

This was worse than Irene for me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here: I am still underwhelmed in Virginia.

That's good news for you. We're in McLean with a tree on the roof and no power since 9 pm. And have flooded family in NY and NJ. I wish I could be underwhelmed. Just know a blessing when you experience one.

Sorry, not impressed.

Said the lady who didn't lose power or a tree.

[Anonymous]

Things also went well in this area because we were lucky. NY was not so lucky.

If we want to be warned and given the opportunity to be safe, then we're going to end up "over-prepared" on those lucky occasions like this one.

That's the nature of probabilities.

Please be nice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here: I am still underwhelmed in Virginia.

That's good news for you. We're in McLean with a tree on the roof and no power since 9 pm. And have flooded family in NY and NJ. I wish I could be underwhelmed. Just know a blessing when you experience one.

Sorry, not impressed.

Same here. Snooze.

[Anonymous]

In VA, perhaps. Definitely not in NY!!!!!!!!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here: I am still underwhelmed in Virginia.

That's good news for you. We're in McLean with a tree on the roof and no power since 9 pm. And have flooded family in NY and NJ. I wish I could be underwhelmed. Just know a blessing when you experience one.

Sorry, not impressed.

Same here. Snooze.

Well bless your heart.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here: I am still underwhelmed in Virginia.

That's good news for you. We're in McLean with a tree on the roof and no power since 9 pm. And have flooded family in NY and NJ. I wish I could be underwhelmed. Just know a blessing when you experience one.

Sorry, not impressed.

Wow, really? PP, take a good look at yourself and the person you are. What a fucking C* you are, to say this to a person experiencing devastating personal loss. How would you like to be displayed from your home for months at a time? Nobody asked you to be impressed, but have a heart.

It makes me really sad that people like you aren't just in the world, but that you're raising kids. I hope they get some empathy from someone else, since the parent posting here doesn't have it.

Are we reading the same post? Why are you automatically assuming that having family flooded in NY and NJ translated to displaced from your house for months at a time?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here: I am still underwhelmed in Virginia.

That's good news for you. We're in McLean with a tree on the roof and no power since 9 pm. And have flooded family in NY and NJ. I wish I could be underwhelmed. Just know a blessing when you experience one.

Sorry, not impressed.

Wow, really? PP, take a good look at yourself and the person you are. What a fucking C* you are, to say this to a person experiencing devastating personal loss. How would you like to be displayed from your home for months at a time? Nobody asked you to be impressed, but have a heart.

It makes me really sad that people like you aren't just in the world, but that you're raising kids. I hope they get some empathy from someone else, since the parent posting here doesn't have it.

Do you eat with that mouth?

You are one angry person. You better check yourself.

[Anonymous]

Flooding in Old Town:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/liveblog/files/2012/10/old-town-flooding-pic1.jpg

Thankfully, the schools in Alexandria suck, so this isn't really anything for us to worry about.