Scribblings

Rain, rain, go away...

I know we need April showers to bring May flowers but this is ridiculous!

These houses being battered are on the south shore of Long Island, not terribly far from where I used to live. That's the Great South Bay knocking at the door, folks!

I don't have any pictures of what the storm is doing here but I can report that we're having lots and lots of rain. I don't hear much wind out there but I've been seeing and hearing the rain. This storm is supposed to hang in the rest of today and tomorrow, too, I guess.

I haven't been outside at all. Today was a great day to just hibernate like a great old bear. Kennan, Linda and Tomas are somewhere out in it--I think they went to the Children's Museum. Rainy days are not for small children. And Heidi's driving home in it from work--yes, she's got her license! It's a mixed blessing.

Here is what CNN has to say about the storm:

Hundreds of flights canceled as storm nears

Story Highlights•

NEW: Storm floods people out of their homes in West Virginia
• Nor'easter could bring worst flooding in 14 years
• New York governor deploys 3,200 National Guard members
• Storm blamed for three deaths in Kansas, two in Texas

NEW YORK (AP) -- Airlines canceled 300 flights Sunday as a hard-blowing nor'easter gathered strength along the East Coast and threatened to deliver some of the worst shore flooding in 14 years.

The storm, already blamed for five deaths on the Plains, also flooded people out of their homes in the middle of the night in West Virginia.

The steady rain has caused the cancellation of more than 400 flights at the New York City region's three major airports. Travelers should check with their airline carrier before heading to Kennedy, LaGuardia or Newark Liberty airports.

Tree limbs are down and power is out for 15-hundred Long Island households as the powerful storm swept up the coast, threatening widespread coastal flooding.

Meteorologists expected sustained wind of 40 mph and a storm surge of 3 to 5 feet, a combination that could cause as much coastal damage to Long Island as a winter storm which wreaked havoc there in late 1992, Gov. Eliot Spitzer said. (Gallery: Storm moves across the U.S.)

New York City opened nine emergency storm shelters in flood-prone locations, and ferry service to Fire Island was canceled due to the storm.

More than 2 inches of rain fell in the New York region by 2 o'clock Sunday afternoon, and forecasters predict a total of 4 to 6 inches by the storm's end this evening.

The National Weather Service says there were sustained winds of 30 to 35 miles per hour and gusts of up to 48 miles per hour at Kennedy Airport.

Sunday night's high tide is likely to bring coastal flooding on Long Island and in parts of New York City.

"This is going to be bad," Shaun Rheinheimer said as he moved furniture to higher spots at his house on New Jersey's low-lying Cedar Bonnet Island. Streets were beginning to flood by late morning and waves splashed over bulkheads into backyards.

Heavy rain and thunderstorms extended from Florida up the coast to southern New England on Sunday and the National Weather Service said Washington's Reagan National Airport had measured 1.43 inches of rain.

Warnings, watches all along the coast
The weather service posted storm warnings and watches all along the East Coast, with flood warnings extending from Virginia north to the New York area. Winter storm warnings were in effect for parts of New England and eastern New York state. (Northeast flood, storm warnings)

The storm also caused flooding in the mountains of southern West Virginia, where emergency services personnel rescued nearly two dozen people from homes and cars in Logan and Boone counties early Sunday. Two people were unaccounted for.

"It's about as bad as it can get," said Logan, West Virginia, Fire Chief Scott Beckett. "This thing came down at 2 or 3 in the morning, when people were sleeping in their beds. They just didn't know what was happening."