Isabel Blog.

September 18, 2003 4:34 PM

Isabel Blog.WVEC in Hampton Roads, Virginia creates a blog for Hurricane Isabel, and allows users to submit content. Users respond with pictures and stories that are a lot more interesting than what the media has to report...
posted by insomnia_lj (14 comments total)

"Day 2:

The storm has ceased but the road in front of my house has been replaced with yellow cobblestone and these midgets keep bothering me..."
posted by jonmc at 4:39 PM on September 18, 2003

Here's a list of live North Carolina webcams I compiled. Let me know if you find any others.
posted by waxpancake at 4:42 PM on September 18, 2003

Downed trees, downed trees, downed trees!
posted by ~rschram at 4:51 PM on September 18, 2003

Too bad my webcam doesn't work with this computer--I'd set it up and you all could see the wind blow outside my apartment. It's not that exciting up here in Delaware, at least not yet.

I'm amusing myself by watching the local news with the reporters henny-pennying all over the region. Flooding is going to be a major concern for us, however.
posted by eilatan at 5:00 PM on September 18, 2003

"Downed trees, downed trees, downed trees!"

Downed trees, flooding, and pieces flying offa your roof are what most hurricanes are all about, ideally. You'd be surprised how much downed trees can mess with your way of living.

Still, it beats flattened houses and islands where all the inhabitants are washed out to sea...
posted by insomnia_lj at 5:24 PM on September 18, 2003

My power has been out three times since this afternoon and I wasn't even in the direct path of the storm. THAT's the major pain in the butt as far as I am concerned (Not counting the really major damage stuff of course.)

I do, however have milk and bread, so it's all good.
posted by konolia at 5:31 PM on September 18, 2003

For a minute there I thought this was a blog from the perspective of the hurricane.

"4:00pm Met some nice people in a little town on the coast.. everybody keeps distancing themseolves from me, and I'm really starting to get mad about that. "
posted by Space Coyote at 6:25 PM on September 18, 2003

Since moving to NC from CA 3 years ago I have been continuously amused at the feeding frenzy whenever there is any sort of weather to report on. One inch of snow is a meta-amphetamine rush for the local newsfolk as they joyously predict the direst scenarios possible while at the bottom of the TV screen the school, church and business closings are listed. The merest dusting of snow and Our Lady of Perpetual Help immediately slams its doors.

Needless to say, after all the gloomy reports of the plywood shortages (gone to rebuild Iraq!) and minute-by-minute wind measurements (150 miles an hour-- force 5!) and reminders not to drive through flooded streets (2 feet of water can carry off an SUV!!!) Isabel waltzed into town and left some branches in the street.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 6:42 PM on September 18, 2003

Gravy:

I take it you missed the storm in Jan 2000 that dumped about 20 inches on Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill? That was... fun.

Giving up and cancelling school early is just sensible given how little snow-driving people do there. Better to miss a day than face the scary odds of some idiot plowing into a school bus because they don't know how to drive in snow.

Me, I found the ice storms scarier.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 7:37 PM on September 18, 2003

Cool link! I think this is a great use of the blog concept, and cheers to WVEC for thinking of it.
posted by Sidhedevil at 7:46 PM on September 18, 2003

Gravy, you should have seen the cops driving around Wilmington with snow chains on last year during our one 'snowstorm' (I think we ended up with maybe half an inch, all told).
posted by IshmaelGraves at 8:47 PM on September 18, 2003

I'm not sure what's wrong with this, other than the house appears to be melting... the horror.
posted by Witty at 6:36 AM on September 19, 2003

What Sidhedevil said. Every journalist who checks MetaFilter should take note of this. I'm convinced t's the wave (ha!) of the future. Just these two photos tell the story in a way that wouldn't happen with conventional coverage.

Good to see that at least in trackback, someone made the connection between the foul nautical weather and the day.
posted by soyjoy at 7:57 AM on September 19, 2003

So, I'm curious to ask a question of folks not in Raleigh, NC: Was the day after the hurricane one of the most gorgeous days of the year for you, too? That always seems to be the case after one passes, in my experience.
posted by mediareport at 8:53 PM on September 19, 2003