My brother in NYC and my parents in Dobbs Ferry survived the arrival of Hurricane Irene more or less unscathed, though my parents had to rush to do some supply shopping on Friday afternoon right after they got back from Europe (tough, I know) and ended up with some basement flooding. My own basement just had a tiny wet spot in the laundry room, which given what I've been through the last several months, is a very good sign. I also had some tree damage, but nothing nearly as major as we've seen around the northeast.

I know lots of people who had power outages or other relatively minor effects from the storm, and I'm stunned by some of the images from the Hudson Valley, where major flooding has been devastating to small communities. Last I heard, Scott Adams (of Dilbert fame) still hadn't heard whether his elderly father, who still lives in the town he grew up in, which was reportedly pretty much washed away, is OK. [Update: He's OK.] One woman drowned when the motel she was staying in was swept away, and lots of roads have turned into rivers or lakes.

The few folks who were planning on going camping in the Poconos despite the weather forecast decided not to, at least partly at the campground's urging. They were under a flood warning, and while the campground is on high ground, the roads in and out are in low-lying areas adjacent to creeks. Wouldn't surprise me if some of those roadways were under water, if not worse. (Ah... the area was definitely affected.) Turns out the planned rescheduled weekend is Cornell's Homecoming weekend, so I can't really go.