Irene visits the Garden State

Before moving to Michiana, I spent two and a half years in Atlantic City, NJ.  It was awesome!  It took me (and my hair) a while to get used to the humidity and smell of salty sea air when the winds were right, but I loved it!

Everyone said they were due for a hurricane.  I just left a little too early to experience it myself.  I was lucky enough to have some of my friends from New Jersey allow me to share these photos.  Now, they might not mean too much to us here in Indiana, but I can tell you...these are CRAZY!!!

One is the streets of Atlantic City.  You can see one of the casinos in the background.  Say what you will about the evacuations and hype leading up to the storm, but flooding is a serious concern on the East Coast.  If it was near the new or full moon and it rained, the streets would flood around high tide...so add a HURRICANE to the mix...and you are talking about a dangerous situation.  Most of the coastal areas (and many of the cities you hear about...Atlantic City, Ocean City, Margate, Brigantine...are all basically islands...you MUST use the bridge to get out) were evacuated, and for good reason!  Look at all that water!

But, my favorite photo that I have found sifting through my coworker and friend, Dan Skeldon's facebook page is the one from North Wildwood.  Thank you so much to Kathleen who allowed me to share it!  Now I have to explain something to all of you.  The beaches in Wildwood are HUGE.  I mean HUGE.  I do not think it is an exaggeration at all to say from the boardwalk to the water is easily a quarter mile.  My friends used to always say you earned your trip in the waves by the time to got to the water's edge!  So, it is absolutely INSANE to me that the beach erosion made its way all the way to the boardwalk and the rides.  Morey's Pier has a few areas that stick out on the beach further, but still...this photo is amazing to me!

I am just so thankful that so many of my friends, and former viewers are safe!  I cannot express how frustrating it is to feel like there is so much to do, and you cannot help!  We were the only local station actually in South Jersey, and so many of the residents looked to us as their source for local weather, and in the case...the information they needed to stay safe!  And, to be here in Michiana with sunshine and a clear night while the hurricane was battering the Jersey shore was just excruciating to me!  But, I knew they were in good hands with one of the most talented and caring meteorologists I know!  I am just proud to have it on my resume. 

I just wish I would have waited a little longer to leave the beach ;)