A nor’easter is a vicious Atlantic coastal storm with high winds and lots of rain during which, because of the storms rotation, the winds over land are generally from the northeast. Or, a nor’easter was Saturday, Sunday and to a lesser extent, today.
Why was this one bad? Well, we had more snow than average in February, and then we had a little warm weather which melted all the snow and softened the soil. Next we had a lot of rain which softened the soil, and wind gusts at hurricane velocity that helped all those trees to go over. Upstairs, my 100-year-old house shook noticeably in the wind. It didn’t feel as bad on the ground floor. Seventeen foot waves were reported on Long Island’s ocean beaches. I sometimes wonder who”s crazy enough to measure those.
Saturday night was a really bad time to be a pine tree on Long Island, or trapped beneath one. Several people in the metropolitan area were killed by falling trees during the storm. That, of course, is no laughing matter. I also saw a Toyota that collided with a tree, but it appeared to be the tree’s fault. Another thing about nor’easters, unlike hurricane, these babies stay around a while. Saturday was the worst of it, but it’s not supposed to be nice until Tuesday.
One day, in my high school physics class, I leaned too far back in a chair and fell backwards. Everyone laughed at me and the teacher said, “Tell us about center of gravity.” When I see so many trees on the ground, I’m reminded of that and marvel that all the trees dont come down. A 50-foot-tall tree might have a root system 12-feet around and nowhere near that deep. It’s kind of marvelous that all the roofs didn’t blow away too. Part of my garage roof went. It’s a corrugated metal roof and I managed to find it, but it was bent and partially torn. I’ve spent high five figures with one contractor over the past two years and he was nice enough to send someone over so I didn’t have to climb on a wet roof in a brisk wind.
If I want a permanent repair, I’m going to have to go much farther because that kind of metal roofing isnt available anymore. The insurance adjuster is coming, but I don’t know when yet.
I’ll hold the big piece of aluminum trim in my back yard for a while in case someone wants to come looking for it, but I don’t know who yet either.
