Ok, so this was a switch for me. Usually when hurricanes, and the major flooding & storm surge that they bring threaten the US it's me going to the storm, not the storm coming to me, but that's exactly what Hurricane Irene did. This was the first hurricane to threaten my area directly since Hurricane Bob in August 1991. And while Irene was officially downgraded to Tropical Storm Irene just prior to land fall in NYC, she still packed quite a punch as you will see on my video. My chase partner Dave Lewison from the Lower Hudson Valley and George Kourounis and Mark Robinson from Canada made their way down to my place here in Queens, NY the day before Irene's land fall and we geared up and talked about our possible intercept and filming locations. We did some scouting that day and stopped by some friends homes in Broad Channel, Queens which is just 8 miles south of me, near Rockaway Beach. It was very apparent that flooding would be a big concern there and we filled our friends in on what they could expect when Irene came ashore the following day. From there we headed to Rockaway Beach to film some of the large waves that were already crashing ashore, and from there, we headed east to Long Beach and Atlantic Beach. After a long day of scouting we headed back to my place where we all grabbed a nice sit down dinner at Woodhaven House and discussed the next days chase! The next day started very early for us, about 4am. We gathered our gear, packed the vehicles, and headed back down to Broad Channel as by this time it was apparent that the center of Irene was going to come ashore directly over the NYC metro! Something that has not happened in MANY years, I believe 1821 was the last time NYC was directly hit so needless to say, this was a rare event indeed. Upon arriving in Broad Channel right around dawn, it was already apparent that flooding was going to be an issue here. The storm surge was already inundating many side streets and we documented several streets and homes that were completely surrounded by water. We were knee deep in it, and at times, waist deep. We spent about an hour in Broad Channel before we needed to head to higher ground, so we headed back north on Crossbay Blvd and took the Belt Pkwy eastbound to Oceanside which is located in Nassau County, LI. Once in Oceanside we encountered more flooded road ways, some of which were impassable, so at those roads we would stop and set up our cameras to document what was taking place. The winds while never hurricane force here were still gusting to hurricane force at times and you could hear the occasional sounds of tree limbs snapping, and sheet metal tearing. We made sure to keep our heads on a swivel to make sure we were not down wind of anything. From Oceanside we finally made our way (after navigating more flooded streets) to Long Beach which was our final filming point. This is where we experienced our strongest winds of the day. By this time however Irene's center was north of us so the winds were beginning to slacken off a bit. We did however measure sustained winds at tropical storm force (45mph) and there was a gust to over 55mph measured by the anemometer mounted to my Xterra while we were there. After filming some of the large waves that were still crashing on shore we decided, now that things were calming down, to head back home and we were treated to a hot meal of pancakes, eggs, bacon, coffee and tea thanks to my wonderful girlfriend Cecelia! What a great way to end a hurricane chase! All in all, while not the super big hit that many media outlets hyped, Irene still packed quite a punch. And depending on exactly where you were in my area, determined whether you got off very lightly, or were flooded out. Ask 20 people and 10 will tell you it was nothing, and 10 will tell you it was worse than expected. Now my attention will turn back to the tropics, still several weeks to go before hurricane season 2011 is over and done with. I'll be watching! Hope you enjoy the video. Scott McPartland **Not For Re-Broadcast** ©2011 Scott McPartland www.SevereWeatherVideo.com

• published: 30 Aug 2011
• views: 8483