I have a cousin in Virginia Beach whose wife is in home hospice and another cousin in Kill Devil Hills who decided to tough it out, so I'm interested in what's going on too. But there are ways I can -- under my own control -- find out what's happening hurricane-wise as well as the fact that I can chat, email, phone, or look at their Facebook pages to see what's happening with them personally, because they know their families are concerned and want to know. Meanwhile, just south of us, three different communities had a series of fireball explosions virtually all at once on Thursday. Firemen could not keep up with the calls. Nearly 10,000 people were displaced in Lawrence, Andover, and North Andover. But do you think there was coverage of this disaster while we were learning -- for the 50th time -- that Florence was downgraded to a Cat 1? Nope. The best I could do was to listen to the local talk show callers, who were calling all day to tell us their experiences with the explosions/fires. The wall to wall coverage of a tropical storm with reporters trying their best to horribilize the whole thing was frustrating and counterproductive.
I saw that on Youtube, @Michelle Anderson . Three whole towns were apparently hit by the gas explosions, and the video that I watched said they were all being evacuated.
@Yvonne Smith That is strange behavior for natural gas. It almost sounds like an extremely low pressure system, or that major valves had been turned off and later turned back on. If these fireballs occurred simultaneously, it may suggest that they were caused intentionally.
@Yvonne Smith UPDATE: Over pressurized gas mains may be the culprit. Massachusetts governor declares state of emergency after fatal natural gas explosions, directs different utility to restore service
I don't know how this happened, but I am sure that law firms all over the country are lining up for a piece of the pie.
"The National Transportation Safety Board sent a team to help investigate the disaster in a state where some of the aging gas pipeline system dates to the 1860s."
Here in New England, that means clay pipes. Much of our town -- including our own home -- have clay pipes. They're no longer very stable. About 15 years ago, our plumbing was messed up. Turns out tree roots from our neighbor across the street had broken through our pipes.