Sandy Threatens U.S. Coast

[Palehorse]

[Update 5:15 p.m. ET] The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says it will have on-site inspectors at all nuclear power stations that could be affected by Hurricane Sandy. The inspectors will be in place ahead of the storm and will stay at the power plants until the event is over.

No power station has been taken offline at this point, but each station has protocols and procedures for going offline, NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said.

[Update 5:07 p.m. ET] The National Hurricane Center's 5 p.m. update placed the center of Hurricane Sandy about 300 miles southeast of Virginia Beach, Virginia, moving northeast at about 15 mph. The storm is expected to turn first to the north and then to the northwest early Monday. Maximum sustained winds at 5 p.m. were 75 mph, with higher gusts.

[Update 4:50 p.m. ET] The New York Stock Exchange has revised it storm response plan and now says there will be no live trading Monday on the stock exchange's floor in Manhattan. Electronic trading by computer, which is how most trading takes place, will continue as usual, the exchange says. New York has declared a state of emergency and New York City has suspended subway service starting at 7 p.m. on Sunday.

[Update 4:47 p.m. ET] Updated figures indicate classes have been canceled Monday for at least 2.1 million public school K-12 students along the East Coast in anticipation of Hurricane Sandy.

[Update 3:30 p.m. ET] Stores along the Eastern Seaboard are running out of essential supplies such as batteries, water, generators and flashlights as people in Hurricane Sandy's path scramble to prepare for power outages and other effects of the storm.

[Palehorse]

Sounds like Sandy is going to be paying a visit to the east coast to start the week off right.

My wife and I are using this as a reminder to re-stock our emergency supply totes for the winter season. I believe next week we'll be visiting some local grocery and home repair stores to purchase the necessary items. (Then we'll be eating what is currently in our totes, because it isn't expired yet).

Batteries are tops on the list, and while we cannot eat them, the ones in our totes will be replacing batteries in our remotes, games, etc. throughout the house. My Boom box will get a fresh set too.

The pantry will see a good influx of canned goods as well. Especially canned meats and veggies. . .

[libby]

I learned to stock up ahead of time from my parents. They canned everything from fresh fruit to sausage (from the two pigs daddy raised and killed every year). He built a smokehouse - a big room with a table where he salted down bacon. (I think the only thing he smoked in there was cigarettes.) There was a cellar beneath the smokehouse to store what they'd canned, along with apples and potatoes and other things from the garden. He also grew grapes, which he used to make what he called "homebrew."

[Locutus]

Looks like the southern end of New Jersey and northern Delaware are in the line of fire.  This is a big storm though so others farther away from landfall will most certainly be affected as well.

[Henry Hawk]

[Locutus]