Tweet from a reporter at the Outer Banks:

[Are_grits_groceries]

“@mattgutmanABC:
Outer Banks have been slammed by Tropical Storm force winds for 36 continuous hours and STILL #Sandy is 280 off shore.

When Hugo hit, the time the high winds lasted was amazing and nerve wracking. I kept expecting them to let up like they do in smaller storms. They kept on and on and on.....

[malaise]

1. Wow!

Stay safe

[titaniumsalute]

2. I live in Boca Raton

The storm passed about 180 east of us. We had some rain but the wind was crazy. It lasted for 15 hours after the storm passed. We were having probably 25-30 mph constant winds with gusts to 45 and it was sunny as can be. Weird.

[Island Blue]

3. I live on the Outer Banks.

It's now been raining for almost 48 hours. The winds have died down a lot though, at least for the moment. There has been a lot of flooding on Hatteras & Ocracoke islands. (Hatteras sure as hell didn't need that because they were slammed by Irene last year.) This was more of an ocean event for us, whereas Irene was a soundside event (Outer Bankers' worse nightmare). Edited to say: I just looked at the latest forecast and the winds are supposed to switch up this morning, making soundside flooding a real possibility.

I'm so used to wind after living here for 25+ years that this storm really didn't seem so bad (for us) except for the never ending rain.