Hurricane Irene Spares Canton Couple's Second Home

Jerry and Gayle Grady were glued to weather reports all weekend, even though Michigan's weather was nearly perfect. The Canton Township couple was keeping an eye on Hurricane Irene's approach to Ocean City, NJ, where they have owned a vacation home for 10 years.

From their Southeast Michigan home, nearly 650 miles away, the Gradys did what they could to get the house ready for the storm.

"It was very difficult to prepare. We asked the renters to pull outside furniture in if possible and my cousin, who is about a mile away from us in Ocean City, was heading down to prep his," Jerry Grady wrote in an email to Canton Patch. "He brought all furniture in and tables for us. Other than this, there was not much more to do."

The Gradys found themselves in the same position as more than 100,000 other Ocean City residents heeding a mandatory order to evacuate the island: watching and wondering from afar.

But riding out a storm in the age of the Internet was a different experience. Even from Michigan, the Gradys were able to find regular updates on conditions in Ocean City.

Ocean City property owners on and off the island traded 1,683 real-time comments and another 300-plus story comments on a live discussion board posted on Ocean City Patch. The board (and Ocean City Patch's Facebook page) allowed the community to share updates about conditions as the storm intensified on Saturday night and into Sunday morning. Almost 10,000 different people viewed the board on Saturday and Sunday. 

He said the weekend storm was the worst they've seen since buying the home."The last storm to pass was a nor'easter and it washes the beach away. It flooded the streets but not much more than that," he wrote.

Throughout the weekend, the Gradys kept in touch with the few relatives and friends who remained behind in Ocean City.

"Being this was the first major storm we ever have experienced, Gayle and I were glued to the Weather Channel and Ocean City Patch. Gayle is going on a ladies weekend in October and this was not something she wanted to deal with. I was just looking at it as I can't control it," Jerry wrote. "I have insurance and it is going to be a headache to deal with but what more could we do?

"Many people who are less fortunate have been hit harder and lost all they have. The small islands in the ocean always have to deal with it …  We remember New Orleans and we know how bad it could have been."

Despite the storm being downgraded, at least 21 people have died as a result of Hurricane Irene's effects; flooding remains a concern along some coastal areas.

As Ocean City gradually returns to routine days, a cleaning crew hired by the Gradys "will provide a more detailed assessment of our property," Jerry Grady wrote, "but as of now it looks like no damage …"

Jerry Grady wrote that he and Gayle love the community, and she calls their vacation home "her little piece of heaven."

They are hoping for good news, and if everything is intact and undamaged, Jerry wrote, "Gayle and her girlfriends can start planning for their ladies weekend at the Indian Summer fair."