Prepared for Hurricane Sandy

Washington, D.C., and its suburbs are freaking out about Hurricane Sandy causing flooding, downed trees and, worst of all, power outages that could last for a week or more.
States of emergency have been declared from the Mid-Atlantic through New England. News media are prognosticating about how bad the storm could get. They’re saying it could be a massively destructive “frankenstorm” when the warm hurricane hits a system of cold air from the north.
Fairfax County, Va., today decided to close its schools for Monday and Tuesday. Metrorail and other public transportation in the D.C. area will be shut down on Monday.
Hardware and grocery stores were madhouses today around Vienna, Va., where we live. Flashlights, D batteries, power generators and window well covers were among the items sold out at the Home Depot in Reston, Va. Grocery stores were running out provisions like bottled water. A number of gas stations were sold out of gasoline. People were in full-on panic mode.
Having lived through the terrible derecho storm over the summer, which knocked out power to my home for four days, I’m not looking forward to a repeat.
I’m hopeful that this storm will skirt D.C., head further up the coast and leave us unscathed. As it stands now, forecasters are projecting Sandy to take a sudden turn inland (see graphic above) and hit us. I’m no weatherman but that seems like a strange divergence from the storm’s current path. I’m praying the forecasters are wrong.

Graphic: Forecast path for Hurricane Sandy as of 8 p.m. EDT Sunday from the National Hurricane Center. (Click on graphic for larger view.)