Weather Update: A Lucky Escape

  I suppose I could say that, for once, it's worth being 300 miles from Manhattan. Our bit of Western New York seems to have got off very lightly. Though schools were closed as a precaution, which many locals felt a little over the top and, for a time, our garden path once again looked like this,

                
    the worst thing we've experienced in the last 24 hours has been rain, rain and more rain. At the moment the wind has stilled and what remains of the foliage on the trees is hardly moving at all. We hadn't quite managed to clear the fallen leaf carpet from the ground and there's a soggy, rotting pile there, waiting to be shifted once the weather clears.
  We called relatives in Queens, New York City, alarmed by stories of flooded subways and burning buildings but they were fine. Didn't even get a power-cut. They did have friends from abroad staying though, come to sightsee in  New York. I expect they'll have a memorable time. Well, good luck to everyone in the Big Apple.