Good Night, Irene

Here's how to describe the day after hurricane Irene: that feeling of dampness, like trying to wiggle into a wet sweatshirt left in the dryer on a tumble cycle instead of perma-press; and the smell...pungent and doggie, mildewy musty and limberger cheese, with so much humidity that water condenses in a droplet at the end of your nose.

This is the kind of stuff you won't find on the Channel 6 news reports. No fancy videos, just moist misery that comes from being surrounded by so much water: Water in the bathtub, water in the sink, water hanging in the air, water bashing against windows when hurricane winds gust past, water-water everywhere, coming down the Delaware in dangerous cascades making folks leave Trenton's Island community once more for safety.

On the one hand we are safe. On the other, Trenton is still waiting for the other shoe to drop. Flood crests are expected at record or near record levels well into tomorrow.

Governor Christie is scheduled for an update tomorrow, Monday, so resuming activites throughout much of New Jersey will probably wait until after his official update and the flood crest emergency is over.

During emergencies such as this one, the urge to find information drives members of the community to share their latest updates with whomever they come into contact. This primitive sharing is part of our social beast persona of course. However, sometimes unreliable sources and inaccurate information can lead to gossip.

Over the past 24 hours, several rumors have flourished in Trenton. Channel 6 unwittingly promoted one about the Trenton Water Company shutting down service "at 9 o'clock" and panicked residents started filling bathtubs.

Calls to authorities resulted in assurances that water was fine and in good supply, but the rumor persisted.

Channel 6, Philly, had a face/book I-pad "app" accessibility that let just about anybody post updates and someone posted a water company shutoff for Trenton. The commentators picked up on it as news.

Saturday night, it took Mayor Tony Mack and his personal interview over Channel 6 to correct the situation.

Today there was an early morning rumor that everyone in Trenton had to boil water...which was also unverified and so hopefully people will ignore that also for now.

The Trenton Police Department assures us that if there are any important changes in Trenton's Water Company service the Mayor's Office will use reverse 9-1-1 to notify residents of the emergency.

We must not spread rumors. Like the game of gossip, what starts out as a simple thought is bound to change each time it is repeated until it morphs into a fact with a life of its own although dead wrong.

The City of Trenton website for city affairs maintains updates on storm developments. That is much more reliable than gossip.

One more thing, those 500 seniors in Atlantic City who stayed behind and refused to be evacuated are doing just fine. I bet some of them are positioned to be the first AC residents into favorite casinos when the Boardwalk night-life re-opens tonight.

Seniors rock!