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- Regardless of track and intensity, confidence is growing that Hurricane Irene will cause extensive tree and power line damage. Electricity infrastructure will be greatly compromised for millions if not tens of millions of Americans.
- Recent heavy rains over parts of the Northeast, especially New Jersey, have made tree root systems highly vulnerable. Flooding rains combined with high winds will add to tree destruction.
- Extent of water level rise (surge) for local bays, inlets and sounds is dependent on the local geography however suffice to say new high water marks could be set.
- Severity of Irene's impacts are dependent on the final track.
- Please begin to think about and act on your hurricane preparations. Now is the time.
The track is now taking the city storm right near the city. I do feel sorry for anyone that has to park their cars on the street, especially near trees.
If I had a car in NYC - and didn't have an indoor above ground or higher parking space - I'd probably find the closest enclosed elevated parking garage and park the car there tonight (if I had more than a $50 deductible). When we lived in MIA - we always evacuated in one car - and parked the other in an enclosed high rise pay parking lot (we lived on the water - and usually found a parking lot downtown away from the water). Robyn
New York skyscrapers will not have difficulty...they have seen hurricane winds before...
They won't fall down - but there might be a lot of broken glass (I don't know what the wind codes are for glass in buildings in NYC). The windows in our house are engineered to 125 mph. Robyn
Totally agree with this. I really get tired of all the fear mongering that TWC, CNN, Fox, and all the other major news channels do with everything since the dawn of the 24 hour all day hyper news era...
I think you have learned nothing from your experiences with hurricanes. The point is that it's possible to track them - but impossible to predict with any degree of accuracy exactly what they will do more than 72 hours or so in advance. I track - but my countdown clock starts at minus 72 hours.
My husband and I also prepare. Being in Florida - we probably have more than the average person up north does. But really - the stuff for hurricanes isn't all that different from the stuff you need for a blizzard (except we don't stockpile firewood ). And we also have an inflexible rule. We stay for tropical storms - leave for hurricanes. Kind of makes for easier decision making (OTOH - we have lived on or near the water in Florida the whole time we've lived in Florida).
FWIW - I was talking with some family in NYC this week (about Wednesday). My aunt in Queens had a flashlight - but no batteries. No water. Her son in Manhattan had never thought of getting cash (because ATMs might be out) or topping off the gas tank in his car (he never thought of gas shortages).
To give you an idea of storm track differences - we were hit by Andrew a little south of downtown MIA as a strong category 3. Ten miles south of us - it was a category 5. Ten miles north of us it was a category 1. And ten miles north of that it was a tropical storm. Note that - as a general rule - the more intense a storm is - the smaller it is. Imagine a figure skater - spinning around - the more the skater pulls arms closer to the body - the faster the spin. Andrew was a very small very intense windstorm. Irene is a big sloppy rain and storm surge storm.
And BTW - the biggest jerks both down here in Florida and apparently up north as well are seniors who refuse to evacuate. If anyone has an elderly parent in hurricane country - be prepared to pull them out of areas endangered by storms with a crow bar. Robyn
With respect, the population of Brooklyn is a little less than the entire state of Mississippi and all of it is near the sea. And that’s just one borough. Power outages are bad in the rest of the country but they’re horrific in the city. Mid- and high-rise won’t have water. If that happens, tens of thousands tourists would be barred from hotels and forced to sleep in the streets (as during the last blackout). They elderly are forced to walk up 10 or 20+ flights of stairs, etc., etc., etc. And many people are stranded because they don’t have cars and all subways and trains run on electricity.
The problems are compounded because of the density of the population. We don’t need "utter destruction" to have huge problems.
I lived in an 18 story high rise in MIA when Andrew hit. We didn't get power/water back for a month. We had friends who were without power for almost 6 months. We stayed in a hotel for a month - our insurance covered it. I don't know zip about insurance coverage in NY. It's too late to change things now for Irene - but it wouldn't hurt to review insurance policies for any future storm problems (summer or winter storms). Robyn
Anybody going to bother putting duct tape on their windows?
You don't want to have glass shattering inside your home.
Duct tape is pretty worthless. Assuming you have normal (not hurricane windows) - best thing to do to protect yourself inside is getting some very heavy duty plastic sheets - even blankets or bed sheets - anything that's kind of strong - and taping it over the windows on the inside. So that if your windows break - the glass won't shatter into your room. This won't do beans in a strong hurricane - but should work ok in a cat 1 or so storm. Robyn
We suppose to go from Philadelphia to Harlem NY this early Sunday morning to help my brother move out his apartment, but I don't know how the weather is, do you think it will be really bad?
I lived in an 18 story high rise in MIA when Andrew hit. We didn't get power/water back for a month. We had friends who were without power for almost 6 months. We stayed in a hotel for a month - our insurance covered it. I don't know zip about insurance coverage in NY. It's too late to change things now for Irene - but it wouldn't hurt to review insurance policies for any future storm problems (summer or winter storms). Robyn
lol at no power for 1 month or 6 months. You do realize that something else was going on there.
Maybe you weren't on the first few priority pages? Maybe they wanted to send a message to the fools who constantly rebuild in natural disaster areas?
lol at no power for 1 month or 6 months. You do realize that something else was going on there.
Maybe you weren't on the first few priority pages? Maybe they wanted to send a message to the fools who constantly rebuild in natural disaster areas?
Actually we got power back in a month instead of 3 because we were on a grid with a major hospital. When all the infrastructure is destroyed and has to be rebuilt - it takes time. I think there are perhaps 100 square miles in the whole country that aren't subject to one kind of natural disaster or another. So where do you live - in one of those 100 square miles? Robyn
Oh please!
Your such a worry wart.
Calm the fork down already.
Geeeeeeeezzzzzzzzzzz
Why are you dismissing looting? There's ALWAYS looting after hurricanes. Everywhere, not just NYC. Wow.
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). And we also have an inflexible rule. We stay for tropical storms - leave for hurricanes. Kind of makes for easier decision making (OTOH - we have lived on or near the water in Florida the whole time we've lived in Florida).
