When I was little kid, I used to hang out here in the summer. All the houses have two or three floors. God forbid people might have to go upstairs for an hour.
NEW YORK (AP) — Nearly 300,000 people who live in flood-prone areas of New York City were ordered to evacuate Friday as Hurricane Irene sets its sights on the nation’s largest city. New Yorkers, many of them without cars, don’t have much time to get out of the way before the city shutters its subways, buses and trains on Saturday.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered a mandatory evacuation by 5 p.m. Saturday for low-lying areas that house about 270,000 people. The areas include the Battery Park City complex on the southern end of Manhattan; Coney Island, famed for its boardwalk and amusement park; the beachfront community of the Rockaways and other neighborhoods around the city.
On one hand it’s a weakening CAT 2, on the other hand, we have to evacuate millions of people.
SSTs around New York are 10F cooler than the current location of Irene.
Cooler water, sucking up dry air, land interaction, and the Greenland gyre……
….all killers for Irene
Sucked in enough dry air to cause an eyewall collapse………….
This will be a catastropic non-event. So catastophic that we only experienced some minor flooding and downed powerlines from a strom that could have been a killer had it not fizzled out.
That’s the biggest problem….
……crying wolf
People remember the Crying Wolf part and the end result will be problems when a real event happens!
The record is 50 catastrophic predictions for each real event.
I do not believe that the mayor can order a mandatory evacuation, ever. In this case, he would have to guarantee that there would be no looting. Residents have to have the option to protect their property.
The crazy response comes from the fact that they have not had a hurricane strike in many decades. So, they are panicking.
Even Lat’s favourite bed-wetter is talking this storm down, expecting it to be a high-end tropical storm by the time it approaches New York. The chances of a storm surge strong enough to overflow Manhatten’s flood defences are currently rated at 20%.
Ordering a mandatory evacuation is starting to look like an over-reaction, to put it mildly.
It should be obvious to everyone…..none of them can predict squat.
…..not ice, hurricanes, droughtflood, wetdry, snowrain…………
It’s a hard call though, knowing they can’t predict….
….if it turns out to be a nothing, the evacuation will do more damage
Preparations have to be made for people that have to have power, being without elec is going to be the biggest problem.
I grew up on LonG Island (accent on the G). NY City is not New Orleans. It’s all above sea level. I can see the barrier islands but this seems extreme. So is closing the transit system down hours before the storm is supposed to get there.
How did they survive the 1938 storm?
They didn’t. Their ancestors did.
Their ancestors that had testosterone moved away years ago.
The problem with this storm is that is moving too slow. The past major hurricanes in the Northeast moved much faster. The 1938 hurricane was named “The Long Island Express” because it was moving 60-70 mph. Same with Hazel in 1954. Maybe this one will speed up and surprise everyone, but it doesn’t look likely.
Andy, she’s in her death throes…
….if you’re squeamish about these things….don’t watch
Wait until you see what the next models runs do…
…they have been modeling a cat 3-4, no dry air
By the time the stream grabs it it will be moving a lot faster… if it follows that track
bigger is slower……
Take a look at the 5PM EDT SHIPS Intensity Model. It has Irene with max winds of 49 mph when “slamming” into Long Island. This storm will be weaker than many winter time North Easters. Bloomberg needs a Valium.
When the great Ed Koch was mayor of NYC (1978-1989) there was a hurricaine that threatened New York. Shock upon shock it veered off. He explained that it was afraid of NYC.
Ed was a leader. I disagreed with most of his policies but he was fiscally responcible AND a leader.
Bloomberg is a girly man.
Sean,
You are probably thinking of Gloria in 1985, another “storm of the century” Even where it did hit, Long Island, southern New England, it was not the end of the world, maybe gusts to 80 mph, a few trees down.