Are you safe as storm enters North America, USA now to-day?

SaveUSA · Aug 27, 2011

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/yorkers-urged-heed-evacuation-orders-151125172.html

..NEW YORK (Reuters) - The city that never sleeps started shutting down at midday on Saturday, with nearly all businesses except a smattering of food and liquor stores closing and public transportation coming to a halt ahead of Hurricane Irene.

With the 530 mile-wide storm moving up the East Coast unleashing winds of 85 miles per hour and due to hit New York City late on Saturday or early Sunday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered an unprecedented evacuation of 370,000 people from low-lying areas.

But many appeared to defy the evacuation order. Only 1,400 people had checked into emergency shelters, and an unknown number chose instead to stay with family and friends outside the evacuation zone, Bloomberg said.

Despite the persistent warnings and ominous skies, the neighborhood around Brooklyn's Coney Island -- within the danger zone -- was calm. Parked cars lined the streets, and there was no sign of a mass exodus.

"They are right, we should be evacuating, but we are not," said John Visconti, 47, who owns an auto repair business and lives on the ground floor of his building in the nearby Brighton Beach area of Brooklyn. "We just want to stay home and hope for the best. We should be OK."

The evacuation zones included shiny apartment buildings in Manhattan's wealthy Battery Park City, working class Red Hook in Brooklyn and run-down public housing in Coney Island -- all neighborhoods at the water's edge.

"If the neighborhood is eventually legitimately flooded, I have food and books and whiskey," said attorney Neal D'Amato, 31, who ignored Bloomberg's pleas on the TV set on a shelf above him while sipping a beer at the Red Hook Bait and Tackle shop bar.

He said he would ride out the storm in his fourth-floor apartment.

A public transit system that moves 8.5 million people per weekday shut down as a precaution, another first that left commuters to flag down yellow taxis and livery cabs that were patrolling largely deserted streets.

The network of 468 subway stations, 324 bus routes and two commuter rail lines was unlikely to be functioning when Monday morning's commute begins, Bloomberg said, and electricity in lower Manhattan including Wall Street could be out for days should the utility Consolidated Edison decide to preemptively shut off power.

The New York Stock Exchange expects a normal trading session on Monday.

One of the danger zones, the Financial District surrounding Wall Street was largely deserted, with clusters of pedestrians with suitcases hailing cabs to get to higher ground.

"This is going to be a very serious storm, no matter what the track is, no matter how much it weakens. This is a life-threatening storm to people here," Bloomberg said.

"Staying behind is dangerous, staying behind is foolish and it's against the law."

PLASTIC SHEETS AND SANDBAGS

Outside the W Hotel near the World Trade Center site of the September 11 attacks, Tamara Steil, 57, who is visiting from Michigan, waited for a hotel shuttle to take her to a midtown Manhattan hotel.

"We were here to spend money on restaurants and bars, but all these places are closed," she said, as she shared a pack of beer with other stragglers.

The South Street Seaport, which on a typical summer Saturday would be full of tourists, was nearly abandoned, the storefronts and restaurants boarded up or covered in plastic sheets, sandbags protecting the doors.

At the New Zealand Bar and Grille, co-owners Michelle Noble-Cassano and Diane Honeywell recruited a group of visiting firefighters from Canada, offering food and beer in exchange for their help taping shut windows before closing.

At a Manhattan Whole Foods -- which stayed open all night on Friday -- the check-out lines extended across the store as scores of people stocked up on water, canned foods and other items, before finally closing at 10 a.m. on Saturday.

"I was a little surprised that they're closing the MTA (public transportation), especially since so many people depend on it," said Jacob Varghese, 34, who bought canned food to take home.

At a Home Depot store in Manhattan, store clerks said they planned to stay open throughout the storm, but early on Saturday it had already run out of flashlights, duct tape, rope and tarps.

The greatest danger to New Yorkers was a potential tidal surge, the mayor said. Residents should prepare for power outages and flooding, he added.

"This is not a joke. Your life could be in danger," he said. "It isn't cute to sit there and say, 'I'm tougher than any storm.' They don't know what they're talking about."

(Writing by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Xavier Briand and Philip Barbara)
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Are you safe as storm enters North America, USA now to-day?

Pollycy · Aug 27, 2011

Take it easy! At this moment, they're predicting that Irene won't even be a hurricane by the time it arrives on Long Island (and it's probably going to go well to the east of Manhattan).

Looks like Irene is only going to be a "tropical storm" by tomorrow morning, so don't worry too much:
http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/tracking/at201109_5day.html

I wish we could get all that rain here in the Rocky Mountain West. We're nearly as dry as a bone, and have been for about a year.

Margot · Aug 27, 2011

Pollycy said: ↑

Take it easy! At this moment, they're predicting that Irene won't even be a hurricane by the time it arrives on Long Island (and it's probably going to go well to the east of Manhattan).

Looks like Irene is only going to be a "tropical storm" by tomorrow morning, so don't worry too much:
http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/tracking/at201109_5day.html

I wish we could get all that rain here in the Rocky Mountain West. We're nearly as dry as a bone, and have been for about a year.
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They expect to be pumping water out of the tunnels all day Monday.

Pollycy · Aug 28, 2011

Margot said: ↑

They expect to be pumping water out of the tunnels all day Monday.

Click to expand...

Sure enough, Irene was downgraded to a tropical storm by the time it got to NYC... I should have been a meteorologist... : http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/2011/08/hurricane-irene-downgraded-to-tropical-storm.html

True, it is a good idea to stay out of tunnels during any kind of big rain event....

Margot · Aug 28, 2011

Pollycy said: ↑

Sure enough, Irene was downgraded to a tropical storm by the time it got to NYC... I should have been a meteorologist... : http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/2011/08/hurricane-irene-downgraded-to-tropical-storm.html

True, it is a good idea to stay out of tunnels during any kind of big rain event....
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Flooding is pretty bad, isn't it?

dixiehunter · Aug 28, 2011

OH MY!!!....A heavy rain storm with wind in New York City.

Hope no 'Yakers' were troubled.

(What a load of crap)

Lionist · Aug 28, 2011

Better safe than sorry eh?

PatrickT · Aug 28, 2011

Any time you vote against what the government is promising you're on pretty safe ground.

Gilos · Aug 28, 2011

I wish all the best to all Americans here, may this storm pass fast and without further damage

Iron River · Aug 28, 2011

Dixihunter, you ever think about hunting in Texas? I have an eight point buck lying in my front yard. I'm worried that he may be hurt, he keeps moving but I haven't seen him standing up so I don't know if he can walk alright or not. He watched me make a video of him but my place in the edge of town so he may be pretty tame.

In any event if you want to take a shot at him I'll hold your extra bullets, help you skin him, whatever. Great hunting outfit, by the way. Maybe the best I've ever seen. Sure would stop me in my tracks if you were hunting me.

waltky · Jun 30, 2012

Nearly 4 Million Americans Without Power...

Heat, storms bring misery to millions
Sat June 30, 2012 - Eight people are killed by downed trees and power lines; The storms cause power outages to 3.6 million homes, from Indiana to West Virginia; "If you don't have a good pair of boots, it'll burn clear through to your feet," a roofer says; Many were dealing with the sizzling heat without fans, air-conditioning and refrigeration

First came the heat, then killer storms, followed by more summer sizzle. Millions of people across nine states were reeling without power Saturday to deal with thermostat-popping temperatures after fierce thunderstorms pounded parts of the Midwest and Atlantic Seaboard. At least eight people were killed. Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell declared an state of emergency in his state as crews worked around the clock to assess the damage and restore power.

Joseph Rigby, president of electric company Pepco, said it could be a week before power is fully back up in some areas of Washington D.C. "Given the damage, you can understand this is going to take some time," he said. "The wild card is the weather." The storms raced east Friday from Indiana through Ohio and into West Virginia and the nation's capital. In all, 3.6 million homes were without power Saturday morning; nearly 1 million in Virginia alone. The power outages and debris littering roads led to traffic disruptions and other headaches.

Amtrak service between Washington and Philadelphia was expected to be restored by noon Saturday after the storm downed trees and wires across tracks. In the nation's capital, 19 intersections were without traffic lights Saturday. The aftermath of the storm was compounded Saturday by a forecast of another sweltering summer day. One in three Americans were baking Saturday in an area of nearly 600,000 square miles experiencing unusually warm weather. Temperatures tipped the 100-degree mark in several cities Friday, including St. Louis, Richmond, Nashville, Washington and Atlanta, the National Weather Service said.

In many places, it felt much hotter than the thermostat reading. "If you don't have a good pair of boots, it'll burn clear through to your feet," said roofer Zach Bruner in Evansville, Indiana, where he said the 103-degree temperatures were spiking to 130 on the job site. The bad news? Relief is nowhere in sight as the extreme heat is expected to continue through the weekend. In storm-affected areas, many people had no electricity to run fans, air-conditioning and refrigerators. Even in places where power was not disrupted, people with no air-conditioning were advised to spend the day in a library or a cooling center to avoid heat exhaustion. Atlanta opened five cooling centers in anticipation of another day of triple-digit heat.

More http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/30/us/extreme-heat/index.html
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