Hurricane Irene & the hurricane season

[southsider2k5]

The three deadliest hurricanes that were actually named, were Mitch, Fifi and Flora. Fifi. Really?

 

That is awesome. I am a hurricane junkie after riding one out as a kid, and I had never heard of Fifi.

 

BTW along that theme, trending on twitter now? #GhettoHurricaneNames

[Balta1701]

Isn't NYC's Subway system already pretty prone to flooding?

NYC has officially announced that they will shut down their public transportation systems at noon tomorrow, and ordered mandatory evacuations from low lying areas.

[ChiSox_Sonix]

NYC has officially announced that they will shut down their public transportation systems at noon tomorrow, and ordered mandatory evacuations from low lying areas.

 

Well i'm glad I wasn't planning on heading into the city this weekend

 

[Reddy]

I'm sitting here debating whether to leave or not. It'd have to be tonight, since tomorrow will be impossible with the subway closing down. I never imagined I'd be having to make these decisions while living in New York City. But I'm gonna head to the store in a bit to get non-perishable food, batteries, flashlights, water, etc... cuz I'm pretty certain we'll be without power for a while.

 

This city is just NOT built to handle 80mph winds. It'll be very interesting to see how this all plays out... i can see the on-ramp to the George Washington Bridge from my apartment and its at a standstill. Crazy stuff.

[Balta1701]

I'm sitting here debating whether to leave or not. It'd have to be tonight, since tomorrow will be impossible with the subway closing down. I never imagined I'd be having to make these decisions while living in New York City. But I'm gonna head to the store in a bit to get non-perishable food, batteries, flashlights, water, etc... cuz I'm pretty certain we'll be without power for a while.

 

This city is just NOT built to handle 80mph winds. It'll be very interesting to see how this all plays out... i can see the on-ramp to the George Washington Bridge from my apartment and its at a standstill. Crazy stuff.

If you have somewhere to go and can actually get out, it's going to be better safe than sorry.

 

Remember how things went for the folks who didn't/couldn't evacuate before Katrina. You can only tough it out as long as you have food and water. I don't know exactly where you live, but keeping a week's worth of fresh water in my apartment would be nearly impossible, and I'm going to at least guess that "Space" is a lot more expensive in NYC than where I live.

 

And it might well be longer than a "While" without power if there's severe damage to say, the transmission system.

[southsider2k5]

If you have somewhere to go and can actually get out, it's going to be better safe than sorry.

 

Remember how things went for the folks who didn't/couldn't evacuate before Katrina. You can only tough it out as long as you have food and water. I don't know exactly where you live, but keeping a week's worth of fresh water in my apartment would be nearly impossible, and I'm going to at least guess that "Space" is a lot more expensive in NYC than where I live.

 

And it might well be longer than a "While" without power if there's severe damage to say, the transmission system.

 

For perspectives sake, imagine taking the worst minute or two of the worst thunderstorm you have ever been in, and stretching that out to 8 to 12 hours worth of the same intensity. Mother nature is not to be messed with.

[StrangeSox]

Remember how things went for the folks who didn't/couldn't evacuate before Katrina. You can only tough it out as long as you have food and water. I don't know exactly where you live, but keeping a week's worth of fresh water in my apartment would be nearly impossible, and I'm going to at least guess that "Space" is a lot more expensive in NYC than where I live.

 

One thing I learned from The Road: if it looks like the world is ending, fill up your bathtub.

[danman31]

One thing I learned from The Road: if it looks like the world is ending, fill up your bathtub.

Wow that's awesome. For all my discussions of zombie survival, that is one that has never come up and makes a lot of sense.

[Balta1701]

For perspectives sake, imagine taking the worst minute or two of the worst thunderstorm you have ever been in, and stretching that out to 8 to 12 hours worth of the same intensity. Mother nature is not to be messed with.

And then imagine that the ocean rises up 10 feet and swamps every street so that you can't get out.

[vandy125]

And then imagine that the ocean rises up 10 feet and swamps every street so that you can't get out.

 

Just take a look at Weather.com and it gives an idea of how big this thing is:

http://www.weather.com/weather/hurricanece...eats_2011-08-23

 

Hurricane Irene's tropical storm-force wind field is larger than both Hurricane Ike (2008) and Hurricane Katrina (2005) at maximum size

[southsider2k5]

And then imagine that the ocean rises up 10 feet and swamps every street so that you can't get out.

 

Or more if you catch the right system and high tide.

[Rex Kickass]

Each revised forecast is looking less and less deadly, although still very strong. It looks like that by the time it hits North New Jersey shore/NYC area it will be a weak cat 1 or just below the hurricane threshhold. I live 40 miles from the shore, and they are still predictions of 75mph gusts here and sustained winds near 50mph.

[Balta1701]

Each revised forecast is looking less and less deadly, although still very strong. It looks like that by the time it hits North New Jersey shore/NYC area it will be a weak cat 1 or just below the hurricane threshhold. I live 40 miles from the shore, and they are still predictions of 75mph gusts here and sustained winds near 50mph.

Are you in a low-lying or floodprone area?

 

If you happen to be alongside a river or something like that, it can still be a major conduit for the surge.

[Reddy]

And then imagine that the ocean rises up 10 feet and swamps every street so that you can't get out.

fortunately I live far above the hudson river - though i can see it from my apt. I'm probably a good 50-100 feet above, with a highway below, closer to the river, and then a cliff. Plus I'm on the west side of the island, so if there's a safe place in manhattan, it's my apartment. Just gonna batten down the hatches, cover the windows, and I've got a few days worth of water+food. I'll letcha all know how it goes.

[hogan873]

Just take a look at Weather.com and it gives an idea of how big this thing is:

http://www.weather.com/weather/hurricanece...eats_2011-08-23

Tom Skilling said that if you centered Irene on Chicago, tropical storm force winds would stretch from Peoria to Detroit. That's huge!

[knightni]

fortunately I live far above the hudson river - though i can see it from my apt. I'm probably a good 50-100 feet above, with a highway below, closer to the river, and then a cliff. Plus I'm on the west side of the island, so if there's a safe place in manhattan, it's my apartment. Just gonna batten down the hatches, cover the windows, and I've got a few days worth of water+food. I'll letcha all know how it goes.

I hope that it doesn't spawn any tornadoes.

[Rex Kickass]

Are you in a low-lying or floodprone area?

 

If you happen to be alongside a river or something like that, it can still be a major conduit for the surge.

 

I live about a quarter mile from the Delaware, but on a hill about 100 feet above the river, so I should be fine. They are expecting a surge to affect all the way up to about Trenton (which makes sense because there are tidal effects to the Delaware all the way up here, but my house should still be fine from that.

[G&T]

We are officially under a tropical storm watch and flood watch. Right now predicting 40 mph winds with possible 70 mph gusts. The real problem here is going to be rain. I'm about 500 feet above the Hudson with valleys around us. Flooding shouldn't be a problem personally, but I would guess many roads will close. Oh, and the thruway will close if winds are over 60 mph.

[Balta1701]

I live about a quarter mile from the Delaware, but on a hill about 100 feet above the river, so I should be fine. They are expecting a surge to affect all the way up to about Trenton (which makes sense because there are tidal effects to the Delaware all the way up here, but my house should still be fine from that.

100 feet is fine in terms of the surge. Anything you have that floods during a normal rainstorm will be risky though.

[Balta1701]

fortunately I live far above the hudson river - though i can see it from my apt. I'm probably a good 50-100 feet above, with a highway below, closer to the river, and then a cliff. Plus I'm on the west side of the island, so if there's a safe place in manhattan, it's my apartment. Just gonna batten down the hatches, cover the windows, and I've got a few days worth of water+food. I'll letcha all know how it goes.

If you can do it...when the storm is a few hours from hitting, do what that previous person said and fill up everything you can with potable water. Any spare plastic bottles you have, bathtub, sink, whatever you can find. Anything and everything. If I were going into this, a "few days" of water is less than I'd have. In the L.A. area, a good Earthquake rule of thumb is at least 3 gallons per person per day, so a family of 4 is nearly 100 gallons for a week (You need a gallon to drink but then you'll find you need water for all sorts of other things. Cleaning off after walking through sewage laden water, cleaning wounds, whatever).

 

Worst thing that happens if you overdo it is you have to dump it all out. In the event of things being Katrinesque, you can go 2 weeks without food, but you cannot afford to run out of drinking water. And you never know how unprepared anyone around you might be.

[Rex Kickass]

Flooding will be a huge issue. We've already gotten between 9 and 13 inches of rain this month, and the ground is saturated. Adding another 6 or 7 inches to that is not going to make things good.

[Balta1701]

Flooding will be a huge issue. We've already gotten between 9 and 13 inches of rain this month, and the ground is saturated. Adding another 6 or 7 inches to that is not going to make things good.

Expect your sewers to back up and any pump you have to lose power.

[Rex Kickass]

Expect your sewers to back up and any pump you have to lose power.

 

I live on the third floor. Should be ok for sewage backup.

[southsider2k5]

fortunately I live far above the hudson river - though i can see it from my apt. I'm probably a good 50-100 feet above, with a highway below, closer to the river, and then a cliff. Plus I'm on the west side of the island, so if there's a safe place in manhattan, it's my apartment. Just gonna batten down the hatches, cover the windows, and I've got a few days worth of water+food. I'll letcha all know how it goes.

 

They also said you can add a category to the intensity of the storm for living 25 floors up or higher.

[ChiSox_Sonix]

I'm upstate now and we're supposed to get around 7-8 inches of rain starting in a few hours and lasting until Monday. About 300,00 have been told to evacuate from Brooklyn and the surrounding areas