OT: If on the East Coast, GTFO (Class III Kill Storm Open Thread)

Submitted by BiSB on

As Snowicane Sandy approaches the East Coast, this is your friendly MGoPSA:

PLEASE check out the latest warnings and forecasts. New York City public transit is shutting down at 7:00 P.M., and I understand portions of Manhattan and Staten Island are being evacuated.

As a reference, this is a shot of lower Manhattan showing the storm surge from Hurricane Donna in 1960. The storm surge for the upcoming storm is reportedly going to be higher (H/T  @mattmfm):

amphibious1

October 28th, 2012 at 3:26 PM ^

I'm an Emergency Services Director. People have been deployed to the East Coast in preparation of opening shelters. We also have many people on standby in case feeding and other services are needed. Hopefully no one needs us, but if you do, we are ready.

amphibious1

October 28th, 2012 at 3:33 PM ^

Between the Storm and the football, this weekend has been crap. At the Red Cross we stress being prepared. Try to compile a kit, have a plan, and stay informed. If it is too late for that, or not possible, LISTEN TO YOUR EMERGENCY RADIO STATIONS AND FOLLOW THEIR SUGGESTIONS!

Those stations will keep everyone updated on what is going on, what dangers are out there, and where shelters and food are located should anyone need it. I have posted a link with relevent preparedness info concerning different types of disasters. Stay safe out there people!

http://www.redcross.org/prepare/disaster

Michigasling

October 28th, 2012 at 10:58 PM ^

Well,  here's the link.  The map is too tiny to read even full size:

http://www.nyc.gov/html/oem/downloads/pdf/hurricane_map_english.pdf

It pertains to surge dangers only. Not related to where high winds might turn trees and scaffolding into projectiles.  I'm not in an evacuation zone, but when there are high winds, they find my street.  And all that renovation hardware covering the building directly across the street from my windows suggests I shouldn't spend much time on my couch or computer for the next couple days.

 

sundaybluedysunday

October 28th, 2012 at 5:44 PM ^

It's very true, there were 20 people waiting for gas Friday night by my work and the grocery store was out of water. I bought some canned goods and some flashlight batteries, that's it, but then again I am in an apartment so I don't have any property to worry about.

Clarence Beeks

October 28th, 2012 at 7:31 PM ^

Not all storms of the same category have the same impact. All the category refers to is sustained wind speed. The major issue with Sandy will be storm surge. 6 to 11 feet in New York harbor ON TOP OF a full moon high tide. Don't think this storm will be strong, just because it won't have major hurricane wind speed? For reference, this will be the storm with the lowest eye atmospheric to EVER make landfall north of Cape Hatteras. It's not the wind that will make this storm have major impacts, it's the rain, surge, size and duration.

bronxblue

October 28th, 2012 at 8:21 PM ^

You obviously haven't been to NY and seen just how close the city is to the waterline.  I mean, a bad rain storm causes problems.  A slow-moving tropical storm that can drop 7+ inches of rain in a day will absolutely flood portions of lower Manhattan, and then the storm surge just adds to it.  Honestly, in some respects a faster-moving hurricane would be better because it would at least move out quickly.  With this storm, it seems set to dumb a bunch of rain on the eastern seaboard while also being quite windy.

mGrowOld

October 28th, 2012 at 3:47 PM ^

It's projected to hit NEW YORK CITY man....NEW YORK.  You know...where 90% of our news media lives so therefore THIS MIGHT BE THE BIGGEST STORM EVER IN THE HISTORY OF STORMS AND IS THE BIGGEST OF BIG DEALS AND YOU NEED TO BE AFRAID....VERY AFRAID.

saveferris

October 29th, 2012 at 8:57 AM ^

The actual event will be NOTHING compared to the inevitable movie depiction.  It will star George Clooney....and maybe Mark Wahlberg.  Well probably not Mark Wahlberg, but somebody just as cool as Mark Wahlberg, but definately Clooney and it will be EPIC!!!!

Seth

October 28th, 2012 at 4:27 PM ^

It's two cold fronts hitting each other and in 25 years of modeling they've never seen the like. There are 14 million people in its path and the region is not used to dealing with this sort of thing, not to mention the temperature of the storm presenting all sorts of unknowns. Let's give the East Coast Bias Bugaboo a break for a few days and hope all of our friends and relatives and fellow fans and countrymen make it through safe.

corundum

October 28th, 2012 at 4:44 PM ^

It's actually one coldfront merging with an extratropical cyclone termed a Nor'easter. It's significant since usually a hurricane undergoes recurvature and bends off to the east into the Atlantic Ocean, feeding off latent heat from the Gulf Stream. In this scenario, the low pressure system is going to retrograde westward over Pennsylvania before exiting east along the New England states, therefore impacting millions of additional people with significant precipitation and winds that threaten to cut power from residents for weeks.

m1jjb00

October 28th, 2012 at 3:56 PM ^

It's freakin' huge, so the amount of people and area affected severely is going to be high.

Because it's so large, the storm surge is bigger.

It's path takes it west then north then back east.  There are some areas that will suffer from gale force winds for days.  Hurricanes usually blow through quickly.