Topic: Hurricane Irene And All East Coast Related End O' The World Disaster Type Stuff

[charlesoakwood]

They jus practisin.

[trapeze]

Children can be so difficult. What's a nanny state to do?

At any rate, Brendan Loy is still maintaining that the big deal with this storm is the tidal surge and, to a barely lesser degree, rain.

[rickl]

At any rate, Brendan Loy is still maintaining that the big deal with this storm is the tidal surge and, to a barely lesser degree, rain.

Link to his latest post.  A comment from there:

4. Lin W
Thank you for the great charts! *Really* brings it home.

Ive been saying on another forum (waves to Quilly!)that the problem in NYC is that so much of the important infrastructure is underground and *very* apt to be renedered useless with flooding. I read an article earlier today that said that more than 15 million gallons of water are pumped out of the subways, every *dry* day. Of course, the rain alone will raise that amount, and then theres whatever storm surge may come creeping or crashing in. Think about everybodys sewer backing up and their electrical service going out, simultaneously.

Nothingburger, eh?  We'll see about that.

His tidal charts look a bit like some of Denninger's charts.   

[rickl]

As for my status, I still have power.  It's been raining like crazy for hours.  The wind has been intermittent, but not terribly heavy.  I got tired of reading the internet all day and went to bed at 10:00 pm, which is early for me.  Ironically, that's about when I would have gone to bed if I had lost power and got tired of reading books by flashlight.

I woke up around 3:00 am (or rather, was woken up by Kira, who had missed her midnight snack) and took a tour of the house.  The only problem was some water seepage into the laundry room, which is not unheard of during heavy downpours.  In fact, the water was already drying up, which tells me that there must have been a period of heavier rain while I was asleep.

Since I don't live near any rivers or streams, and the wind is not a major factor, losing power has always been my major personal concern with this storm.  So far so good.  Here is PECO's outage map.  It says that >3500 customers have lost power in each of five counties in this region.  That's the maximum level of detail the map can show, which is not terribly helpful.

Contrast that to ConEd's map.  You can zoom in and get very detailed information on each individual outage.

[RickZ]

rickl,

For me, the storm has been more hype than anything else, but the day is still young and the eye hasn't arrived, nor the high tides/storm surge.

Have kept power, but the cable went funky and I cannot see the guide, which means I have to keep the 'puter on to check out the schedule (the local and news channels are preempted anyway).  I'll be watching the two Manchester's today, the early City game and the much awaited (by me) United/Arsenal match at 11.  By that time, the storm should, for the most part, be over, except for the drying.  The winds here, too, have been relatively mild considering.  Hope this stays a nothing storm, which will piss off the weather reporter ghouls.

[rickl]

There wouldn't be such a reluctance to evacuate if the "authorities" would mind their own business and stop keeping people from returning to their homes once the storm was over.

Exactly.  The justification for mandatory evacuations is that emergency personnel would be placed at unnecessary risk rescuing nitwits who should have left when they had the chance.  I can see the point.

A better way to do it, in my opinion, would be for the authorities to "strongly recommend" that people evacuate from vulnerable areas, and announce that 911 service will not be available in those areas for the duration of the emergency.  Make it crystal clear that anyone who chooses to stay does so at their own risk.  That way, individuals could decide for themselves what to do.

Afterwards, people who left would be free to go back to their homes to clean up or salvage.  Again, it would be at their own risk.  Step on a live wire?  Too bad.  Your next of kin can't sue the utility company.

Obviously, that approach would be anathema to the nanny-statists.

[Pandora]

At any rate, Brendan Loy is still maintaining that the big deal with this storm is the tidal surge and, to a barely lesser degree, rain.

Link to his latest post.  A comment from there:

4. Lin W
Thank you for the great charts! *Really* brings it home.

Ive been saying on another forum (waves to Quilly!)that the problem in NYC is that so much of the important infrastructure is underground and *very* apt to be renedered useless with flooding. I read an article earlier today that said that more than 15 million gallons of water are pumped out of the subways, every *dry* day. Of course, the rain alone will raise that amount, and then theres whatever storm surge may come creeping or crashing in. Think about everybodys sewer backing up and their electrical service going out, simultaneously.

Nothingburger, eh?  We'll see about that.

His tidal charts look a bit like some of Denninger's charts.   

 

Nothingburger ....... for us, I said.

[rickl]

rickl,

For me, the storm has been more hype than anything else, but the day is still young and the eye hasn't arrived, nor the high tides/storm surge.

Have kept power, but the cable went funky and I cannot see the guide, which means I have to keep the 'puter on to check out the schedule (the local and news channels are preempted anyway).  I'll be watching the two Manchester's today, the early City game and the much awaited (by me) United/Arsenal match at 11.  By that time, the storm should, for the most part, be over, except for the drying.  The winds here, too, have been relatively mild considering.  Hope this stays a nothing storm, which will piss off the weather reporter ghouls.

Good.  I hope it doesn't get any worse for you, but the storm surge coinciding with high tide in NYC is probably the biggest concern.

It's a mystery what happened to the winds.  They haven't been nearly as severe as I expected, although I'm well to the west of the storm's track.  (The center is near Atlantic City right now.)  But I sure have gotten a sh*tload of rain.  My sump pump has been running every 15-30 seconds for hours.  My grass looks like it's grown 3" since Saturday morning.

[AlanS]

There wouldn't be such a reluctance to evacuate if the "authorities" would mind their own business and stop keeping people from returning to their homes once the storm was over.

Exactly.  The justification for mandatory evacuations is that emergency personnel would be placed at unnecessary risk rescuing nitwits who should have left when they had the chance.  I can see the point.

The good thing about living in a rural area. I've never been stopped by someone while trying to return home after an evacuation. I have had to reroute because of trees and/ or powerlines, though.

[Pandora]

There wouldn't be such a reluctance to evacuate if the "authorities" would mind their own business and stop keeping people from returning to their homes once the storm was over.

Exactly.  The justification for mandatory evacuations is that emergency personnel would be placed at unnecessary risk rescuing nitwits who should have left when they had the chance.  I can see the point.

The good thing about living in a rural area. I've never been stopped by someone while trying to return home after an evacuation. I have had to reroute because of trees and/ or powerlines, though.

And look! you're still here to talk about it, which means you must have done something right, as in smart.

[trapeze]

So...

Morning arrives and the storm turns out to be...not so much.

Cable news talking heads hardest hit.

[IronDioPriest]

So...

Morning arrives and the storm turns out to be...not so much.

Cable news talking heads hardest hit.

Does this mean Global Warming isn't so bad after all?

[rickl]

The rain stopped a couple of hours ago, but the wind has really picked up.  I opened all the windows and am enjoying the breeze.

I heard on the radio that Philadelphia's Schuylkill River has crested at its greatest height since 1869.

I found a slideshow on a local news station's website showing some of the storm's effects around the area:  Pictures Of Hurricane Irene's Local Impact

[AlanS]

So...
Morning arrives and the storm turns out to be...not so much.
Cable news talking heads hardest hit.

Does this mean Global Warming isn't so bad after all?

No, no. We still need carbon credits to control the sheeple.

[IronDioPriest]

The rain stopped a couple of hours ago, but the wind has really picked up.  I opened all the windows and am enjoying the breeze.

I heard on the radio that Philadelphia's Schuylkill River has crested at its greatest height since 1869.

I found a slideshow on a local news station's website showing some of the storm's effects around the area:  Pictures Of Hurricane Irene's Local Impact

Wow, looks like there's definitely some extensive damage - some wind, lots of water. Devastating to some, inconvenient to others, expensive for all.

[rickl]

I've had a few very intense wind gusts in the last few minutes that have blown papers around the room.  I'm staying indoors for now.  It's still possible for someone to be injured or killed by tree limbs in this.  I guess I'm not out of the woods for tree-caused power outages yet, either.

[John Florida]

Well the family breezed through this in Connecticut never lost power where they live.But it seems that some of the lower areas in surrounding towns are flooding but then again they have rivers and streams flowing throuh them and next to some of the main roads.

[rickl]

I just heard on the radio that there were some roads in Darby, PA that were covered by 6 feet of water.

[trapeze]

The rain stopped a couple of hours ago, but the wind has really picked up.  I opened all the windows and am enjoying the breeze.

I heard on the radio that Philadelphia's Schuylkill River has crested at its greatest height since 1869.

I found a slideshow on a local news station's website showing some of the storm's effects around the area:  Pictures Of Hurricane Irene's Local Impact

Wow, looks like there's definitely some extensive damage - some wind, lots of water. Devastating to some, inconvenient to others, expensive for all.

Ah, yes, but none of that is material unless there is death and devastation in the only place that really matters: Manhattan.

[RickZ]

Well, that was pretty much a bust for me, not that I'm complaining.  There are some pleasantly stiff breezes now, and I can open a window to enjoy them.  But the storm was much less intense than predicted, which only means the next time there are warnings of a severe storm, people will laugh them off -- to their detriment.  See Camille, Mississippi coast, 1969.  One high rise where people laughed off Camille and were having a hurricane party was leveled, and I do mean leveled, as if by explosives and a bulldozer.  Off course, 150 m.p.h. winds will do that, and we were barely half that this time.  I'm sure there is some flooding, coastal and by inland rivers prone to flooding, but that's par for the course with heavy rains and swollen tides.  There was a lot less severe wind damage that I would have expected.  But the fact that a hurricane/tropical storm came this close to NYC/Long Island simply means it can happen again, with the same unpredictable results.