Hurricane Irene Prompts Unprecedented Evacuation of NYC 395
oxide7 links this bit of sobering news, as reported by the International Business Times: "For the first time, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has ordered a mandatory evacuation of 300,000 residents of the cities coastal areas as Hurricane Irene barrels up the East Coast. Buses and subways prepared to shut on Saturday as Hurricane Irene approaches as well. All New Jersey rail service will be suspended from noon Saturday, while the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) will institute a shutdown of trains and buses starting at the same time. The suspension will include subways, buses, the Long Island Rail Road, Metro-North Railroad and Access-A-Ride. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey will suspend PATH train service at noon as well. 'This is a mandatory evacuation,' Bloomberg said. 'By five o'clock tomorrow you have to be out. Waiting for the last minute is not a smart thing to do. This is life threatening.'" Good luck to everyone in the storm's path: Irene is big. (Hat tip to Matt Lord.) What, if anything, are you doing to prepare? Having spent more than an hour in worse-than-usual D.C. traffic after Tuesday's earthquake, I shudder to think of leaving New York in a rush. Update: 08/27 06:43 GMT by T : An anonymous reader points out the official evacuation map (PDF), on the swamped NYC server, and suggests "Lets mirror this file anywhere we can ... put it on all social media. Make these systems do what they were supposed to — help us. I'm in Long Island City ~100 yards from the East River in the orange (highest risk) area."
Some aren't leaving (Score:2)
My brother is running a mainframe in northern New Jersey. He's staying.
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I tried to buy a generator today...they were all sold out everywhere. I did manage to buy a chain saw.
I've already volunteered to help with communications once the phones go down. (I'm a ham radio operator, and am charging up radios right now.) Any hams who are available, I heartily suggest you contact your local Emergency Coordinator with days/times available. Also let him know if your emergency comms experience. If you don't know who your EC is, go to the ARRL website. http://www.arrl.org/news/arrl-hq
Re:Some aren't leaving (Score:4, Interesting)
I remember when I was kid, the power would go out for days at a time in the winter occasionally. Granted, rural area in the Pacific NW (70s), and we just cooked on our woodstove (*), and I realize not everyone can have that sort of setup, but I sort of cringe at all the people going out and buying generators and such as if they'd die should the TV or computer not function. Honestly, power outages always seemed kind of fun, and I miss them. The grid seems much less likely to have outages, and those we have rarely last more than 10 minutes, at least here in town rather than out in the county.
(*) While I realize that one can consider a woodstove to be an energy generator akin to an electricity generator, the big difference is that people pile up enough wood for winter, but (hopefully) people don't store enough gas for winter. So even with a generator, you're going to be running out for gas in any long term outage.
Re:Some aren't leaving (Score:5, Informative)
After Hurricane Wilma, I had no power for almost four weeks.
Four. Fucking. Weeks.
I didn't live out in BFE, either... I lived in Coral Gables, which is about as hardcore "Central Dade County" as you can get.
That said, here's a big, huge tip for anybody who wants to be able to run a window air conditioner from a generator -- all things equal, the magic minimum is around 3,600 watts. I'd recommend 4200-4800 minimum. Why?
1. The generator's wattage is a polite fiction. The number printed on the box is roughly what it can output for about 5 minutes before Bad Things Happen. The REAL power output it can SUSTAIN is about 80% of that amount, maybe less.
2. Most generators have split-phase power, which is a nice way of saying that the big number printed by the box is kind of divided between two outlets. So your "4800-watt" generator is really more like 2400 watts (max) per outlet (which translates into about 1800 watts per outlet sustained). A small window air conditioner draws about 1200-1500 running watts, and needs about 1800 watts to start up.
Now, the half & half rule isn't quite set in stone... you can usually get away with drawing about 2400 watts (sustained) from a single outlet on a "4000-watt" generator with no load on the other outlet, but then you run into the next problem:
3. Generator run times are usually quoted at "50% load". If you have an air conditioner connected to one outlet of a 4KW generator, it's not really a "50% load", even if it's the only thing you're running. Why? Unbalanced loads make your fuel economy go WAY down. It won't quite suck down as much gas as a 100% load, but from my own experience, it'll act kind of like an 80-90% load fuel-wise. So if you're going to run a window air conditioner from a 4KW generator, you might as well plug the refrigerator (or another small air conditioner) into the other outlet and enjoy it, because at that point it will barely make a dent in your fuel use.
That said, don't go hog wild and buy a 10KW generator without a good reason. Especially not a cheap one. Most cheap generators do a really bad job of throttling down to accommodate reduced loads, and will burn almost as much gas with a nightlight as they will with a 50% load. It's a balancing act, and it's an important one, because if you're going to be feeding a generator for a few days, let alone a few weeks, a $40-50/day gas habit quickly becomes painful.
Oh, I almost forgot... there's one last catch...
4. Generators and UPSes don't get along. At all. 99.9% of the UPSes you can buy at a retail store will ignore electricity from a generator, will run 100% from the battery until it's drained, and shut down. There ARE expensive inverter-type generators that can charge a UPS, and UPSes that can charge from a cheap generator, but both are likely to cost more than it's worth spending.
4b. Generators and some DC power supplies don't get along very well, either. It's hit-or-miss, and hard to tell which power supplies are generator-unfriendly without testing them. Some will operate very, very inefficiently, and some won't work at all. The problem is that cheap (non inverter-type) generators don't output sine waves, and their "dirty" output doesn't play nicely with switching-type power supplies. You MIGHT be able to get around this by "double conversion". After Wilma, I had to power my DSL modem by plugging a 12v adapter into an outlet (which gave me a fake cigarette lighter rated at 1000mA), then plugged an inverter into it (giving me a 110v outlet), then plugged the DSL modem's power supply into the inverter. Ugly in countless ways, but it got me back online.
4c. As a corollary to 4b, most cheap generators suck at battery-charging.
The moral: if you don't need air conditioning, and can afford it, buy an inverter-type generator. They'll play nicely with power supplies (but your UPS might still get bitchy), and low-RPM expensive inverter-type generators also tend to be the quietest and most fuel efficient. Apparently, Honda makes some o
Re:Some aren't leaving (Score:5, Informative)
Most of this is correct, but the problem with low-quality output on cheaper generators is not the lack of sine-wave output. Any AC motor will, by definition, put out a nice, true sine wave. The problem, however, is frequency. As frequency output is directly linked to engine speed, a generator loping or at the wrong speed will produce a not-60 cycle output, which UPS's are often designed to watch for and switch to battery.
Modern computer power supples on the other hand, are designed to handle 100-240V, 47-63hz, so a few hz off won't matter at all.
Low-quality inverters put out 60hz, "modified sine-wave" output - something akin to a square-wave with a positive and negative cycle. They work great with modern electronics(though they hum), but motors don't like it.
High-quality, "true-sine" inverters put out just that... more or less.
Re:Some aren't leaving (Score:5, Interesting)
^^^ That reminds me of another caveat -- inrush current. Powerful fans, in particular, are hard to use with generators -- even big ones. I have a Vornado fan (circa 1995) that can almost blow the bark off of a tree when it's running at full speed. My first generator (a 4-stroke 2000-watt baby generator like the one I described above) couldn't run it. I plugged it into the extension cord, turned it on (after starting the generator and letting it stabilize), and the generator literally rocked about 3 inches in the air on one side and choked to a halt as though an invisible hand just grabbed the spinning rotor and forced it to stop. The same generator was able to start a cheap window box fan... but ONLY if I quickly turned the knob from "off" to "medium" and allowed it to stabilize before turning it up to 'high'. If I went directly from "off" to "high", it would stall the generator.
The microwave oven was another thing that the generator didn't like *at all*. I tried using the microwave with generator #2 (5600-watt Craftsman). It worked, but both the microwave and generator made really bad-sounding noises (hard to describe, kind of a buzzing hum that was REALLY loud), and I decided to just forget about trying to use the microwave on generator power due to worries that it would damage the oven, the generator, or both.
That reminds me... if you're in the hurricane's path, do all your laundry now. You can run a washing machine from a generator, but even a whole-house 24-kW Generac is going to struggle with an electric dryer. I don't know about the northeast, but in Florida, clothes lines just don't work during the summer. You can leave clothes hanging on them all day, and they'll STILL be damp when the sun goes down. Post-Wilma, my coworkers and I had to bring damp clothes to the office and hang them on makeshift clotheslines between cubes to get them to dry out in the air conditioning.
In terms of frequency and power supplies (Score:3)
The magic required for a switching power supply to like variable frequencies is active PFC. When you have an active PFC, the power supply becomes voltage and frequency agnostic over quite a large range (usually even larger than stated).
This mostly means newer power supplies. They have become more common since the EU has been requiring them. As you noted, essential all computer power supplies are active PFC these days and you find many of the wall wart/line lump adapters are that come with good electronics.
T
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What?
Power supplies without active power factor correction use a full wave rectifier feeding a large input capacitor. The only thing they care about is peak voltage. You can run them from at least 50 to 400 hertz without issues of any kind and since they use a voltage doubler for 120 volts AC, they will also run fine on 340 volts DC. The only issues are that their poor harmonic related power factor is hard on some generating equipment (VA verse watts) and the ones with automatic input range switching cou
Re:Some aren't leaving (Score:4, Interesting)
Seconded on the inverter-type generators. They're very expensive to buy, per-watt, but they'll pay for themselves in fuel (and noise and weight) if you use them much.
After a flood which killed a bunch of underground electrical infrastructure, I was charged with keeping a generator online on top of a 12-story building to power some local law enforcement radio gear.
At first, we had a smallish Honda with an inverter. This drove a UPS and the gear just fine, and had a small fuel tank which would keep it running almost 24 hours.
So, about every 20 hours I trundled up the stairs to refuel the thing. It was a pain, but it worked. It was light-weight and quiet, even under load.
Then, it died. No idea why it died, but it failed to start. (But it wasn't my generator, and I didn't have the tools to work on it. But the oil was good, so I'm sure whatever happened was simple to fix.)
So we brought up a replacement -- a 5,000 Watt conventional unit. This thing failed to drive a UPS, and needed a lot more fuel twice as often to keep it running. I have no idea how much it weighed but it, and the fuel, got a lot heavier with every flight of stairs, and it made the same hard-to-shout-over racket whether it was doing work or just loafing along. Keeping that thing fed with fuel every 8-12 hours really fucked up my sleep habits that week.
This experience has taught me that if I ever buy a generator for my own household purposes (which I should: we get tornados, floods, and blizzards here), it'll either be a big, fixed Generac running from natural gas, or a portable unit built around an inverter.
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Re:Some aren't leaving (Score:4, Interesting)
"I would think that your refrigerator would be the highest priority. Is there a reason you don't mention that?"
Not needed.
The first few days after a natural disaster, everyone is eating BBQ cooked over an open fire. Eat all the meat before it goes bad (and drink all the beer before it gets warm!). I know that sounds trailer-trash, but trust me, everyone is thinking the same thing when they get into such a situation.
After the Loma Prieta Earthquake, my whole street was pretty much a three-day block party. Most gas lines were broken, water was hard to come by, EVERYONE had a freezer of meat, no electricity for weeks and the weather was awesome. Nobody could get anywhere, including work. Lot of drinking, lot of good food and a lot of people in exactly the same boat as I. Earthquake aside (not to mention the demolished house), it was actually kind of nice.
Besides, which would you prefer to do--keep yourself comfortable, or a bunch of dead animals comfortable?
Re:Some aren't leaving (Score:5, Interesting)
re: block party - the three streets of my neighborhood (Dallas, Texas) were out of power for almost two days recently from a spring storm. I was amazed at how friendly everyone was, just coping with the power outage and telling stories *gasp* being sociable. It was about 95F with 100% humidity at 10pm, and the entire neighborhood was out and about, sitting on the front porch with coolers full of ice and beer from the one corner store in the area that had power. I met all sorts of great new neighbors who lived around me. Sadly once the power (and more importantly) AC kicked back on, everyone went back inside and I haven't seen any of them since.
The neighborhood is full of houses with giant front porches and swing benches, with manicured outdoor seating areas in the front of the house. If you go north about 10 miles where houses were built after 1970 when AC became cheap and readily available, there's a striking complete lack of front porches, or even trees in the front yard. Technology like air conditioning has isolated neighbors, yet the internet brings complete strangers together.
Re:Some aren't leaving (Score:4, Informative)
Counting the 5 grand bonus he's getting for staying?
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Re:Some aren't leaving (Score:5, Funny)
In the eye of the Hurricane...
"... latest forecasts say that hurricane Irene is going to strike Long Island within 24 hours."
a dedicated system administrator...
"This box has 1000 days uptime. It's not going down on my watch!"
"Johnny, we're being evacuated - we have to go!"
"No! The mainframe stays; I stay!"
One man. One server. One mission.
Coming this summer... Irene.
Send some to TX! (Score:2)
A continent away, but on edge (Score:2)
It's sunny and beautiful in Oregon, but I'm checking the news regularly.
My sister lives on Long Island full time, my brother weekdays; they live on either side of Irene's current projected path through Nassau County. It's odd and disquieting to see the line going through familiar places like Hempstead and Muttontown.
Two cousins live in NYC, one far enough south in Manhattan to be in the "B" Zone.
Batten down the hatches, folks. Don't do anything stupid.
And remember: Creamed Eels, Wadded Beef and Corn Nog don
It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... (Score:5, Informative)
Title says it all. Cat-2.
It has a slim chance of being a hurricane still when it gets to New York.
It has a slightly better chance of 50 knot wind-speeds by then.
And it has a decent chance of being a weak tropical storm.
In other words, not even worth evacuating for....
For reference, I live in the Big Easy - I've sat out Cat-2 storms before, more than once.
But from the looks of it, this storm is being blown all out of proportion....
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And you've got Abita Beer to ease your fears......:^)
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Matter of fact, just picked up a sixpack of Turbodog yesterday....
Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... (Score:5, Informative)
Flood is a big concern still, as is storm surge. Due to interaction with a trough in SE Canada, a large area of heavy rain will spread out ahead of the storm and keep raining over areas for potentially as long as 24 hours. Many of these areas have already had significant rains during the summer, leading to saturated ground before the storm even gets there. Some gusty winds can thus easily knock down trees and powerlines (for the areas where that's a concern). Flooding is definitely going to be a problem.
Media hype is...well, very disappointing. They focus on the wrong problems in the wrong area and in their zeal for ratings, they completely distort reality.
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OTOH, NYC is about 100 years overdue for an enema.
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Out of curiousity are you a racist bigot or a religious one? Or both?
Or to put it another way, just what the fuck does Bloomberg being a Jew have to do with anything? If he is one. (I don't actually know, because - get this - it doesn't fucking matter).
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Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... (Score:5, Insightful)
NYC isn't quite as accustomed to hurricanes as NOLA. Imagine how NOLA would handle a noreaster dumping four feet of snow on you, and you'll get a better feel for the severity.
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While I have family on the outer banks in NC, and I wish everyone the best... I can't help but think that poor Irene doesn't have a chance of living up to the media coverage... The sad part isn't that the media has latched onto it and is hyping it to no end. (We're used to that, after all...) But that it really is a prime example of "The Little Boy Who Cried Wolf". Hype it up and it fails to meet expectations, and nobody will believe you next time... When it IS that bad.
Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... (Score:4, Funny)
Cat-2? In 2011? Damn. I was expecting at least Cat5e.
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New York has nor'easters, which can be gusty and have storm surge and flooding. Granted, they are often worse further north than NYC, but they aren't rare in NYC either.
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Mod parent up. The asswipe who says "It's only a Category 2" is the guy clinging to his roof the next day waiting for someone to rescue him.
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No matter how "large" this hurricane is, it isn't pushing much air or creating a large storm surge. The biggest worry is that it will rain a lot because it isn't moving terribly fast, but coastal areas are typically good at handling rain, and most all of these areas have been hit by far worse storms than this.
This hurric
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When Cyclone Yasi was in this area (North Queensland, I mean), Mackay was supposed to be evacuated because they expected a huge surge. It was a Category 5 storm sitting off the coast, and it was predicted to move in right with the king tide (the highest possible tide), THAT was the major concern. As it turned out, it stayed off coast, dropped to a 4 or something, and made landfall quite a ways north, in Tully. In that case, the storm surge was of no concern, and instead the phenomenal wind speeds ruined
God bless America! (Score:2)
Keep perspective (Score:5, Informative)
300,000 people and the 'affected areas' are a relatively small percentage of New York City. The vast majority of New Yorkers are doing what we normally do when doom is predicted - snark, ignore, and stock up on liquor and cigarettes.
Seriously, though, there's no way New York City itself could be evacuated without something on the scale of Dunkirk. The thought of 8 million people trying to escape over a mere 4 or 5 Interstate-class roads makes a lot of us laugh at the idea of the 'go bag' that the authorities and preparedness obsessives keep talking about. If anything happened that was big enough to force a major evac on NYC, we'd be going nowhere so fast due to traffic we'd end up using all three changes of clothes just sitting in cars or in train stations or airports. So unless the 'crisis' is fairly personal, I plan on having lots of time to pack whatever's needed - or to make sure I have the requisite amount of booze and books to see me through the forting up!
KEEP CALM
AND
CARRY ON
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And this is why my partner & I got bicycles.
According to wunderground... (Score:3, Insightful)
... it's only supposed to be a category 1 by the time it reaches land, and down to tropical storm strength by the time it reached New York. When I lived in Florida, we didn't even lower the awnings for a cat 1.
After this, and the hullabaloo over that 5.9 earthquake (I live in California now, and we laughed at the big deal they made out of it.), I think the east coast are being a massive bunch of drama queens.
Re:According to wunderground... (Score:5, Insightful)
Or the media, rather. They love this. Hurricane headed for one of the biggest markets in the country. Even if it ends up being a dud, they can still spend a day going after the meteorologists who correctly predicted it, even when the media did not, and get their ratings fill. It's a win-win for them.
Storm Surge (Score:2)
Because the storm is so massive, there is expected to be a storm surge about one category higher than the storm actually arrives at.
One analysis I read rated the chances of topping the manhattan flood wall at 20%. So not huge, but good enough odds that it warrants not killing people if you guess wrong.
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It's just that nothing happens on the East coast, so people make a big deal out of this events :)
Re:According to wunderground... (Score:5, Insightful)
Good for you. We'll come and dump 4 feet of snow on you overnight, and "laugh at the big deal you make out of it" as you try desperately to dig yourselves out with no/not enough plows, shovels, snowblowers, and tire chains.
Look. Different regions get different types of weather. How'd your last ice storm go? Because ours gave us a day or two of trouble. Same with the blizzard we had this winter - 4 feet of snow in one day, and cleared out the next. But that's because we plan for snow, ice, and harsh winters in general. Oh your car won't start? Should have used a block heater, how stupid of you. But you'll only need it once? Drama queen...
In the Northeast, we don't get hurricanes, tornadoes, or earthquakes. In California, you don't get much snow or ice, or sub-zero temperatures (or tornadoes). So you have building codes that handle earthquakes, and we have plows and snowblowers. We plan for typical events, and don't waste our limited resources on highly unusual events. Neither of us would be very prepared for an F3 blowing through town, but are you going to call yourself a drama queen for being bummed that your house is a half-mile in the air?
I think people do this to feel superior. I don't get it. But New Englanders were doing the same thing when DC shut down over 3 inches of snow, so it's not just you.
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"In California, you don't get much snow or ice, or sub-zero temperatures"
Uh...I would like to introduce you to this mountain range called the Sierra Nevada. Believe me, it snows there and gets quite cold...
Re:According to wunderground... (Score:4, Interesting)
Agreed. I live in the North-east Argentina. Buenos Aires has recently experienced some heavy storms in the past couple of years, which the media tends to exaggerate. They get crazy about 40-60mm rainfall. And I think to myself... gee, it hasn't rained that much in a while. I actually MISS when it rains like that.
In the 2009-2010 summer (south hemisphere, remember) I heard El Niño was going to be stronger than usual. So I got myself a wireless rain meter. The first rain was good enough to test it. The second rain was 180mm in 1 night! 120mm in 3 hours alone.
Next day? No power for a few hours and some flooded streets that were dry by the time power came back. That morning was a bit complicated but the afternoon was business as usual. Summer ended with almost 500mm rain, and the river, 50cm away from evacuation (3m is the average height, 6m is warning, 6,50 is evacuation. It's a wide river, over 2km wide and "only" 30m deep where I live... so rising for 6 to 6,50 takes a good deal of water).
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What's funnier is that natural disasters all necessitate approximately the same type of preparedness: water, food, and electrical source. And yet, everybody treats it like some major disaster when in all cases, it really isn't.
The "mandatory evacuation" (because while it's "mandatory," the cops aren't going door-to-door asking people to leave, and while it's an evacuation, it usually involves going a couple of blocks up the street to the nearest school that's on slightly higher ground) is really just for fl
Re:According to wunderground... (Score:5, Funny)
Volcanoes are nothing, wait till you mistake something for a small moon.
Signed,
Alderaan X-Resident
Re:According to wunderground... (Score:4, Insightful)
Hello from the front lines in Brooklyn (Score:4, Interesting)
I'm writing this from the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge, right near the edge of the evacuation zone 'C'. A good portion of the people here in the neighborhood of Dumbo near the water have either followed mandatory evacuation or have opted to leave on their own . Nearby low-lying Fulton Ferry and the much better situated Brooklyn Heights are ready to ride the storm out.
I also happen to have the weekend on-call network emergency duty for a group of offices here in the neighborhood (trade into it weeks ago. Oops). We ran through a checklist today, including testing backup generators and going over contingency plans for flooding. In front of me is a cell phone, radio and keys to everything. Meanwhile, the city is doing a massive amount of prep work on its own. Talked to a number of friends and neighbors today and everyone who will be here is hunkered down.
This is my first hurricane. Not sure how this is going to turn out, but everyone here is ready.
Bring it Irene.
Re:Hello from the front lines in Brooklyn (Score:5, Funny)
"Bring it Irene."
Rule #1: Do Not Taunt.
Re:Hello from the front lines in Brooklyn (Score:5, Funny)
Also, once you have Irene cornered, no monologueing.
Where's Snake Plissken (Score:2)
When you need him?
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Hi, Philadelphia here (Score:2)
Trees comin' down (Score:5, Insightful)
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Did you forget about Isabel in 2003?
Getting a clue (Score:5, Interesting)
What Category the storm is when it hits NYC is NOT the big issue. Wind damage is not what they are worried about. The size of the storm surge is the issue. NYC has an enormous amount of underground infrastructure. If water starts spilling into the subway system in quantity, the results would be catastrophic. See Chicago Flood, multiply by 1000.
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Dude! Why do you think we have surfboards?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_E9ebt1a_s [youtube.com]
DC Earthquake (Score:3, Funny)
Here's a photo of the devastation [bestweekever.tv] resulting from Tuesday's earthquake in Washington DC
subject (Score:5, Insightful)
"the cities coastal areas"
This is what journalism has come to. Writers who can't fucking write.
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"the cities coastal areas"
This is what journalism has come to. Writers who can't fucking write.
What, are you 12? Anyone can make a typo, especially one that passes spell-check. You want to blame anyone, blame the editors it's their job to catch those things.
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LOL. You beat me to it. Our educational system is producing politically correct idiots.
I went back to school about a decade ago and the level of knowledge of the students shocked me. In the English classes I took 90 percent of the students couldn't write an intelligible sentence. They didn't know how to spell, how to use punctuation, or understand subject/verb agreement. They also couldn't deal with homophones such as: they're/their/there, are/our, your/you're, heel/heal, cite/site, right/write, cell/s
Working during Nor'Easter at the WTC (Score:5, Interesting)
I was working in World Trade Center #1, on the 95th floor, during the nor'easter of 1992, which if I recall was the remains of a hurricane. It was quite an intense experience; we had the space-saving "rolling file cabinets" that were rolling back and forth on their own, with one finally derailing and spilling files onto the floor (guess who had the job of cleaning it up). Bathroom stall doors were opening and closing by themselves, you could hear a definite creaking from inside the walls, and they were always shutting down the express elevator due to flex.
The thing that was really wild, though, and sadly not to be seen again, was looking out the window and being able to easily make out the other tower swaying as well. I had to keep telling myself "the buildings are designed for this...it's okay!" until it was time to go home.
Re:Working during Nor'Easter at the WTC (Score:5, Interesting)
I had a similar experience in Boston one year. I was on the 40th floor of One Boston Place, near city hall, and there was a pretty bad wind storm moving through. We get those from time to time... just a freak burst of 60 mph winds with little or no storm associated. It's rare, but it happens.
Anyway, the building was swaying and during the course of the day two things happened which I found amusing. First, we had one of those big green LED signs with news tickers scrolling over it. It was suspended from the ceiling by two cables and it was swinging back and forth dramatically. A co-worker had been looking at it somewhat queasily, and asked, "why is it moving so much?" In retrospect, she was looking for a comforting answer. I just thought about it for a second and gave her the most logical answer I could think of: "It's not." That took her a second to process and then she looked very unhappy.
The other thing that happened was kind of unnerving to me. I was sitting in my chair, working on some code, and I stood up to get something. Next thing I knew, I was on the floor. I tried to get up again, and bang, I was on the floor again. My inner ear had just given up, but I had no idea until I tried to stand. It was odd because I'd spent years around the ocean, and never got sea sick or even a touch nauseous, but in this building I was incapacitated for a short time... no other symptoms, just the complete lack of balance.
What are we doing (seriously) (Score:2)
I can't speak for most. I can speak for the ten or twelve of us who compared notes at work today over the snark. Sure, we're being flip. But there's no sense being stupid. Things I'm doing which we all thought seemed like a good plan:
1) Remembering that the winds aren't a big deal.
2) Being happy I live in a high spot, so rather than evacuating:
3) Stockpiling water (1-liter thermoplastic seltzer bottles ftw)
4) Freezing some of those (thermal inertia ftw if we lose power, plus, tasty cold water)
5) Making
Evacuation zone 'A' (Score:2)
My office is in evacuation zone 'a' about a block from the beach on Staten Island. Shut down my PCs and put them on my desk just in case the place floods...
I'm thinking this is likely going to be just a normal storm by the time it hits us, nothing major, some downed trees and powerlines. Kind of like what happened during the huge blizzards we had this past winter except without all the ice and snow. I'm moving my car away from under the trees so they don't crash on it but other than that I'm not to concerne
Hurricane Fatigue (Score:5, Interesting)
I have a strong case of it, and the storm isn't supposed to hit here (Maryland) until Sunday at dawn. Thus far, I've been treated to:
1) CNN showing the idiots surfing at Wrightsville Beach, NC. Why encourage it?
2) An interview of some guy from the Discovery Channel with a supposedly hurricane-proof automobile.
3) An ever increasing national media frenzy replete with dramatic, spooky music and lots of interviews with people whose opinions don't count for much.
4) As the storm has decreased in power (so they can't rave about how Katrina-like it is), they've begun speculating about what the poor, benighted, ignorant citizens of New York will actually DO if they're stuck in their apartments for two or three days.
5) An absolutely jaw-dropping interview with Candidate Ron Paul who opines that we should go back to the way hurricanes were handled in 1900. He hails from Galveston, where the most destructive hurricane ever recorded happened in 1900. In other words, he wants the states to help out with funeral pyres so affected cities can burn their dead without Federal intervention.
Since I live in an area that gets the backlash of at least one good hurricane a year, here's what I've done to (gasp) protect myself:
1) Listened to the governor and the state emergency people, as well as the local weather forecasts.
2) Bought gas and hit the ATM.
3) Laid in a good supply of food and snacks that don't need to be cooked--sandwich materials, fruit, cheese, cookies. Likewise laid in a bit of beer. And dry dog food for the dog. Bottled water for self and dog.
4) Frozen up the picnic ice to add to the freezer if the electricity goes out.
5) Made a mental note to charge everything up--laptop, Kindle, iPhone.
6) Checked the flashlights and re-supplied on candles. The kind that Jewish people burn as memorials (that come in little glass jars) are available at grocery stores and make great, safe emergency candles. Blown the dust off the transistor radio and re-supplied it with fresh batteries.
7) Gotten out some lightweight cotton clothes because if the power goes out, it will be hot, unbearably humid, and damp.
8) Put my wellies by the front door.
The practice of people from different regions comparing their various disasters is ludicrous. If you don't think so, try listening to somebody from North Dakota comparing their flood this year to Katrina. It's not worth bothering with unless you happen to work in emergency services. People begin to sound like idiots after a very short time.
Tomorrow night, I'll probably go to bed. I'll be awakened by the storm sometime in the middle of the night, at which point I'll lie there and think about Nature's power and all that maudlin crap. Then, if it sounds bad, I'll get up and fill the bathtub with water (so I can flush), make sure the dog is OK, and curl up with a book until the lights go out--at which point I'll switch to my Kindle.
The only thing I can't do is persuade the dog that it's OK to pee and crap on some newspaper. He's going to be tying himself in knots.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:DC Traffic sucks... (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah he gets a little carried away with the whole happy dance thing.
Re:DC Traffic sucks... (Score:5, Informative)
"The Days of Prayer for Rain in the State of Texas refers to a designated three-day period from Friday, April 22, 2011, to Sunday, April 24, 2011, during which Texas governor Rick Perry asked that Texans pray for "the healing of our land [Texas]" and for an end to the drought."
You know, Texas. Pious, tea bagging Red State. No gays allowed.
"The drought became worse after the Days of Prayer. While only 15-17% of the state was undergoing exceptional drought during the Days of Prayer, the percentage grew to 50% a month later, and by late June, more than 70% of the state was experiencing exceptional drought conditions, a level at which it has stayed up to August 18, 2011."
How you like them apples?
Re:DC Traffic sucks... (Score:4, Insightful)
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Ha! Karma!
oh wait ...
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I'm no scientist either, but I'm fairly certain both the epicenter of said earthquake, and the projected landfall of Hurricane Irene, are both in the United States.
Re:firearms (Score:5, Funny)
Re:firearms (Score:5, Funny)
Hopefully he aims for the eye. That's the weak spot.
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He'll know when he hits it because it'll flicker with inverted colors like in contra. then when he destroys it it'll just spontaneously explode into a million flickering sprites.
Re:firearms (Score:4, Funny)
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at least (Score:5, Funny)
the looters will get nice, clean firearms after they shoot your eejit head off.
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...because as we all know, property is more valuable than life and limb.
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My property is more valuable than some looter's life and limb.
Sure, life is unfair and the world is unequal. But getting your head turned into a canoe is a real risk if you try to take what belongs to someone else during a natural disaster. If this weren't true, there would be a lot more looting.
Re:firearms (Score:4, Insightful)
ummm you don't clean and inspect them on a regular basis?
I'm being serious...
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Gun oil evaporates enough to lubricate poorly after just three days.
Quit using CLP. :) It's designed for military use where their guns are maintained frequently. Or Kroil... it's designed to creep, not to stay.
I use Tetra. I had a rifle in storage for over a year and when I inspected it before use, I found the oil still right where it should be. Mobil 1 also works well in this regard, as do many heavier-weight gun oils.
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I just can't imagine living in a society that thinks a firearm is a useful tool in an emergency. Yes, we have bad guys, but we don't have this wild west world view that makes shooting people who are only stealing ok. Only protecting people warrants using lethal force. Our bad guys are very unlikely to try to kill us to get our stuff. We just call the police. I don't know anyone who's moral beliefs support killing to protect property.
We had some bad wild fires last year, and there was a big evacuation. Th
Re:firearms (Score:5, Funny)
Is that a metaphor for "masturbating"?
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> Overreact to distant disasters week?
Only a very small percentage of anything is getting evacuated.
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And what about those who are in jail?
It's one way of using Climate Change to save the taxpayers' hard earned money.
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I'm still scared-- stockpiling on water and going to bunker down in my basement, as the projected path of the 'cane brings the eye with a near-direct hit over my residence. Just gotta tough it out and hope they can restore power in a reasonable period of time and damage to life and proprety is minimal.
I know what you mean; I'm in the same boat. I plan to stay safe in the basement until the worst of this storm is over. Of course it's not likely to help much, since I'm in Iowa. Still, better safe than sorry, right?
Seriously though, I don't mean to make light of your predicament, and here's hoping the thing dissipates at least some before pounding the city.
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Re:But they don't have cars. (Score:4, Informative)
You weren't around for the blackout of '03 then I guess. It's no big deal unless you absolutely need refrigeration. But then that prompts all of the restaurants to cook and practically give away all of their food. It's better than letting it go to waste.
Almost every large building has and will be running on backup generators. After the numerous generator critical failures during '03, it shouldn't be an issue anymore for anyone. Last time was bad because a lot of generators had been sitting around rusting for years without any use. For many such places, there were enough generators that failed to make it a pretty close call. This time, you won't have electricity to run your computer or AC, but your building's hallways, and any other bit of critical infrastructure, will.
The biggest issue is water, which will only have enough pressure to reach around the 4th and 5th floors of most buildings. That's why people buy cases of bottled water and fill their tubs in advance. It's probably the most crucial thing. Though if you ask, people will help you fill up your buckets from their faucet on the first or second floor.
The other major problem is powering back on. Last time, it had to be done in zones over several days. That was a pain. But most outer boroughs experience enough power loss enough times a year for it to be nothing more than a minor inconvenience. At least it's not the middle of a 100+ heat wave. That's when places usually suffer power loss.
All in all, it can be a fairly pleasant experience.
Re:But they don't have cars. (Score:5, Funny)
"I'm still scared-- stockpiling on water and going to bunker down in my basement..."
Dude. Flood. Basement. Dig?
Re:But they don't have cars. (Score:4, Funny)
Is it not something like 120mph winds, though? Why are they causing this much disruption?
Here in Scotland we call that January...
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Yah, when we went through Katrina, it was waaaay different. We only ordered a mandatory evacuation of the City, instead of a mandatory evacuation of low-lying areas.
Didn't know that, did you? Yes, we executed our standard mandatory evacuation plan a couple days before K
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Forcing people to evacuate for something that doesn't even qualify as alarming in most of the country is indeed a nanny state. But I can see you're so afraid of your own shadow, you don't mind armed men forcing people into the streets. There are counties you can go to where that is the norm, why don't you try them on for size.
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It's ok, if anything bad happens they'll still find a way to blame Bush.
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Wrong. The NHC badly needs to come up with a tiered rating system for severe weather. The simple, cut-and-dried Category 1-5 scale doesn't cut it and desperately needs to be changed.
In real life, the size of a storm (Irene is HUGE), how fast it's moving (wildcard, we're not sure yet) and the tide levels at the time of landfall (good chance that they'll be at high tide) are all key factors. Even if Irene has dropped to tropical depression status by the time it hits Long Island, NY, it could still cause major
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Americans are pretending that tornadoes are an act of a vengeful god or so
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Re:Reminder (Score:4, Informative)
In Florida, homes are theoretically built to survive up to category 3 storms. After that, it's a question of how far you are from the shore, and how far you are from the eye of the storm, and whether or not there was any non-approved construction. Even newer trailer homes are built to survive hurricanes. The eye-wall has the most intense winds, which is followed by an eerie calm for a few hours, followed by some more of the most intense winds. Wind speed dies off rapidly as you get farther away from the eye-wall.
As far as building techniques are concerned, the main thing is windows are required to be "hurricane windows", meaning that they will stop a 10-foot long, 15-pound, wooden 2x4 traveling at 100 miles flying through the air (they break in the process), and have a film on them so that when they break, they don't shatter into small sharpened projectiles. Roofs also have some additional structural support so that they don't get pulled off. (Simpson Ties [strongtie.com]) And there are some things regarding elevation above sea level.
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> Can you build a hurricane proof home?
Yes. Build the walls and roof from reinforced concrete using ICF, use impact-glass windows rated for large missiles, then put shutters over the windows anyway. Put concrete walls between the garage and interior of your house, and isolate the attic space above the garage from the rest of your house. The idea is to ensure that if/when the garage door gets blown in, the wind can't get to the rest of your house.