Posted on 05/10/2006 10:51:34 AM PDT by Blogger
New York warned to prepare for hurricanes
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A hurricane with only moderate intensity could wreak havoc in New York City because it has been years since the nation's financial center faced severe weather, government forecasters warned on Tuesday.
"The first time we get hit here with a Category 2, it's going to be disastrous," said meteorologist Michael Wyllie of the National Weather Service, referring to the scale used to rate hurricane strength.
Wyllie said powerful storms have missed New York in recent years, unlike parts of the Gulf Coast, where periodic storms "thin out the trees and the buildings."
Gloria, the last big storm to hit the New York area, caused about $900 million in economic losses along the East Coast in 1985, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
"It's not like we can all run down to Home Depot and pick up these two-by-fours to board up windows," said John Koch, lead forecaster at the NWS forecast office in New York. "What we want people to do is know what they are going to do with their family and their pets."
Koch urged residents to familiarize themselves with the location of evacuation zones and make plans to have extra dry clothes, medicines, batteries, water and copies of valuable documents.
Although evacuation orders might be limited to low-lying areas, Koch said high winds could put tall buildings throughout the city at risk.
"Winds increase with height, so you're going to see much stronger wind on the 30th floor or the 50th floor of a building than you do at the surface," Koch said.
Wyllie said he expects the hurricane season, which starts June 1 and lasts until November 30, to be similar to last year, which saw an unprecedented 28 storms including Katrina.
"If there are more storms out there, odds are you have a higher chance of being hit," Koch said. "It could be this year, it could be five years from now, it could be 10 years from now."
Better get some levees built at Battery Park!
Wow, this is scary! Global warming could make hurricanes a much bigger threat. I'm gonna start making preparations here in Colorado Springs.
we rode out gloria, right at the south shore of long island.
I can vividly recall hurricanes up here in New England in the 50's.There have been one or two since then,but it has happened.They can go right up the East Coast...Sanannah,DC,Philly,NYC,Providence,Boston....
[sarcasm off]
Oh please...
Hurrican Hazel hit us up here in Toronto Canada, but that was like, 50 years ago.
I guess that 30+ inches of snow in a day back in February was not severe.
If I recall correctly for the most part the city kept on bustling despite a snow that would shut down most places.
The adage of the day must be, to sell news we have to write something stupid to sell the news.
Hurricanes usually barrel on through in several hours but the biggest winter storms sometimes last a day or more.
More scare tactics.
All the smart people have already left New York City.
My new next door neighbor just moved from there!!
Nothing to stop a storm from hitting NYC proper. Although the probability of a direct hit on NYC is low as the stroms frequently have a eastward component to motion by that latitude. And it has protection from a direct hit by the NorthEast quadrant, which since the storm would likely be moving at over 30 kts is substantial.
The bigger area of concern is Long Island which can take a direct hit.
There was a hurricane that hit CT in 1986. I was at the USCGA at the time, and we were 'in the bilges' waiting for the eye to pass over, which it did, actually. I forget the name of the hurricane . . .
I was reading last night about a massive hurricane that hit Eastport Maine in the 1800's.
Sounds like this article is intended to scare people.
Seems like there are other states along the coasts that are more likely to get hit or that the severity will be greater.
One [I cannot recall] came through Lynchburg, Virginia back in the mid nineties. By then it was a strong tropical depression. Like to break or bend over every friggin pine tree we had. Another one came through a couple of years ago.
Check out the 1938 Long Island Express.....
http://www2.sunysuffolk.edu/mandias/38hurricane/
He gets paid a lot of money to make brilliant statements like that.
NYC will increase its population in the coming years - by the level of the current population of Pittsburgh. the city is booming.
The liberals will say Bush's fault...or for something 50 years ago...Eisenhower's fault?
I think Rove has some new coordinates this years... so they better heed the warning :)
probably that filthy bumbergs way of getting fema money
Don't forget the 1938 Hurricane.
I'm not worried. We will all be dead from Bird Flu long before a hurricane gets a change to hit New York.
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We certainly felt the effects of Hurricane Isabelle in the DC area, a few years ago. And the Hurricane of 1938 is still remembered vividly by those who were in New England then.
Yup, me too, on the shore of CT. It wasn't that big of a deal....... a bit of flooding and some downed trees. I watched the eyewall pass right over head....clear blue skies for about 20 minutes or so....then it started up again.
I work on the top floor of my building in Manhattan and when there is a storm with a lot of wind you can hear the howling and sometimes the building sways. A very wierd feeling!
One of them was probably Hurricane Edna, which struck New England on September 11, 1954. In his essay "The Eye of Edna," noted writer E. B. White described riding out this storm on the coast of Maine.
The jet stream and the prevailing winds push most storms out into the Atlantic before they get that far north. Halifax gets hit more often than NY because it is further to the east, but a couple of years ago Toronto got hit by one after it was downgraded to a tropical storm.
We got hit by the remnants of a hurricane back in '04- it passed somewhere between here and London IIRC.
I used to visit the NY office of our company several years ago; it was on a high floor of the Citibank building, and it would creak and sway like a tall ship under sail.
My mother was in a panic during that storm worrying about my Dad and seeing him pull in was a moment of great relief and happiness for both of us.
They had a hurricane in 2000. It's name was Hillary.
If I remember correctly, it is Cape Hatteras where hurricanes hit when they wind up in NYC. I vividly remember Gloria back in '85 (I was 16). The eye went right over my house. I remember being outside in the middle of it, cleaning up a bit...seeing everyone else peek out...and then running back inside when it started again.
We were without power for 11 days. I really remember saying "I will never take electricity for granted again" when it came back on.Of course, I was taking it for granted less than two months later :)
That was just an old f@rt
I believe that hurricane hit CT on Sept. 27, 1985. It was called Gloria. It knocked out the power in Trumbull where I was getting married. I should have taken that as a sign.
This Koch has never heard of the venturi effect,eh?
Wierd feeling. But I believe they are built that way purposely.
You'll also have to include Hurricane Carol, which hit CT in 1954 also...
And the basis of this "news" is something "scientific" or something that we "know" at this time, for sure, about some hurricane we "know" will hit New York this year????
No.
This story is done, just to have an excuse to keep the "humans cause global warming" mantra alive, and for absolutely no other "scientific" reason.
Right! Gloria.
I should have remembered. Everyone was blaring the Doors song from their stereos as it approached. Eerie actually.
Lady Liberty better batten down her skirts.
There was a corker of a hurricane in 1935 that carried many large South Shore mansions out to sea. There was a large death toll.
So it does happen.
Heads up, Long Island!
Oops! That was 1938. Lots of links on Google. 600 deaths.
http://www2.sunysuffolk.edu/mandias/38hurricane/
a hurricane is a whole lot different than a snowstorm, especially when you are prepared for snow but not for hurricanes. We get hit with some regularity here and all the northerners freak out. You know who grew up here 'cause we're the ones showing up for work when the hurricane is getting ready to hit.
Of course, I agree, though a blizzard has certainly many elements of the dangers present in a hurricane.
What bothered me in the opening sentence of this article;
A hurricane with only moderate intensity could wreak havoc in New York City because it has been years since the nation's financial center faced severe weather...
Was the inaccuracy of implying, due to poor writing, that it has been years since NY faced severe weather. A better statement would have been to preface severe weather with something like " this kind of."
...because it has been years since the nation's financial center faced this kind of severe weather..
Call me picky, but these writers get paid to write and editors get paid to edit this stuff. As a result of the news medium distorting reality, shunning good news and creating an atmosphere of doom, they bring out the sarcasm in me.
By the standard of the opening sentence, the large snowstorm in NY last February was severe weather and was more current than years ago.
WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM THEM? AN ACCURATE REPORT OF EVENTS AND TIMELY WORNIGS OF DANGER? Jeesh. You act as if they are the news media or something. as if they have some responsibility to tell us what's goin on in the world. that's what hollywood is for. Or didn't you know that already?
the people at PMSnbc and Cnn are there to provide a level of positive stress. It's really more about heart health really.
If you want to know what's going on in the world you're supposed to watch the West wing. Didn't you get the memo?
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