NY: Hurricane Sandy forces mass transit closure, evacuations (Zone A evacuation ordered)

myfoxny.com ^ | 10/28/12 | FOX 5

[NormsRevenge]

MYFOXNY.COM/AP -Transit officials in New York are preparing for a total shutdown of subway, bus and train service as Hurricane Sandy continues to bear down on the metropolitan region.

All service will be suspended at 7 p.m. on Sunday.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to start planning for an orderly suspension of service.

New York City subways and buses will start phasing out service at 7 p.m. Metro-North Railroad and the Long Island Rail Road will suspend service at 7 p.m. Sunday.

The city's mass transit system is the nation's largest. The subway alone has a daily ridership of more than 5 million.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

From St. Augustine Beach, this weekend.

Normally a sloping beach, the cut is 4 feet deep.

Looting has begun!

[Alberta's Child]

You can call it "hype" all you want. My memory is strong enough to be cautious as this sort of thing unfolds. If anything, perhaps the only hype is that this is being referred to as a "hurricane" in the warnings from New Jersey northward. I can pretty much guarantee that the sustained winds will not be strong enough for the storm to be categorized as a hurricane by the time it comes through here. In fact, it won't even be a tropical storm, either.

This is a classic "Nor'easter" the likes of which we don't see more than a couple of times every few decades. The biggest threat, as others have pointed out, is the tidal surge from the storm itself -- exacerbated by the wind out of the east driving waves into inlets and river mouths along the East Coast. This means there will be a surge of ocean water up into these areas while 5-10 inches of rain is falling in the interior of New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. Quite simply, the runoff from the rainfall will not be able to drain out of the watersheds as quickly as usual because of the higher water levels downstream.

Some folks are comparing this to the infamous March 1993 "super-storm," but my recollection is that it may be more similar to the December 1992 storm. For those Freepers who remember that one, it occurred just before Christmas in 1992, and the storm surge was unlike anything I've ever seen in the NYC metro area. Not only did the storm peak during a full moon that made the tides that much higher, but there was also a total lunar eclipse during the full moon that month -- which meant the storm surge came on top of what was an extraordinarily high tide.

[EinNYC]

I have looked at the flood maps for NYC. Thankfully, I don't live in Zone A (most likely to be flooded), B, or C. They have actually called for the MANDATORY evacuations of everyone in Zone A, which includes Battery Park (lower Manhattan), The Rockaways (a barrier island complex south of Brooklyn and Queens), the Long Island City area (next to the East River) and other parts. The Weather Channel guy in a video just out said that those areas would be under water by tomorrow night. Storm surge of 6-11 feet over the normal tides. Winds predicted to be gusting to 80+ mph. They are shutting down the public transportation system in its entirety by 7 p.m. (subways) and 9 p.m. (buses). The commuter trains will also shut down by 7 p.m. Schools are closed (will miracles NEVER cease??????).

So, I am saying that I don't believe this to be merely media hype. I have been watching weather blogs and webpages most of last evening and many of them say, "I am not prone to hyperbole, but folks, this is going to be BAD".

That's why I got out early this morning with my trusty backpack, having found a very sheltered place for my car away from any trees, and hit the stores for more batteries, Purell, cans of tuna, cash, and, most important, crickets for my tiny pet lizards. Hey, they gotta eat, too!

I just hope we don't lose power, but there's a very good chance that we will. Reading by lantern light?

[okie01]

but there was also a total lunar eclipse during the full moon that month -- which meant the storm surge came on top of what was an extraordinarily high tide.

Understand the full moon's relationship to a high tide. But what would a lunar eclipse have to do with it? A shadow has no mass...

[hosepipe]

Preparation for what.... MARTIAL LAW?..

This ‘cane is just a Northeaster.. they happen ever year..
Its not like a category 2 hurricane or 3, 4 or 5..

I suspect something else is at hand.. WHAT?...
Can anyone say.. “President for Life”?...

[Alberta's Child]

A full moon occurs when the moon and sun are on opposite sides of the earth. A lunar eclipse occurs when the moon and sun are exactly on opposite sides of the earth ... meaning the opposing gravitational forces that affect the tides are stronger than what you'd see during a typical full moon.

[elkfersupper]

This is why the powers-that-be all want you dependent on mass transit, people.

They can ground you on a whim.

It's a storm. Storms have been happening on this planet since before there was anything here resembling a living organism.

A century or two ago, people would have just kept plugging. Now, we have to shut down all transportation and wring our hands about it a week before anybody sees any symptoms.

People need to just shut up, saddle their horses and move to shelter until it passes. Oh, wait..........nobody has or knows how to saddle a horse anymore. They all have electric cars that won't go any distance under excellent circumstances and can't plow through a pile of leaves under "adverse" circumstances.

[SamAdams76]

Not saying this won't be a "big blow" for some - with lots of rain. But the media hysteria surrounding this storm is laughable. For most of us in the Northeast, it's going to be a wind-driven rainstorm, something that we should be used to by now.

After all, it was only a year ago at this time that we had a powerful northeaster dump up to a foot of snow in most of interior New England, where many of us lost power for a week or more. I had six inches of slush with downed trees all over my backyard and lost power for four days. I don't remember that being portrayed in the media as an apocalypse. I just fired up the generator, took some cold showers and ate a lot of canned salmon sandwiches for a few days.

Also around Halloween, we had that "Perfect Storm" back in 1991. Five days of rains and severe coastal damage. Not to mention those fisherman that perished and had a movie made about them.

So yes, this will be another big storm, but not the end of the world. I have more cans of salmon (Alaskan sockeye!), plenty of canned sardines and a whole mess of cans of Progresso soup, mostly the chicken and sausage gumbo, which is my favorite.

I don't need to rush to the supermarket like a maniac and clear the shelves of milk and bread - and batteries. I still have batteries from the Y2K scare. They supposedly expired in 2005 but they still work fine when I slide them into my flashlights and transistor radios.

It's just a storm. I live in New England. I'm used to storms. I've got the candles ready to go, lots of beer and some good books to read.

[VeniVidiVici]

Geez. Where’s my freaking shovel?

[Mears]

“So yes, this will be another big storm, but not the end of the world.”
—

I agree. The weather people get positively orgasmic when they have something like this going on.

Boston has cancelled school,though. Now all the kids can go out and hang around the malls.

.

[wtc911]

Not the NY of my youth.

[okie01]

Gotcha.