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Hurricane Irene Prompts Unprecedented Evacuation of NYC

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."

18 of 395 comments (clear)

  1. Re:DC Traffic sucks... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Earthquakes, hurricanes. It is abundantly clear god has chosen sides in the New York gay marriage debate.

  2. Re:DC Traffic sucks... by mooingyak · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yeah he gets a little carried away with the whole happy dance thing.

    --
    William of Ockham had no beard. The most likely explanation is that it was chewed off by squirrels every morning.
  3. Re:firearms by Kenja · · Score: 5, Funny

    So... you're going to shoot the hurricane?

    --

    "Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
  4. Why of why by Vinegar+Joe · · Score: 1, Funny

    Isn't Bush sending troops to rescue the poor black people of New Orleans from certain death? He's a redneck Texas cowboy racist is why!

    Wait! It's 2011? And this is New York and Bush is gone?

    Never mind........past the hummus and pita chips.

    --
    "The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
  5. Re:firearms by The+Dawn+Of+Time · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hopefully he aims for the eye. That's the weak spot.

  6. Re:firearms by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Is that a metaphor for "masturbating"?

  7. DC Earthquake by rudy_wayne · · Score: 2, Funny

    Here's a photo of the devastation resulting from Tuesday's earthquake in Washington DC

  8. Re:firearms by GaryOlson · · Score: 3, Funny

    Just like they do in Texas -- sit on the porch and shoot anything that moves.

    --
    Every mans' island needs an ocean; choose your ocean carefully.
  9. Re:Hello from the front lines in Brooklyn by dcollins · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Bring it Irene."

    Rule #1: Do Not Taunt.

    --
    We know where leadership by an anti-intellectual "strongman" who scapegoats minorities and likes boisterous rallies goes
  10. Re:Hello from the front lines in Brooklyn by mellon · · Score: 5, Funny

    Also, once you have Irene cornered, no monologueing.

  11. Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by GNUALMAFUERTE · · Score: 3, Funny

    Cat-2? In 2011? Damn. I was expecting at least Cat5e.

    --
    WTF am I doing replying to an AC at 5 A.M on a Friday night?
  12. Re:subject by ffreeloader · · Score: 2, Funny

    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/sell, allot/a_lot, allowed/aloud, etc....

    About half the people couldn't read their own papers and tell you what they were trying to say when asked what they meant to communicate. It was so bad you couldn't even help them edit their papers because they had forgotten/never_knew what they meant themselves. Their writing was complete gibberish.

    The foreign exchange students from China and Japan knew English better than the students who had gone through 12 years of classes related to the English language and spoken it all their lives.

    It's no wonder there are so many socialists today. The English comprehension level of so many people is so low they don't understand the implications of what they're told or read.

    --
    "while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude." de Tocqueville
  13. at least by mevets · · Score: 4, Funny

    the looters will get nice, clean firearms after they shoot your eejit head off.

  14. Re:According to wunderground... by ArsonSmith · · Score: 4, Funny

    Volcanoes are nothing, wait till you mistake something for a small moon.

    Signed,
    Alderaan X-Resident

    --
    Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.
  15. Re:firearms by DerekLyons · · Score: 1, Funny

    That's because masturbation isn't a prerequisite for disaster preparedness. If it makes you feel better, go for it, but don't delude yourself that it's useful.

  16. Re:But they don't have cars. by Anachragnome · · Score: 4, Funny

    "I'm still scared-- stockpiling on water and going to bunker down in my basement..."

    Dude. Flood. Basement. Dig?

  17. Re:But they don't have cars. by Gordonjcp · · Score: 3, Funny

    Is it not something like 120mph winds, though? Why are they causing this much disruption?

    Here in Scotland we call that January...

  18. Re:Some aren't leaving by Kell+Bengal · · Score: 5, Funny

    Cue the movie trailer guy:
    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!"

    ... fights against the power of nature.

    "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.

    --
    Scientists point out problems, engineers fix them
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