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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."
I've lived in or near NYC my entire life, and seen all kinds of NYC and LI traffic. Having said that, nothing I've been stuck in here has ever been worse than the times I've driven on I-95 between DC and Richmond during daylight hours.
William of Ockham had no beard. The most likely explanation is that it was chewed off by squirrels every morning.
How can they get far enough to leave? Where will they stay? Why did the mayor wait so long?
And will looters be running around with the theft equivalent of a Japanese fishing trawler? I mean, you can't take all your stuff with you. You could strip whole buildings.
Reminder: Please save the hurricane jokes until people are mostly safe and/or completely fucked.
My brother is running a mainframe in northern New Jersey. He's staying.
"The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
One thing (of many) I am doing that most public officials, the media and emergency management officials always fail to talk about: cleaning and inspecting my firearms.
lol
Man I could go for some hurricane rain here in DFW. But seriously stay safe, don't end up a darwin award. Don't be stupid.
So, what happens if someone stays behind? And what about those who are in jail?
(Thankfully I don't live on the East coast.)
cause this place is dead....
I'm in NYC. My plan is to tie some things down on my roof and order some more alcohol.
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't keep without refrigeration!
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
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....
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
Isn't it Category 2? (Ooo. 100 MPH winds.) And that's when it hits North Carolina. It will be 1 by the time it gets to NYC.
And what unprecedented? You guys already evacuated everything for a weak earthquake that was 350 miles away.
What is this? Overreact to distant disasters week?
We wish you well! Courage!
A bunch of pussyies !! Ugly to boot !! Snookie anyone ?? Is that Weehawken's answer to ugly or what ??
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
A hero is someone who knows when to run away. I am a hero. -Trent the Uncatchable
.. then Iraq, the next target will be South Africa. The war on terror will take good care of those damn butterflies.
... 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.
Imagine all the people...
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.
Shameless plug for my photos on Flickr
Telling people who have a high probability of being killed by a large storm with a moderately predictable trajectory to get out. How dare the government interfere with their right to die of their own free will.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
When you need him?
"The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
Hurricanes are just God blowing kisses.
Florida must be making fun of us the same way that Californians were making fun of us earlier this week. I don't care, we got better cheesesteaks than you. Whiz, wit. Represent.
sysadmins and parents of newborns get the same amount of sleep.
ok this is what happening, my parents are out with family friends, and theyll be back any minute so i need your help see, i volunteer on my sister's softball team (im 22 the girls are 15) and whatever, i met this girl, her name is Alison, and were going out for a while. We have a lot in common, and sometimes i help her with homework. i helped her with her english essay and she still got a D... this is because her teacher is a prick... anywayz so she came over like an hour ago, and i really want to lose my virginity, so i ask her to have sex "no no i cant, its not right" she said, but i told her "dont worry, i know what im doing, ill be done in like 10 seconds, plus ill give you 2 n64 games if you say yes." So then I gave her Diddy Kong Racing and Ken Griffy Jr. Baseball and we went up to my room. she is a bit confused and scared. then i think to myself- yo i need lube, right? cuz i heard other people saying you need to lube up her clit otherwise it wont fit in properly. ok so i have no lube, but i really want to lose my virginity, so i grab some butter from the fridge, but its cold and it wont melt, so i microwaved it for 8 minutes and i put it in a glass and poured it on her cooter, and now shes saying i burned it. i dont know what to do, my parents are going to be back any minute and shes crying in the bathroom plz help you guys are really smart please help me. any idea how to shut her up? should i give her another n64 game?
This is going to be the first sustained wind even for most areas north of NC. MANY dead and weak branches and trees will be knocked down by Irene. I suspect a mess of power lines are gonna be knocked down. I doubt anyone is in grave peril here (it's too perilous!). But millions of folks will spend the weekend and longer without power. Trust a bayou dweller; get the stinky stuff out'cha freezer and fridge. After 3 days it gets nasty. Good luck.
Sig Registration Form 34c_766(a) submitted to Ministry of Signature Management. Approval pending.
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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.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
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.
"To those who are overly cautious, everything is impossible. "
Here's a photo of the devastation resulting from Tuesday's earthquake in Washington DC
"the cities coastal areas"
This is what journalism has come to. Writers who can't fucking write.
But it's not like the stores are packed, things are relatively calm.
I plan on turning my computer off once the winds and rain start and bunkering down in the underground basement with my laptop and iPhone (and battery-doubler) although power and cell lines are likely to go down for days, possibly more worst-case. Hopefully things will go smoothly and damage will be kept to a minimum. Still, something scary about the eye of a hurricane passing right over your neighborhood. I'm just hoping the top won't be blown off the house.
--pyro_dude
I'm from Staten Island and the block directly across the street from me is in hurricane "Zone A". I'm in Zone B, there's a Zone C, and the rest of the middle of the island isn't zoned at all.
Bloomberg is evacuating all of Zone A, and they can either leave the island, or go to any friend or relatives house not in Zone A, or 5 designated evacuation centers. (5 public high schools, one of which I went to.)
Here's a map for anyone in NYC to determine what zone you live in if you aren't aware:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/oem/downloads/pdf/hurricane_map_english.pdf
Goddamm NYC is home to so many rats you'd think it was, uh, New York City OF RATS !! If it can drown even one tenth of one percent of a tenth of a percent of one percent, a few homeless, too, who can say it's a bad thing ?? Besides, this way you can suck out some more moolah from John Q. Taxpayer to pay off the corrupt office holders.
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.
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 sure we have a week of food in the house for peeps *and* cats (check, I usually do, could prob. go 2 on what we have)
6) Making sure I have cash in the house (ATMs might die if net/power goes)
7) Making sure I have candles and lighters/matches
8) Making sure I have adequate whisky!
DONE.
A hero is someone who knows when to run away. I am a hero. -Trent the Uncatchable
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 concerned.
So I did what I normally do on a Friday: I cut out of town at 2:00 pm to drive back to the WNY area for the weekend. However, instead of taking my usual 86 / 17 route, which was nuts with traffic, I heard, I drove back roads following the upper Delaware scenic bypass and enjoyed the quiet, if slightly longer drive.
I do hope my apartment is still standing when I head back. My office building - I can take it or leave it...
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.
"Here's what's happening. You're starting to drive like your Dad..." - Red Green
While buildings are built strong for NYC, they are not designed for hurricanes and/or tornadoes as much as say... a place like Florida. To give slashdotters a comparison to help pull their heads out of their butts, New Yorkers might laugh at the roads being closed in South Carolina over an inch of snow, but holy fuck there are a lot of accidents in that day if they don't.
Those are the worst. When they have mandatory evacuations 24 hours before a major earthquake.
I hate those.
When the World Trade Centers were hit, the nation came together, and there was a lot of sympathy for New York. When a trailer park in Kansas was hit with a tornado, New Yorkers laughed at those stupid Southerners, who were too stupid to live in a house, because they are from the South, and hence bigoted and all stupid and stuff .
I wonder if it works like this for Hurricanes. Does this mean that people living in trailers get to laugh at New Yorkers when a natural disaster comes along. Somehow I don't think Southerners will do this. The Southerners being the racist clan loving bigoted inbred sister fucking homophobes(sp) that they are will still find some sympathy for New York. Go figure. This just goes to show that being a nice decent person and showing some respect for humanity will not get you far. It will get you labeled a bigoted inbred sister fucking fagot by a New Yorker.
-OP is a faaaggggooottttt
-New Yoiker.
Never mind the US dollar compared to AUD we have free stuff in aisles 1 through 34th street
http://www.awfullybigmoustache.com
After 9/11, emergency flood gates were supposed to be installed in the NYC subway system. Water from fire hoses alone was enough to eventually completely flood the PATH tunnels to New Jersey. If the cement box that kept the Hudson River from pouring into the site had cracked open, the subway system would have flooded up to midtown. As of late 2010, some flood gates were being installed.
The Pennsylvania Railroad tunnels to New Jersey already had flood gates (the PRR built to last), but they'd been neglected and weren't working. Amtrak has since fixed them.
Buses and subways prepared to shut on Saturday as Hurricane Irene approaches as well.
Is there more than one hurricane approaching?
the looters will get nice, clean firearms after they shoot your eejit head off.
Don't let a crisis go to waste. Lots of money to be made!
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.
Those should be happy with pretty much anything. Low voltage, high voltage, wrong current, non-sine wave, doesn't much matter to them they should work with it all.
Dear New York,
It's barely a hurricane. Suck it up.
Sincerely,
Florida
Did anyone else notice the two large circular cloud formations out over the central and western Gulf of Mexico visible in the summary link "Irene is Big"?
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hurricanes/archives/2011/h2011_Irene.html
Look closely at the image linked--there are two almost perfect circles of forming cloud, as well as a few smaller ones near the western-most circle.
I've never seen clouds form like that. The one in the central Gulf almost seems to defy wind flow, as evidenced by the two "streaked" formations that go right over it. Perhaps the difference is simply altitude.
My wife's first random guess was oil-booms (oil on the surface altering reflection rates and water-surface temps). Anyone else?
Oh, and hey, there's a big hurricane headed toward you guys...
I'm in Zone A in Brooklyn, part of the mandatory evacuation area. I live in a basement apartment that is sure to be flooded. I moved everything I couldn't live without out to a friend's today and am stacking everything else 2-3 feet above the floor just in case.
I suppose more of you would be satisfied if it were a Cat-2 or Cat-3 when it hits NYC, somehow 70mph winds with 15-20 inches of rain and a 10-15 foot swell isn't enough for you. The economic hit of suspending the city for 2 days isn't enough for you. Do you want a Katrina disaster? I don't get it.
Anyways, fuck you, back to packing for me.
I have uploaded the PDF, to a seperate URL. Push it around social networks if you live in New York. If the original server goes down, people can use this one. Good luck all! http://coloniesonline.co.uk/hurricane_map_english.pdf
NYT Opened their paywall this weekend to provide storm coverage for all.
Go NYT!
It's the only way - it worked in Texas for Perry.
Hurry!!! Waste no time!!! The world will end in moments!!!
People who live in grass huts survive these kinds of storms and worse every year. The Caribbean and South Pacific get raked with these storms on a regular basis, without the panic and need to escalate to Code Red. It will rain. There will be flooding. There will be trees knocked down. There will be power outages. And there will be tomorrow. People who have infinitely less than we survive these storms. I'm sorry if you might miss a show because the tv is out. And it will be a damn shame if you have to eat peanut butter and jelly for a day or 2, rather than that steak that was ruined because the power went out.
Let's just put on our big boy pants now, and stop acting like the little scared bitches that our government, by way of the media hysteria, wants us to be, so that they can gain a stronger control over us. Pee your pants if you must, but just change them and be a big boy again.
We live in the industrial capital of the world, yet people who live in grass huts tremble less than we do at a storm? Caribbean and South Pacific residents get pounded year in and year out by storms far more destructive, but we are the ones running scared? It will rain. It will flood, Power will be lost. Trees will fall. And through it all, tomorrow will still come. In a few days, our lives will be restored. We will have had to suffer through a day or 2 of peanut butter and jelly, rather than the steak that was ruined. We will miss a tv show. Oh the humanity!!!! Put on your big boy pants, and grow up. Stop letting the government drive you further into fear, through the media, which allows them to gain more control over you. If you get scared, pee your pants if you must. Then change them, and get back to being a big boy. We have become a nation of whiny bitches, incapable of dealing with anything outside the limits of the norm. If something happens in your neighborhood, go out and help make it better. If a neighbor needs help, stop worrying about yourself, and get out there and help. Have to old lady who lives alone over, to ride out the storm with people who care. There is strength in numbers. A group is less likely to be scared. And when it is over, learn to be nice to your neighbors.
Wins the douche bag of the year award AGAIN. He's such a douche bag, when will New Yorkers show they have some brains and elect someone with a clue?
oh and according to one jewish minister it's the homosexuals fault too.
AC this late in the game will get buried by this many other comments (I love how articles on /. which don't require technical background get 10x the comments as the rest - oh how things have changed!) but I spent thirty seconds putting the map up on ifile.it. NYC server seems to be doing better though.
http://ifile.it/6qbwh85/hurricane_map_english.pdf
The summary says "of the cities coastal areas".
As somebody who lives "only" three kilometres away from the beaches here in Australia, I wonder how far inland these coastal areas go they are evacuating now. And how much the height of their areas is compared with sea level. Anybody any ideas on this?
Some interesting articles on the how and why NY and surounding areas are at risk.
Google earth rendering of the possible flooding (4.3m storm surge for a cat 2 hurricane)
The one thing that the media and this model does not take into account is the underground infrastructure factor which could extend the flooding (underground) up to 2 miles further from the edge of the on land storm surge (the model only shows above ground).
http://seaandskyny.com/2011/02/14/the-nyc-storm-surge-threat/
http://seaandskyny.com/2011/02/09/the-scientific-significance-of-the-only-hurricane-ever-to-directly-hit-nyc/
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080730175524.htm
It's no wonder there are so many evangelical right-wingers today. The English comprehension level of so many people is so low they think everything is magical, so they can pick whatever magic story 'feels best'.
There. Fixed that for you.
Your PC makes the BEST presentation layer for admiring the satellite data, and it's free. Weather reports are free too, but are too quick, have weathermen covering the data, and can't be rotated to explorer at your leisure --you can even zoom into your local streets and look up to review cloud appearance from the ground.
Fire up Google Earth and look at the radar / cloud pictures (probably close to real-time). Just tick the Weather "layer" and you can select which sublayers to enable, and even take JPEGs.
in the last 10 years. The hysteria that the "News" is whipping up is much more dangerous than a little wind and rain.
We live in a neighborhood in Brooklyn that is higher than the top of the Statue of Liberty, and yet the mouth-breathers were still panicking and fighting over bottled water in the supermarket. Can Fox News, CNN, and the others be held criminally liable for inciting to riot, because that's exactly what they're doing.
Here's a thought: one of the feared aspects of a hurricane is lots of rain, which conveniently means if you want fresh water you can put a pot out your window and catch yourself some. And as far as food goes, most Americans are so fat they could live on their paunches for at least a month before they need to eat again.
In short, it's. Going. To. Be. OK. Really.
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
includes evac areas for ny metro area:
http://google.org/crisismap
If you're like me and far enough from it so you're only forecast is rain & storm, you should still get provisions for a few days. I can live without power and survive even though it's going to be hot, humid and I have a newborn in the house.
The US grid is simply not prepared to handle several sudden cuts from both power sources and power drains. NYC is a big power drain and has a few power sources as well.
You may be out of the way from the natural forces but the forces of forgotten human greed extend well beyond it.
Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
CNN showing the idiots surfing at Wrightsville Beach, NC. Why encourage it?
Encourage surfing in pre or post-hurricane conditions? (No surfer actually wants to surf *during* a hurricane, as I'm sure you're aware.) As if they're doing something wrong or beyond their limits? You have no clue what you're talking about. I can guarantee you that the average east coast surfer has a much better understanding of hurricane surfing (and dealing with local hurricane conditions in general) than you, the governor, the cops, or even John Hope of the weather channel.
All that matters is how hard it hits me. (That sounds mean, I know, but it's true. When it comes to damage to my home, it only matters how hard Irene hits... my home. Not whether or not it hits x00 miles away too.)
Err, no. You also care what happens to everyone else -- or, at least, you will. For just one trivial example, eventually you'll need to go out for supplies. How far will you have to go to find a gasoline station with gasoline -- and with electricity to pump it? When Hurricane Wilma hit south Florida in 2005, a metropolitan area of more than three million people was suddenly in that situation, and the social structure almost broke down as people discovered that the nearest gasoline was two or three counties away. So was fresh water, food, prescription medicines, roofing materials, replacement windows, cell phone coverage, and everything else people needed to get back on their feet.
In short, you care "whether or not it hits x00 miles away too," because you will depend on your neighbors outside the damage area to help you recover from the storm.
Yes, instead of mirroring the link as the 'reader' so sagely suggested, let's link directly to it on the front page of Slashdot.
Bring loose stuff inside, keep a disaster kit, sure. But don't spread that old saw about taping your windows. Taping your windows does absolutely nothing except waste your time: The tape doesn't keep the window from breaking when the 100 mph flying debris hits it, and the broken glass quickly shreds the tape.
Use plywood, or aluminum hurricane shutters, instead.
Smiling to myself and being glad I live in tornado alley, safe from even the biggest hurricanes.
We got solar houses in enchanting New Mexico waiting for you.
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?