Hurricane Sandy

[Isaac Sauvage]

here in northern ohio we've been getting nonstop drizzle and winds, and we're only on the projected edge of the storm (but right off lake erie). meanwhile, many NYC streets are flooded already, with a lot worse to come.

what's kind of eerie is the fact that this monster storm is moving so slowly but with such irresistible force. people are twittering all kinds of flood pics and have been talking online about it all day, but in a few hours (like 9PM ET) is when they're really going to get pounded... and then again at 9AM, apparently. a lot of those same people posting online are going to suddenly disappear at some point, and we're all going to have a pretty good idea why.

scary shit. and if FEMA hasn't already blown it's budget for the year, i reckon this puts it over the top decisively.

then you have guys like this... while NYC is getting flooded, he decides it's a good time to go out jet-skiing:
Jet Skier rides in Hurricane Sandy up New York Harbor 5pm 10-29-2012 Crazy! - YouTube

 

[Shockman]

That one missed us by about 60 miles (the edge). It might have accounted for a what could pass as a normal breeze today. The season should be over now.

 

[faralos]

I live in NE PA but my mom lives in Toms River, NJ
about 40 miles of where it's to make landfall
she is in a progressive care unit
which already is using their back up generators
as they lost power around 3pm today
she is now 'stuck' too as no one can get anywhere near enough
to her to get her out if need be
My prayers are with her all through this mess

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

good luck to your mom, faralos.


winds are really picking up, here. i think they're supposed to hit 70mph or more a little later. power outages in some parts of cleveland.

 

[kristian]

That's terrible to hear faralos. Fingers crossed that she'll be OK.

Underwater power station exploded in Manhattan. Scary shit.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-10-29/video-coned-station-fdr-and-14th-street-exploding

 

[Itchigo]

It's all my fault, sorry, my bad. I caused Global Warming by driving my pickup truck. Seriously though, our thoughts and prayers go with everyone effected. Praying everyone makes it through.

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

pretty much headed straight for us, now. but hopefully in the afternoon it makes that massive course correction and heads north.

NYC:

ocean city, NJ:

 

[sleepy]

How is everyone in the storm's path doing?

And Ike, I would hope the storm would just quit instead of having its way with others. But I hope you're doing okay.

I think this is my favorite picture for now. It transcends the moment.
It came from http://www.ctvnews.ca

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

thanks, sleepy. it did the scheduled course correction this afternoon and tailed off greatly in strength.

often during lightning storms i lose power after a shaft hits something nearby, but i guess since this was a wind storm it spared me this time... and affected 350,000 other people in the region. still, nothing close to the eight million who lost power in the east.

the other thing here was leaks. during heavy rainstorms there's rarely a problem across the building AFAIK, but this time it was coming in through the ceilings and the walls. a product of the winds, i guess. the neighbor below me knocked on my door and woke me up night (twice!) to tell me that the flood entering my northern windows was coming through his ceiling. we checked, and there was nothing on my end. it must have been making it through the bricks in the sides of the building, i guess.


anyway, i just remembered you're on dialup, so will only link these pics:

boat jumble:
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mcq0q33kSM1rk5eu3o1_1280.jpg

some kind of building?
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mcq2281vkG1rk5eu3o1_1280.jpg

poor manhatten: (surely that can't be real?)
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mcq394HPOV1retgiio1_500.png

the subways... out for the next several weeks, no doubt:
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mcq390Xu7l1qidi44o1_500.jpg

 

[sleepy]

I'm glad boat jumble wasn't a pile of houseboats.
That would be different out here at Morro Bay, Ca., which is a houseboat community.
I once pulled in to the Bay one night and the houseboats were there under towering pine trees around the bay. It was beautiful.

On another night I took a small road along the coast and wound up face to face with a towering 10 story Chevron oil tanker. Those ships are Huge in person.

So right now I am wondering if there is a houseboat lifestyle affected by the storm, and for sure, I would rather be on the tanker in that case.

 

[mrschultz]

Here just south of Philly it wasn't that bad, seems inland in the direct path of the center was the best place to be. To the north the winds were much worse, to the south the rain was much worse, and up and down the coast was very bad. The power outages around me were the opposite of Irene, I had power but the center of town lost it. My dad up in CT lost power for 3 days. Crazy how huge this storm was, the center was over me and 200 miles north where my dad is they got hurricane force winds.

The official track put it right over my weather station at work betwen 10 and 11 Monday night, here's the graph:

 

[sleepy]

I think the size of the storm was reportedly based on having three weather fronts involved, and all three fronts collided.

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

yea, i was definitely worried about philly since they were very close to widener / chester. guess it was kind of the eye of the hurricane thing? good to hear you're alright, mrschultz, and thanks for the info.

about that, one thing i'm increasingly finding as i try to follow the news of GCC and these ever-more powerful storms is that a beginners / intermediate knowledge of climatology is a must. even dumbed-down, a lot of these articles are becoming too hard to follow otherwise. "changes in arctic ice providing icy wind fronts pushing back against north-moving events, causing some to double back or veer towards NYC as the case may be." stuff which happens on the other side of the world which impacts us here, etc, etc.

one other thing that happened here is that my beautiful herringbone floor got damaged pretty good near the north window. that's bad news since it's the smooth wooden floor that made for such a good playing surface for table tennis. seems that it was indeed wind and rain-saturated brick that thrust a bunch of moisture into the underflooring, which came up through the wooden slats and curled their edges. just trying to walk across them now, one almost trips with every step. 40 apts here in my 7-floor building got similarly damaged, apparently.

 

[mrschultz]

I think the size of the storm was reportedly based on having three weather fronts involved, and all three fronts collided.

Yeah, pretty bad timing, the normal track would have had the hurricane going out to sea, but there was a high out in the northern Atlantic blocking it, and a low over the great lakes pulling it backwards to the west. All those systems seemed to make each other stronger. Then once the hurricane merged with the arctic low it turned into a gigantic winter storm. So we had winds out of the south after it passed but it was cold air, not the normal tropical air you get after a hurricane. Just plain weird all around...

 

[tiltjlp]

I have friends in Nutley NJ, which is maybe 7.5-10 miles in from Hoboken. I haven't heard from them, and can only hope they'll be OK. Donated what I could to the American Red Cross, which only made me fell more helpless.

 

[sleepy]

My family was helped after the Northridge Earthquake by The Red Cross. A very worthy organization.

After the earthquake, we saw the Van Nuys, Ca. Anheuser-Busch (Budweiser) plant convert their beer canning machines over to can water for free emergency distribution,
and the cans were specifically printed for emergency water use.
They weren't using Bud cans.

Are any companies doing this for Sandy relief?

 

[faralos]

I lost power and heat from Monday at 7pm till yesterday (Friday at 3pm)
my mom toughed it out too after losing her electric, heat and gas Monday night
also just getting it turned back on Yesterday around 2pm
we had winds here clocked at 85mph (Hatfield, pa.; NE area of pa)
but not too much flooding due to being up in the mountains
numerous trees came down though taking out two local houses
and many power lines were felled due to trees landing on them
we are back up and ion good standing now though
it's areas like Levittown (older community with many old trees)
that are still flooded with many wires down and crushed homes
from toppled trees

 

[faralos]

I have friends in Nutley NJ, which is maybe 7.5-10 miles in from Hoboken. I haven't heard from them, and can only hope they'll be OK. Donated what I could to the American Red Cross, which only made me fell more helpless.

Nutley while close to Hoboken should have been far enough inland to have not gotten the brunt of the storm front
I used to live there so I know it is kind of protected and much further inland than Hoboken which sits near the Hudson River
(fingers crossed) I ampraying for your friends safety

 

[tiltjlp]

I finally got an e-mail from my buddy in Nutley. They lost power and heat Monday about 5PM, and had it restored Friday about 7PM. Much quicker than I imagined from the pictures of the area. Their old place, a bit closer to the shore, was really messed up, he said.