New York - Hurricane Warning: Evacuations Ordered, Transit to Shut Down

[ozbob]

Hurricane Warning: Evacuations Ordered, Transit to Shut Down

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Hurricane-Warning-Irene-Evacuations-New-York-New-Jersey.html

[ozbob]

Brisbanetimes --> Hurricane forces 2.3m to flee

A family member is  presently living in  NJ.  They are not in an evacuation area as such, but they expect some significant disruptions to the subway and so forth until the storm passes.

[ozbob]

From the Couriermail click here!

New York transport shutdown starts

New York transport shutdown starts

    From: AFP, AP
    August 28, 2011 2:45AM

THE New York city transport authority launched an unprecedented shutdown of the subway and bus system ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Irene.

Amid fears that subway tunnels could be flooded, as well as the impact of power cuts, the final trains and buses left depots at noon local time (2am AEST) on Saturday.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority said the system was expected to be at a standstill within a couple of hours.

With rain storms already hitting, bus rides were free and no tolls were charged on New York bridges to help those evacuating low-lying areas.

The hurricane moving up the east coast of the US was expected to hit New York City in the coming hours.

The New York metro is one of the world's biggest with 468 stations served by some 6380 subway cars. There are also about 5900 buses.

The MTA has particular concerns about the 13 subway tunnels that go under the rivers that surround Manhattan.

Authorities have also said bridges will close once wind speeds go over 96km/h.

No particular traffic problems have been reported, city authorities said.

The transit system won't reopen until at least on Monday, after pumps remove water from flooded subway stations.

Even on a dry day, 49 million to 57 million litres of water are removed from the tunnels deep underground.

The shutdown included the Long Island Rail Road, Metro-North Railroad and Access-A-Ride.

About 1.6 million people live in Manhattan, and about 6.8 million live in the city's other four boroughs.

The city's public transit system carries about 5 million passengers on an average weekday, and the entire system has never before been halted because of a natural disaster.

[O_128]

Out of curiosity does water get pumped out of all tunnels like that or is it because those tunnels are so old.

[ozbob]

It is an old system, I guess they have always had water issues.

Meanwhile ..

From Brisbanetimes click here!

Five dead as Irene threatens carnage

Five dead as Irene threatens carnage
August 28, 2011 - 10:04AM

A weaker but still menacing Hurricane Irene knocked out power and piers and and churned up the US east coast to confront cities more accustomed to snowstorms than tropical storms.

New York City emptied its streets and subways and waited with an eerie quiet.

With most of its transportation machinery shut down, the eastern seaboard spent Saturday nervously watching the storm's march across a swath of the nation inhabited by 65 million people.
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New York's Fifth Avenue is eerily quiet as the city awaits Hurricane Irene to hit.

New York's Fifth Avenue is eerily quiet as the city awaits Hurricane Irene to hit. Photo: AP

The hurricane had an enormous 800-kilometre wingspan and packed wind gusts of 185km/h, knocking out power to 900,000 homes and businesses.

Although it was too early to assess the full threat, Irene was blamed for five deaths.

The hurricane stirred up two-metre waves and forecasters warned of storm-surge danger on the coasts of Virginia and Delaware, along the Jersey Shore and in New York Harbour and Long Island Sound.

In the north-east, drenched by rain this summer, the ground is already saturated, raising the risk of flooding.

Irene made its official landfall just after first light near Cape Lookout, North Carolina, at the southern end of the Outer Banks, the ribbon of land that bows out into the Atlantic Ocean.

Shorefront hotels and houses were lashed with waves. Two piers were destroyed, and at least one hospital was forced to run on generator power.

By afternoon, the storm had weakened to sustained winds of 129km/h, down from 161km/h on Friday.

That made it a category one, the least threatening on a one-to-five scale, and barely stronger than a tropical storm.

Its centre was positioned almost exactly where North Carolina meets Virginia at the Atlantic, and it was moving more slowly, at 21km/h, and back out toward the ocean.

The deaths included two children, an 11-year-old boy in Virginia killed when a tree crashed through his roof and a North Carolina child who died in a crash at an intersection where traffic lights were out.

In addition, a North Carolina man was killed by a flying tree limb, a passenger died when a tree fell on in a car in Virginia, and a surfer in Florida was killed in heavy waves.

It was the first hurricane to make landfall in the continental United States since 2008, and came almost six years to the day after Katrina ravaged New Orleans.

Experts guessed that no other hurricane in American history had threatened as many people.

At least 2.3 million were under orders to move to somewhere safer, although it was unclear how many obeyed or, in some cases, how they could.

Defence Secretary Leon Panetta told 6500 troops from all branches of the military to get ready to pitch in on relief work, and President Barack Obama visited the Federal Emergency Management Agency's command centre in Washington and offered moral support.

"It's going to be a long 72 hours," he said, "and obviously a lot of families are going to be affected."

In New York, authorities began the herculean job of bringing the city to a halt. The subway began shutting down at noon, the first time the system was closed because of a natural disaster.

On Wall Street, sandbags were placed around subway grates near the East River because of fear of flooding. The city was far quieter than on an average Saturday. In some of the busiest parts of Manhattan, it was possible to cross a major avenue without looking, and the waters of New York Harbour, which might normally be churning from boat traffic, were quiet before the storm.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg warned New Yorkers that elevators in public housing would be shut down, and elevators in some high-rises would quit working so people don't get trapped if the power goes out.

"The time to leave is right now," Bloomberg said at an outdoor news conference at Coney Island, his shirt soaked from rain.

The five main New York-area airports - La Guardia, JFK and Newark, plus two smaller ones - waved in their last arriving flights around noon. Professional sports events were postponed and Broadway theatres were dark.

New York has seen only a handful of hurricanes in the past 200 years. The north-east is much more used to snowstorms - including the blizzard last December, when Bloomberg was criticised for a slow response.

Airlines said 9000 flights were cancelled, including 3000 on Saturday. Airlines declined to say how many passengers would be affected, but it could easily be millions.

AP

Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/world/five-dead-as-irene-threatens-carnage-20110828-1jg56.html

[ozbob]

Out of curiosity does water get pumped out of all tunnels like that or is it because those tunnels are so old.

Old article here with a few clues ..  click here!

[Golliwog]

Pretty sure all tunnels have pumps. Even the new EB tunnels have them (the stat was the Logan tunnel pumps could empty the Langlands swimming pool in 10 minutes). In pretty much every case you can't just have your standard drainage which is just gravity as you are below all the normal drainage pipes, and roads. Whether the water comes in just through the tunnel mouth, or seeps in through the walls though would be down the how impervious to water the walls are, as well as if there are any groundwater flows in the area. Even concrete isn't completely water proof, but IIRC its hydraulic conductivity is incredibly low.

[ozbob]

From the Couriermail click here!

New York City transit agency finishes system shutdown for Hurricane Irene

New York City transit agency finishes system shutdown for Hurricane Irene

NEW York City transit officials say they've finished an unprecedented shutdown of the nation's biggest system of subways, buses and commuter rail services ahead of Hurricane Irene.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority said today it had secured all its equipment and sent employees home.

The transit system stopped running at noon (local time) today. It's the first time officials have ordered the giant network shut down because of bad weather.

Sandbags and tarps were placed on or around subway grates.

The transit system won't reopen until at least Monday, after pumps remove water from flooded stations. The subways routinely flood during even ordinary storms and have to be pumped out.

The transit system carries about five million passengers on an average weekday. The last time it was seriously hobbled was an August 2007 rainstorm that disabled or delayed every subway line

[ozbob]

AccuWeather.com --> Eye of Irene to Pass Near NYC, New Jersey and Delaware

[ozbob]

Some interesting photographs in this article ..

Mail Online --> Irene begins to batter New York as the city is reduced to a ghost town and hours of torrential rain fuel fears of severe flooding

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> New York has got through Irene: officials