New York – Bloomberg TO NYC: We Might Have To Evacuate; As New York City Preps For 1st Hurricane In Decades

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    New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, center, briefs the media on the city’s preparations for Hurricane Irene, Thursday, Aug. 25, 2011 in New York. (AP Photo/NYC Mayor’s Office, Kristen Artz)New York – Hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers were told Thursday to pack a bag and prepare to be evacuated as the nation’s biggest city braced for its first hurricane in decades.

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    Mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered nursing homes and five hospitals in low-lying areas evacuated beginning Friday and said he would order 270,000 other people moved by Saturday if the storm stays on its current path.

    Mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered nursing homes and five hospitals in low-lying areas evacuated beginning Friday and said he would order 270,000 other people moved by Saturday if the storm stays on its current path.

    Hurricane Irene was on track to make landfall Saturday in North Carolina and then move up the East Coast, reaching the New York area by late Sunday.

    “For the general public, it’s a good idea to move Friday,” Bloomberg said. “Keep in mind, it is possible — I don’t know that I want to say likely — but it is very conceivable … that Saturday morning at 8 o’clock, we’re going to say, ‘Look, the forecast has not changed. The storm is still barreling down on us. It’s still very dangerous. You must get out of these areas.'”

    Evacuating hundreds of thousands of people would be particularly difficult in New York, where there are about 1.6 million people in Manhattan, many without cars. There are about 6.8 million in the city’s other four boroughs.

    “Don’t wait until the last minute,” the mayor said. “If you can move out on Friday, that’s great.”

    Bloomberg advised residents on the southern tip of Manhattan and on Brooklyn’s Coney Island to start moving items upstairs and to be ready to leave immediately. Apartment building managers emailed residents, telling them to close windows and expect power outages. Flyers were posted in building lobbies.

    “If you have a car and you live in a low-lying area, my suggestion is to park on top of a hill, not in the valley,” Bloomberg said. “It’s those kinds of things. Take some precautions now, so that if it gets to that you’ll have less to do.”

    Irene rolled toward the Carolinas on Thursday with winds of 115 mph. The storm was expected to weaken after brushing North Carolina’s Outer Banks, but it will still likely be a hurricane when it rumbles toward the Northeast.

    Forecasters said passing near Manhattan could lead to a nightmare scenario: shattered glass falling from skyscrapers, flooded subways and seawater coursing through the streets.

    In the last 200 years, New York has seen only a few significant hurricanes. In September of 1821, a hurricane raised tides by 13 feet in an hour and flooded all of Manhattan south of Canal Street, the southernmost tip of the city. The area now includes Wall Street and the World Trade Center memorial.

    In 1938, a storm dubbed the Long Island Express came ashore about 75 miles east of the city on neighboring Long Island and then hit New England, killing 700 people and leaving 63,000 homeless.

    Craig Fugate, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, worries about a storm surge coming into Manhattan, home to some of the most valuable real estate in the country. He noted pictures from a 1944 hurricane where police in Midtown, where Times Square, Broadway theaters and the Empire State Building are located, were standing in waist-deep water.

    “This is going to have a lot of impacts well away from the coastline,” Fugate said. “A little bit of damage over big areas with large populations can add up fast.”

    In Lower Manhattan, few seemed preoccupied with preparations.

    “I live on the 10th floor of a 30-story building,” said Sam Laury, who lives in Battery Park City, one of the areas that Bloomberg said might be evacuated. “I’m sure I’ll be fine.”

    Irene is a large storm, with tropical storm-force winds extending nearly 300 miles from its center. And the storm could hit at a time when high tides reach their highest levels, which could amplify flooding in a city built around bays and rivers. Some experts predict a storm surge of five feet or more. Lower Manhattan could see streets under a few feet of water.

    “In many ways, a Category 2 or stronger storm hitting New York is a lot of people’s nightmare, for a number of reasons,” said Susan Cutter, director of the Hazards and Vulnerability Research Institute at the University of South Carolina.

    Even if the winds aren’t strong enough to damage buildings made largely of brick, concrete and steel, a lot of New York’s subway system and power lines are underground. The city’s airports are close to the water, too, and could be inundated, as could densely packed neighborhoods. Hospitals were told to make sure generators were ready.

    Poised to brush one of the most densely populated parts of the country, Irene could cause billions or even hundreds of billions of dollars in damage, said Kathleen Tierney, director of the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado.


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    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    12 years ago

    There are some frum yidden living in Far Rockaway and some of the other areas that might be prone to flooding this weekend. Given the risk to life, there should be no hesitancy to evacuate on shabbos if that proves necessary. They won’t know until the last minute so if you want to leave, you might not know until after davening on shabbos morning. Don’t worry about being mechallel shabbos in a life threatening emergency.

    missyid
    missyid
    12 years ago

    The OU has comprised “Shabbos protocals for a Hurricane on Shabbos” It was originally comprised by a Rav who used to be Rabbi in Boca Raton. It does not specifically mention about an actual evacuation taking place on Shabbos, but mentions the following and more:
    Do not attempt to go to minyan if Hurricane is active – stay home.
    Carrying for life, death or limb (expect an Eruv to be down)
    Set yartzheit candles before shabbos in various places and/or hang/place flashlights turned on in necessary places throughout the house in case electricity goes out. Plan shabbos food that can also be served without the use of crock pot or electric range.
    Keep radio or TV on in a closed room with the volume down (volume may be raised on shabbos))
    Look for the list.

    12 years ago

    Wow, look at all the scorn by Jews (presumably), towards Jews who simply try to keep the Torah faithfully (even if they are a bit misguided/never learned better).

    What makes you so sure you can raise the volume on Shabbos? What if you could strain and still hear the radio? There’s a reason the guidelines are there and there are legitimate questions that can be asked.

    It’s nice that you’re so smart, but even rabbanim with real learning and smicha under their belts have to sometimes ask others shaalos. Certainly a layman is entitled to ask without being ridiculed.

    May Hashem keep all His children safe.

    Darth_Zeidah
    Darth_Zeidah
    12 years ago

    I grew up in Bournemouth, England – a seaside town for those who do not know it. I recall walking along the promenade (English for “boardwalk”) when an electrical storm blew in.

    The only group to remain on the entire beach during the teeming rain that ensued was a charedi family; in fact, two of them were still frolicking in the sea when the first lightning bolt struck. Nothing would induce them to get up, collect their pekelach and move up to the boardwalk and to take shelter.

    The reason for relating this tale (the incident happened more than 50 years ago) is because there seem to be quite a debate going on here as to whether it would be in order to break Shabbat and to evacuate one’s home if and when c”v a hurricane should arrive. It is said that ‘עם ישראל בטח בה. Nevertheless, a degree of good, old-fashioned שכל often helps too.

    “Just do it!” would seem to be the answer.