Fortunately, those big steam lines are only in certain parts of Manhattan, for the skyscrapers. They wouldn't take out the main water tunnels. But as far as an earthquake, with close to 100 miles of tunnels extendig north to the Catskills, we would be hurtin'.

One lesson learned from yesterday's transit disruption, if you are bugging out of NYC, the only way you are getting out is on two wheels (bike or motorcycle) or on two legs. Maybe by boat, but first you have to get to the water.

Actually, I'm not sure that's totally true. I witnessed a burst steam main, very similar to the Grand Central one, up in the Upper East Side, and there are no skyscrapers in that immediate area. The steam cloud easily shot up above the surrounding brownstones and sounded just like a jet engine. I couldn't hear myself yelling and I was a couple blocks (short blocks, not the long avenue blocks) away. Anyway, I'm just saying that it's hard to know where there are and aren't steam mains.

I felt a tiny earthquake once in NYC. I recall that the epicenter was actually in the Upper East Side. We eat earthquakes here in California for breakfast, but in NYC, with all those really old unreinforced masonry buildings, a good 5.0 could bring a lot of buildings down. Despite regular inspections, you see buildings lose their brick facades from time to time, too. Imagine walking down the street on the sidewalk and all the buildings are shedding their brick facades down on your head during an earthquake!

Agreed. I've often felt that an inflatable / collapsable boat of some sort would be a good last-ditch effort tool to get out of the city and up to my in-laws place in the Catskills. Roll it down the hill to the Gowanus and start paddling. . .

I've come to the conclusion, however, that the most likely widespread natural disaster in NYC is a hurricane direct hit, and I would not want to be on the water if that was the case! Thus, most of my preps involve being ready to bug-in for a few weeks. Hence, my concerns about the water system.

I have plans for a more detailed post on urban/NYC centric preps. It seems like there's some interest, so I'll try and get to work on it.

You are probably right that a hurricane is the most likely natural disaster. The good thing about hurricanes is that we'll probably have plenty of warning in advance. I wouldn't want to be paddling up the Hudson in a rubber boat though. Nothing like the prospect of 200 mph winds less than 48 hours away to provide plenty of motivation though.

I for one would be very interested in your NYC centric prep ideas. I have a few ideas myself. Who knows, maybe with enough interest even an ETS NYC get together?

"...They wouldn't take out the main water tunnels..."

Water tunnels is a foreign term to me, so I assuming that is the big tube that brings lots of water into the city. But I also assume that there are smaller "pipes" bringing water into individual buildings, wouldn't those be vulnerable???

I would hope that they (the powers that be) have learned from NOLA's example and use this as an opportunity to identify the weakspots in their emergency preparedness system/infrastructure.

Politicians and bureaucrats being what they are, I wouldn't hold my breath.

YOYO (You're On You're Own).

That would be great and much appreciated!

Your assumption is correct. Probably should have explained it better. Three thirteen-foot wide tunnels bring water in from three separate watersheds and branch out to smaller water mains.

A steam explosion near water mains would undoubtedly take out sections of Manhattan's water supply. Maybe even pretty significant sections. But you wouldn't lose a whole borough. Those affected would have water available fairly close by.

I stand corrected. I just checked my references. Steam lines are all over Manhattan from the Battery up to about 96th Street. They aren't built in any regular grid system, so yeah, it would be really hard to know where they are. And they don't give any warning when they go. Many of the lines are the old, brittle cast iron pipes (insulated with asbestos no less).

IIRC, NYC is close to some significant fault lines . They aren't very active, but there is evidence of some pretty large quakes in the past. So it is just a matter of time.

Thanks for bringing this all up. Gives me something to think about on my way to work besides terrorist attacks and subway disasters.

OldBaldGuy:

Water tunnels is a foreign term to me, so I assuming that is the big tube that brings lots of water into the city. But I also assume that there are smaller "pipes" bringing water into individual buildings, wouldn't those be vulnerable???

Watch "Die Hard 3". These "tunnels" are big enough to put trucks through.

Document on City Water Tunnel #3 (PDF). Under Construction since 1970. Stage 1 complete in 1998. Final Stage 4, expected completion 2020.

Probably obvious, but this transportation nightmare affected all subway lines, LIRR and Metro North.

Die Hard 3 - IMDB Trivia Page Mentioned scenes filmed in City Tunnel #3