NY City 3rd "Most Risky" place for Hurricanes

Get your life vests on.

http://www2.sunysuffolk.edu/mandias/38hurricane/hurricane_future.html

"Experts now believe that after Miami and New Orleans, New York City
is considered the third most dangerous major city for the next
hurricane disaster. According to a 1990 study by the US Army Corps of
Engineers, the city has some unique and potentially lethal features.
New York's major bridges such as the Verrazano Narrows and the George
Washington are so high that they would experience hurricane force
winds well before those winds were felt at sea-level locations.
Therefore, these escape routes would have to be closed well before
ground-level bridges (Time, 1998). The two ferry services across the
Long Island Sound would also be shut down 6-12 hours before the storm
surge invaded the waters around Long Island, further decreasing the
potential for evacuation."

Yep. I'm the ARES EC for Queens, and one of the staff of NYC RACES - we go to hurricane refreshers at least 1x/year. If a BIG storm hits NYC (say Cat3, which is BIG this far north) we have more problems than we know what to do with. NO has a population of about 500k - and are "used to" hurricanes. Folks down there KNOW what a big storm is. NYC alone (Lets NOT count Nassau as Sufolk yet) has a population of 8 million, and in a Cat3, 1+ MILLION of those folks have to get out of low lying areas - figure about another 750K from Nassau and Suffok, plus whatever in NJ - and you figure yoou have to move 2 Million people

Now to make it worse, the average person in NYC/LI says "a Hurricane? Big ones never happen here - Bob (last one that hit here) was no big deal" - Bob was just barely a Cat1 when it hit - in fact MIGHT have actually dropped to TS levels just before it hit

I try and tell as many folks as I can what a Cat3 will do, simply by showing/telling them what happened in the "storm of 38" (aka "The Long Island Express"). Let me tell you, there are a LOT of folks with their head in the sand on this one. I know when I bought my house 4 years ago, I looked at the flood maps FIRST, and would only buy in an area that is so unlikely to flood, that is it does, we have bigger problems than my house (I'm 110 ft above sea level - if I get storm surge, we have BIG problems)

Now you learn something new everyday.

Yep...weird to think of it.
You can find out how your home rates here:NYC Hurricane Evacuation Zones

And recently I've noticed the little "Hurricane Evacuation Route" (well, I forget the actual wording) signs along some streets, like Ocean Parkway.

Thankfully, we're on relatively high ground, a "green zone."

Dave

Yeah, remember Hurricane Gloria in 1985? I was at home in College Point with my great-grandmother while my grandparents were on vacation upstate when that one was predicted to possibly come right into the harbor packing 150+ mph winds. I wasn't about to go all the way into Manhattan to school! The rest of my family was evacuated from Ocean City, NJ. As it was, Gloria took a turn to the east, cut straight across Long Island, and went right up the Connecticut River, causing massive amounts of damage. I seem to recall clean-up efforts taking a couple of *years* to completely finish.

A major hurricane going right up the Hudson River would cause unimaginable damage to the NYC metro area.

Interesting reading, I grew up on LI in Bay Shore and vaguely remember, as kid, a mild hurricane during the mid to late 60?s. I seem to remember there was significant beach erosion, power outages and closed roads. Of course the development and population on LI has increase dramatically and the damage to home and life would be significant.

I remember during the 70?s when discussing various manmade or natural disasters, getting off the Island would be impossible. We will be visiting family there this coming Labor Day weekend, hope the storms elude the area during our stay <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />.

Pete

OK - some more Long Island (Including Brooklyn and Queens) Hurricane info

Remember - in the storm of 1938, the storm surge made it to AT LEAST Sunrise highway the entire length of the island. In what is now the Rt 110 area, the water came almost as far north as where the LIE is now!! Out by Montalk, the sound and the ocean were connected

Now, think about how many people live there!

And I know, that at least in Nassau, once the winds reach 50 MPH (steady state), ALL county personnel and vehicles WILL be pulled off the road - after that folks, your on your own

One of the biggest problems is than because of the bend in the coastline and the like, a VERY VERY large area will go under hurricane watch/warning, so LOTS of places will be bugging out, and any mutual aid will have to come a LONG way

The location, 64 STREET & 24 AVENUE, is not in any evacuation zone.

When hurricane hits... PARTY AT MY HOUSE <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> (adding case of beer and bottle of vodka to home survival kit).

I first heard about the infamous "Long Island Express" of 1938 when reading Louise Dickinson Rich's book, "We Took to the Woods". She describes massive damage all the way up into Vermont. Scary. Great book, though, and I recommend you track down a copy.