August 26, 2011

"The good news is that [a hurricane] would have to make something of a bank shot, as Hurricane Agnes did in 1972, in order to pass directly over New York City."

"It is intrinsically fairly hard for a storm to make landfall upon New York City itself rather than somewhere else along the Atlantic," explains Nate Silver.
A considerably more likely scenario is that a hurricane-strength storm would come ashore on central Long Island. That would still be extremely bad: a weak Category 2 storm with an eye that passed about 50 miles from Manhattan would result in about $10 billion in damage, according to the model.

Although highly unlikely to be experienced in the case of Hurricane Irene, it is theoretically possible that an even stronger storm might hit the city at some point in the future. A Category 3 hurricane, one with wind speeds of 111 miles per hour or higher, could plausibly produce an economic impact in excess of $100 billion if its eye were to pass directly over Manhattan, according to the model. A stronger Category 3 storm, passing immediately over Manhattan, could rival or exceed the roughly $235 billion in economic damage estimated to have been caused by the Japanese earthquake and tsunami.
And more than a Category 3? Directly hitting NYC? It's never happened. "[I]in recorded history, no storm has made landfall in the Northeastern United States while stronger than a Category 3." But if it did — and Silver says maybe with global warming it might — the economic impact would hit the trillions.
Keep in mind that New York’s annual gross domestic product is estimated to be about $1.4 trillion — about one-tenth of the nation’s gross domestic product — so if much of the city were to become dysfunctional for months or more, the damage to the global and domestic economies would be almost incalculable. The property value of New York City real estate, meanwhile, is estimated to be about $800 billion, and property damage represents only a portion of the overall economic loss that might be incurred from a catastrophic hurricane.
Where would the people go? What would happen to them?

83 comments:

FloridaSteve said...

Reminds me of a line from a movie "Where will we go? What will become of us?"

Anonymous said...

They'll probably live in FEMA trailers on Wall Street.

Anonymous said...

Just think of all the jobs all that destruction will create!

Anonymous said...

They could see New Jersey for the first time.

Start with Weehawken and move eastward.

Palladian said...

"Where would the people go? What would happen to them?"

I'll move to Madison and live in the basement of Meadehouse.

Ann Althouse said...

I must confess that, writing this post, I thought: Poor Obama! It's so unfair for so many things to go wrong for him.

MayBee said...

If a hurricane hits New York City directly, will that be proof of global warming?

Expat(ish) said...

"much of the city were to become *MORE* dysfunctional"

There, fixed it.

What was the economic productivity impact of 911 on NYC? Not making a point, just asking.

-XC

Lincolntf said...

Irene is right off our (North Carolina) coast now. 200 miles away from me. If by some fluke of weather patterns she heads straight inland, we're screwed. All week everyone has seen the models with the storm heading straight up the Coast in the traditional way, so nobody did any preparation. We're only expecting high winds and rain equal to a regular thunderstorm. Right now it's sunny and 79 degrees, couldn't be nicer.

DADvocate said...

Yeah, poor Obama. He's still lounging in Martha's Vineyard while everyone else scrambles to safety. When you have the federal government, helicopters, 747s, etc at you disposal, it's pitiful.

Of course, Bush only had to deal with 9/11, Katrina and a few other small things.

edutcher said...

Evacuating Manhattan and the rest of Gotham would have to start several days in advance as a military project with military discipline.

Relying on civilians, especially civilian authority, especially with Nanny Bloomberg in charge, and each day of the evacuation would surpass Antietam as the bloodiest day on American soil.

FloridaSteve said...

Reminds me of a line from a movie "Where will we go? What will become of us?"

The reply to which is, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn".

Ann Althouse said...

I must confess that, writing this post, I thought: Poor Obama! It's so unfair for so many things to go wrong for him.

It's his Katrina, to do with as he will.

But I think Bender was right in the post last night.

He'll turn into President Nagin.

prairie wind said...

Poor Obama?? He's still vacationing on Martha's Vineyard, isn't he? With everyone else leaving the place and with the MV residents trying to prepare their homes and businesses for the hurricane,do you suppose he cares that he's in the way?

Scott M said...

A nuke. Right in the eye. Overwrite the storm's organization with a new, more centrally powerful one.

Wait until the eye gets over the top of NYC, of course.

Curious George said...

No answers to your questions, but I do know the prospect of a major tornado would give Paul Krugman a woodie that you could dock a boat to.

"Ann Althouse said...
I must confess that, writing this post, I thought: Poor Obama! It's so unfair for so many things to go wrong for him."

What a pile. Compared with the Bush years Obama's presidency has been like ClubMed.

Anga2010 said...

And speaking of unlikely scenarios, If a medium sized asteroid were to hit the empire state building, the cost to repair New York city could reach into the multi-quadrillions!
Also, if the nuclear reactor in Japan contaminates the ocean nearby, it could spawn the growth of a huge tyrannosaurus rex-like creature that could make it's way to New York city and kill tens of thousands of people, and who can put a price on a human life?

Crimso said...

"One of the nastier potential consequences of global warming is that tropical cyclones could retain more momentum as they travel through the Eastern Seaboard, broadening the range of potential worst-case scenarios."

In summary, neither our model projections for the 21st century nor our analyses of trends in Atlantic hurricane and tropical storm counts over the past 120+ yr support the notion that greenhouse gas-induced warming leads to large increases in either tropical storm or overall hurricane numbers in the Atlantic. A new modeling study projects a large (~100%) increase in Atlantic category 4-5 hurricanes over the 21st century, but we estimate that this increase may not be detectable until the latter half of the century.

So they have no evidence nor do their models indicate the above statement to be correct, but they do go so far as to say that somebody somewhere does have a model that predicts a large increase in hurricanes. They conveniently assert that we won't see that predicted increase for another 50 years or so. Sort of like the old joke about Krugman accurately predicting 12 of the past 3 recessions.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

People of the East Coast. Take care. We may have laughed at your little earthquake here on the West Coast. Irene is no laughing matter.

Stay safe Trooper!!

I thought: Poor Obama! It's so unfair for so many things to go wrong for him.

Perhaps we should look upon it as a challenge sent by God to test the mettle of the man. Instead of being unfair, it could be a positive for Obama. A real leader will rise to meet the challenge and overcome the troubles.

This sort of goes along with the manly man discussion. What is a manly man. What is a leader.

Unfortunately Obama is neither. Manly or a leader.

The test of the mettle of the people is how they handle a disaster. Self reliant and with stoicism as the people in Oklahoma and the Midwest....or whining and dependent like the people in New Orleans. We may see what the people of New York are made of.

DADvocate said...

Don't forget that Bush had to deal with Hurricane Rita right after Katrina.

Cry my a river for Obama. $10 million in vacations for Michelle, just this year. The most detached, elitist, self-entitled First Couple ever.

bagoh20 said...

If NY gets hit hard, does it mean Obama hates white people?

John henry said...

"With global warming it might"

I call bullshit.

Supposedly we have a global warming of 0.8 degrees over the past 100 or so years. With a precision, as near as I have been able to determine, of +/- 3-4 degrees.

In other words, we MIGHT have had some warming. On the other hand, given the level of precision on a very small measurement of very noisy data (few places have less than 10 degrees variation in the course of a day, 50 degrees in the course of a year) it is every bit as likely that we have global cooling of 1-2 degrees over the past 100 years.

They have no idea if global warming is happening or not.

Forget the causes. First figure out what is happening.

John Henry

ndspinelli said...

Hurricane Agnes was a very early hurricane[June] and only a category 1. However, it was a slow mover and dumped 20 inches of rain. It wiped out Wilkes-Barre, Pa. where I went to school.

Hurricane Agnes was a good civics lesson for all us college students. All of our apartments were wiped out. However, it was an election year and Nixon sent in another flood..of federal aid. You want a house trailer rent free, no problem. Food stamps..absolutely. Interest free loans, just sign the papers here..and here's your check. Of course we saw rampant abuse and fraud. It turned many of us jaded and libertarian.

Automatic_Wing said...

Global warming hysteria: It's what's for dinner.

Sofa King said...

Wouldn't most of the buildings in Mahattan at least be pretty impervious to hurricane conditions? I mean, I get why wood-frame houses might be at risk, but what is a hurricane going to do to a steel- or concrete-skeletoned structure?

Scott M said...

Sort of like the old joke about Krugman accurately predicting 12 of the past 3 recessions.

LOL

ricpic said...

I'm rooting for utter catastrophe.

prairie wind said...

what is a hurricane going to do to a steel- or concrete-skeletoned structure?

Blow out the windows, knock out the power, rot all the food in all the fridges and freezers, leave a 70-story stinking mess?

I dunno. I live in tornado territory.

Richard Dolan said...

"Where would the people go? What would happen to them?"

Why, we'd stay put just as generations of NYC residents have done in earlier storms; and, living in the world's greatest city, only good things will happen to us. Pace Jim Cantore and the Weather Channel, life is not a 'disaster' movie -- there's no lava flowing down the streets in LA, the Statute of Liberty hasn't been knocked over by a big wave (I can see it clearly from my office window as I write), and snow has never piled up to the top of the 42nd St. library. So it's time to cool it a bit with all the schadenfreude about NYC washing away one day. Not going to happen.

A little perspective: my townhouse in B'klyn Hts was built in 1842. It's gone through lots of storms since then, and is in much better shape today to withstand them than it was when built. It will make it through this one just fine. We'll put the stuff in the yard away on Saturday, store the rubbish bins in under the stoop, take the sensible precautions, and park the car in an indoor garage. Friends from Long Beach, where there may well be problems from the ocean surge, will spend the weekend with us in the City. I'll make sure to keep the champagne cold. And on Monday, we'll sweep up and go to work.

Weep not for me but for you and yours who have never had the opportunity to live in NYC. Are we all clear now?

MB said...

The History Channel Mega Disaster series (2006) had an episode on a Cat 3 hitting NY City and compared it to a storm in the 1800's that hit. It wiped out Hog Islands off western Long Island. It showed how far the storm surge would go into Manhattan, etc. So, it has happened before; just a matter of time before it does again.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hog_Island_(New_York)

edutcher said...

Keep your head down, Linc.

DADvocate said...

Yeah, poor Obama. He's still lounging in Martha's Vineyard while everyone else scrambles to safety. When you have the federal government, helicopters, 747s, etc at you disposal, it's pitiful.

More of that darned bad luck.

Anga2010 said...

Also, if the nuclear reactor in Japan contaminates the ocean nearby, it could spawn the growth of a huge tyrannosaurus rex-like creature that could make it's way to New York city and kill tens of thousands of people, and who can put a price on a human life?

In that case, we'll have to resurrect Raymond Burr.

ricpic said...

Don' be 'fraid, Obama on duh case. Gummint goan protec' evahbody!! So don' do any thinkin' or doin' fo yoesef, gummint goan do all duh thinkin' an doin' fo ya.

Christopher in MA said...

Well, stay safe, Richard - and you, too, Trooper. Up here at the Massachusetts-New Hampshire border, we're expecting hard rain and high winds on Sunday afternoon, but I do hope Irene calms down by then.

(of course, just for the sheer schadenfreude of it all, I'd love Irene to wipe Nantucket off the map).

And Richard, I appreciate your sentiments regarding NYC (and how lovely to have an 1842 townhouse), but I couldn't live there. Unless it was the Village. I could probably enjoy myself for a couple of years there.

I'm Full of Soup said...

I must confess that, reading this post, I thought: Good for Obama!
This is one more thing he can add to his list of excuses [Arab Spring, Japan tsunami etc] for why the economy blows.

Fixed it for you.

Curious George said...

"bagoh20 said...
If NY gets hit hard, does it mean Obama hates white people?"

No Jews. But we already know that.

Hoosier Daddy said...

"... I must confess that, writing this post, I thought: Poor Obama! It's so unfair for so many things to go wrong for him..."

Please tell me you're kidding.

Hoosier Daddy said...

"... A nuke. Right in the eye..."

From orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

MayBee said...

What happens beyond that gets into highly speculative territory: in recorded history, no storm has made landfall in the Northeastern United States while stronger than a Category 3. Meteorologists debate whether a Category 4 storm hitting New York is literally physically impossible, so unlikely as to be practically impossible, or a plausible occurrence but one that will happen less than once in a generation. One of the nastier potential consequences of global warming is that tropical cyclones could retain more momentum as they travel through the Eastern Seaboard, broadening the range of potential worst-case scenarios.

What is the point of writing that paragraph?

The Dude said...

I have been through many hurricanes and am thankful that this one is heading north rather than west. Still sunny and warm here, but there are some high clouds and mares tails that indicate things are brewing on the coast.

I have been battening down the hatches, so to speak, but other than wind and rain, we won't really bear the brunt of this storm. I sure wouldn't want to be in the NYC area, however, as they really don't know how to deal with storms. It's kind of like New Orleans, only slightly above sea level, save the tunnels.

Time to get some gasoline for the chainsaws, gas up the pick up, get some groceries and hope this storm turns out to be more hype than harm.

WV: sessless - yep.

Der Hahn said...

He's had bad luck .. last gasp of the Obama voter desperate to rationalize the choice.

MayBee said...

Why feel sorry for Obama?

Everyone agrees that if Irene is as bad as predicted, it would have a terrible effect on the economy.
In other words, an excuse. Much less abstract than the Arab Spring or the Japanese Tsunami.

What a relief that would be for a man who doesn't know what to do to get the economy started.

Tyrone Slothrop said...

They don't have to go anywhere. Bloomberg will ban hurricanes. Typical wishy-washy liberal solution, though. Out here in the West, we just shoot hurricanes on sight.

wv: ditose-- WV applauds Rush!

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Weep not for me but for you and yours who have never had the opportunity to live in NYC. Are we all clear now?

I've never had the opportunity to have my fingernails pulled out either. I'll pass.

I'm sure you would hate the area where I live too.

Quiet at night. Silence except for the sounds of geese or frogs depending on the time of year.... and coyotes. Everything shuts down about 8pm with the exception of the two bars in town..one of which shuts at midnight. No ambient lighting blocking out the stars. Wild animals roaming through your yard. No Starbucks or McDonalds or any fast food stores. (OMG!! the inhumanity). Miles and miles to the nearest shopping mall.

To each his own.

It's OK.

SarcastiCarrie said...

Isn't Obama staying put better for the people of Martha's Vineyard? I mean, think of the traffic jam if his motorcade had to move. I'm sure he'd shut the highways down for hours in advance and afterward just to be safe.

DADvocate said...

Quiet at night. Silence except for the sounds of geese or frogs depending on the time of year.... and coyotes. Everything shuts down about 8pm with the exception of the two bars in town..one of which shuts at midnight. No ambient lighting blocking out the stars. Wild animals roaming through your yard. No Starbucks or McDonalds or any fast food stores. (OMG!! the inhumanity). Miles and miles to the nearest shopping mall.

Nice, isn't it. I'm not quite as isolated as you, I suppose. There is a McDonald's within 10 miles and the bars stay open later. (No Starbucks.) Lately a doe and her two fawns have taken to grazing in my backyard. Geese and ducks in the creek behind my house. I have no desire to trade this for asphalt, bricks and glass.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Tyron said:

"Bloomberg will ban hurricanes".
Good one!

MadisonMan said...

Agnes was nowhere near Hurricane Strength when it made landfall in the northeast. I was camping in PA all during it and the subsequent flood. Not recommended.

The difficulty in NYC with a hurricane hit would be flying debris taking out skyscraper glass. Then everything in the skyscrapers gets blown around. This happened in Houston with Alicia, I think, in 1983, and New Orleans with Katrina.

Geoff Matthews said...

While Ann is busy pitying Obama for the bad luck he's had as president, consider Bush's experience:

1) The high-tech bubble imploded
2) 9/11
3) Katrina

The big difference here is that Bush didn't garner pity.

gerry said...

Weep not for me but for you and yours who have never had the opportunity to live in NYC. Are we all clear now?

Don't worry.

We in flyover country had to bail out your sorry big-city asses before, and we can do it again.

sean said...

What Richard Dolan said.

Also, note that a lot of the loss would be covered by insurance. New Yorkers won't have to pony up $10 billion; it will come from Zurich. If my office loses a few windows, we'll work from home (steel frame, masonry clad) for a few days, the way we did after 9/11. Really, it won't be a big deal.

Scott M said...

1) The high-tech bubble imploded
2) 9/11
3) Katrina


4) Pelosi
5) Reid

AllenS said...

One thing that you have to be careful of is sustaining a head injury during a storm. Since Trooper York doesn't own a Cheesehead hat, may I suggest that he ties a whole lot of those big bras that he sells on his head. Can we get someone with a camera over there?

Dust Bunny Queen said...

If my office loses a few windows, we'll work from home (steel frame, masonry clad) for a few days, the way we did after 9/11. Really, it won't be a big deal

Wow. The mindset of never ever having experienced any sort of actual hardships.

How about if your office building not only loses all of its windows, the streets are flooded, subways flooded, no power in the city for days or even weeks. Looting and roving gangs of opportunists.

Inadequate police or fire coverage. Buildings catching on fire and like in the SF earthquake of '06 burning down wide swaths of the city.

No food. No water (without electricity your water AND sewer system breaks down). Health risks from contaminated water and sewage back up.

Wild animals...did you see the size of that rat!! not to mention dogs and cats living together...(couldn't help myself)

Working from home doesn't sound so fun anymore does it.

Always look on the bright side of life**, but be prepared for the worst.

** I don't think there is anything that you can't use a Monty Python clip to illustrate :-D

Anga2010 said...

@edutcher
Raymond Burr, heh:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgSUJeoo9QE

art.the.nerd said...

Dust Bunny Queen wrote;

> How about if your office building not only loses all of its windows, the streets are flooded, subways flooded, no power in the city for days or even weeks. Looting and roving gangs of opportunists.

Oh you poor East Coasters! First that horrible earthquake and now a little rain and wind. Clearly we will descend into a state of criminal anarchy, and mothers will be forced to eat their own children! Clearly Mother Gaia is angry that we have ignored Her Chosen Prophet, Al Gore, and Her vengeance is upon us.

For cryin' out loud. You've had hurricanes before. And yet you keep rebuilding in hurricane zones.

traditionalguy said...

Obama is hiding out again.

Isaiah 60:1-12 is the prophecy of the restoration of Israel in the last days, and it ends with the word to readers that the Nations that will not serve the restored Israel will be utterly ruined.

Thanks a lot Obama.

But Texas seems to be doing just fine.

traditionalguy said...

The denial of electrical service is a total disaster.

The winds blow over a few trees,signs and roof shingles in 4 hours and then leave.

But the electrical blackout ends life as we practice today it for 7+ days.

That must be why Obama is destroying the electrical coal generation capacity that does half of the USA's power, for fraudulent myths about Dirty CO2.

sean said...

"The mindset of never ever having experienced any sort of actual hardships."

I was here on 9/11. Also please note: (i) the buildings in NYC are not made of wood, and don't catch fire readily (unless you crash a plane into them), (ii) our police are not corrupt and will not head for the hills in case of trouble, they did in New Orleans, (iii) if the subways flood, we'll walk to work, like we usually do during transit strikes, and (iv) yeah, we got rats. Big rats. I see them every day. So what? Rats don't eat people, you know, they're just kind of gross.

Also, our firm has business interruption insurance, so if I can't come to work, the gnomes of Zurich will be paying me not to work.

MayBee said...

Don't forget that elevator shafts can flood. Even if you are safe and dry on the 23rd floor, don't assume taking the elevator down is a safe alternative.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

I was here on 9/11. Also please note: (i) the buildings in NYC are not made of wood, and don't catch fire readily"

LOL @ sean

Tra la la...life is beautiful. I'll get paid. Tra la la.

911 (not to minimize the tragic loss of life) was not a city wide disaster.

Since buildings in NYC don't catch fire, why don't you get rid of your fire department. And steel can't possibly melt at high temperatures....right?

I'm not rooting for a NYC disaster because there are a lot of people living there who do not deserve to suffer. However, it is the "tra la la" attitude that makes me want to do so. Wake up call!!

Crunchy Frog said...

Meanwhile, here in La-la-land, the thermometer was pegged at 116 yesterday.

I want my July back.

Robert Cook said...

"Compared with the Bush years Obama's presidency has been like ClubMed."

Most of the troubles Bush had to deal with were self-created ones.

AllenS said...

Robert Cook said...
Most of the troubles Bush had to deal with were self-created ones.

Interesting. There are other people out there Mr. Cook that also think that Bush crashed the planes into those buildings, and then blew them up, so they'd fall. Brilliant.

Trooper York said...

New York City will get about as wet as Michelle Obama did durning her vacation when the Jug Eared Jesus was in the mood for love.

Which is not very wet at all. Just sayn'

Trooper York said...

And AllenS I have a big Souix Headress I can wear from when I was in the Order of the Arrow. That should be more than enough head protection.

DADvocate said...

R Cook: Most of the troubles Bush had to deal with were self-created ones.

AllenS - There are other people out there Mr. Cook that also think that Bush crashed the planes into those buildings, and then blew them up, so they'd fall.

Don't forget that we've known for years that the government has been able to control weather patterns, too.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Are we talking down the hurricane?

SHAME! SHAME! SHAME! ;)

Joanna said...

But if it did — and Silver says maybe with global warming it might — the economic impact would hit the trillions.

Then I guess we're all safe.

MadisonMan said...

And AllenS I have a big Souix Headress I can wear from when I was in the Order of the Arrow.

Why would you save something like that?

I only have the flag that you sewed on the pocket flap. Maybe that little sash thingy too.

MadisonMan said...

Not the flag. What were those things called? I don't remember.

Trooper York said...

MadisonMan said...
And AllenS I have a big Souix Headress I can wear from when I was in the Order of the Arrow.

Why would you save something like that?"

Are you kidding....When I dress up with that and the lioncloth and then the wife .....errr.....nevermind...too much information.

Trooper York said...

It's called the lodge flap patch MadisonMan.

Richard Dolan said...

The French press is getting into the act too. Headline in Le Monde.fr -- "Evacuation massive à New York avant l'ouragan Irene."

I suppose it depends on the meaning of "massive" - but, however defined, I haven't noticed any evacuating going on around here.

Eat your heart out, Paris. NYC isn't going anywhere.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I must confess that, writing this post, I thought: Poor Obama! It's so unfair for so many things to go wrong for him.

Can we get Obama more pillows?

MadisonMan said...

Yes, flap patch.

I recall that shortly after I made OA (Our lodge, Monaken, only gave you a patch when you made it in..you couldn't buy one afterwards) the flap patch design was changed, so the patch I have is sought after. When I went to Philmont, it was envied. I still have it, but somehow I ended up with another one that I sold on ebay. Maybe that was my brother's.

Big Mike said...

Michael Bloomberg discovers that he is every bit as inept as Ray Nagin.

Governor Cuomo discovers that he is better than Governor Blanco. Unfortunately for him, that's a very low threshold.

Bush was photographed looking out at the devastation of Katrina from the windows of Air Force 1. Obama won't even be bothered to fly over. The media won't notice.

DADvocate said...

Obama won't even be bothered to fly over.

What do you expect?! The hurricane ruined his vacation.

Manufacturing outrage!!!!!!!!

Robert said...

It's all bullshit. Closing the effin subways, first time in 100 years, you gotta be kiddin. What does Walder care, he jumps to Bloomberg's tune, off to Hong Kong to cash in on a history of ineptitude, run the trains? He couldn't run a bingo game. Was the first guy Pataki fired and Jesus you had to be one flying asshole to get fired by Pataki. I've been here sixty some years, family since another hundred in the Village, never heard of anything like this. WTF, mandatory evacuation that's not mandatory. I can't begin to tell you what nonsense this is. Kids living on the ninth floor laying in gallons of water. Christ, the saloons will be open. You read this first right here, the City will open for business Monday am. That's if asshole Walder and douchbag Bloomberg can get the trains running. Their track record ain't good, ain't god at all.

MPH said...

My company's servers are located at the very base of Manhattan -- on the 30th floor of a steel/glass high-rise. I had a dream last night that the winds broke the glass windows and rain was pouring through the 30th floor, destroying all our servers -- meanwhile below, all of lower Manhattan was a swamp...impossible to reach the building without a canoe.

And then I woke up and realized how silly I was.

Valentine Smith said...

Grandma Bloomberg took a vicious hit in the polls during the winter when a snowstorm buried Queens County. So now he pretends he's all involved and concerned and yeah empathetic you know. It's all gonna backfire when nothing very interesting happens and he looks like the buffoon he is. The ultimate power-hungry douchebag.

Roux said...

But if it wasn't likely to hit then you wouldn't have the media and the idiot Mayor Bloomberg... yelling The sky is falling!!! the sky is falling!!!

Robert said...

You have to understand that Bloomberg is looking at global warming models proving that, just around the corner, the Battery will be twenty feet underwater. The fact that it's been in the same place for all of recorded history makes no difference to this moron. That just possibly, one day the South Ferry IRT station will be a skin diving site justifies ordering a mass evacuation which is not really mandatory and for which no planning or preparations have been made. I've seen these models and you have to be delusional to believe them but they do. Now Irene is only a Noreaster. Oops. On the other hand if an evacuation is ever really necessary, with these guys in charge, we are royally fucked.

Robert said...

Hey Sean, you're right, Zurich will cover business interruption. But you and me Buddy and every other taxpayer is on the hook to rebuild all those beach houses in Cherry Grove, Saltaire and along Dune Road in the Hamptons. That copasetic with you? Ain't with me, not one skoshi bit.

JAL said...

"[I]in recorded history, no storm has made landfall in the Northeastern United States while stronger than a Category 3."

Wiki: "The 1821 Norfolk and Long Island Hurricane, a Category 4 storm which made four separate landfalls in Virginia, New Jersey, New York and southern New England. The storm created the highest recorded storm surge in Manhattan of nearly 13 feet and severely impacted the farming regions of Long Island and southern New England."

The surge in Providence in 1938 was 20 feet high and was described both in New London and Providence as a "tidal wave." Some describe it as higher.

The claim is that 1938 was a Cat 3, but some of the reports make it seems higher. (Someone cut in half by flying sheet metal in Providence? Slate roof tile driven into a tree?)

Unknown said...

Nanny Bloomberg should pass an ordinance against any storm bigger than Category 1. They are obviously too dangerous for his subjects!