Hurricane Sandy Open Thread
Posted: October 29, 2012 Filed under: open thread | Tags: Hurricane Sandy, natural disasters, weather 117 CommentsGood Evening!!
I’m having a hard time figuring out what’s going on with Hurricane Sandy, because whenever Washington DC and New York City are involved in a weather event, the national media only want to talk about what’s happening in those two cities. I noticed this last year when New York City had a rare blizzard and even though conditions were much worse up here in New England, we heard nothing about it on the national news.
From what I can see from some quick surfing, the effects are being felt very widely all along the East coast. I grabbed a few photos off the ‘net from various places.
Kennebunkport, Maine
Gloucester, Massachusetts
Longneck, Delaware on Rehoboth Bay
Freeport, New York
Norfolk, Virginia
Cape May, New Jersey
More photos of the storm are collected at The Boston Globe
Here are a few recent news links on the storm:
Wall Street Journal: East Coast Braces as Sandy Strengthens
Fox News Latino:Hurricane Sandy Slams Northeast
The Boston Globe: Power outages at 172K as storm strikes
Reuters: As election, Sandy draw near, pressure mounts on disaster chief
So, any of you Sky Dancers who are feeling the impact of this giant storm, please tell us what’s happening where you are. And whatever you do, please stay safe!
peej
Carissa
bostonboomer
ecocatwoman
mablue2
peggysue22
quixote
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
This is horrifying! Be safe everybody.
Hi MA Blue! Glad you stopped by.
Down here in Richmond, VA, I think we got lucky. We’ve had lots of rain and the biggest wind gusts are supposed to hit us in a couple hours, but so far so good. There are actually blizzard warnings in counties just to our west where the area is more mountainous, but here it’s just gusty and raining a lot. My concerns are more with the areas north of here. I tried to call my brother in northern Maryland but there’s no answer. I don’t know if that means the power is out or if he and his wife went into work today and aren’t home yet.
Having said all that, I have the local news on and the weather guy said the worst is yet to come!
Glad you checked in, Janice. Hope you continue to be lucky and miss the worst of the storm.
I hope so too!
The power might be out. They shut down everything in the Boston area today.
Mom just told me the snow is going to be in West Virginia.
I wonder how Pat is doing in Springfield?
I’ll try e-mailing her. She’s pretty far inland.
There are now blizzard warnings in some counties in Virginia as well.
If I lose power, I’ll let you know with my phone.
BB, just declared W. Va. emergency…………………blizzard conditions.
That’s good news Janicen. I hope everything there remains stable.
Mr Bipartisan asswipe.
Romney Reaches Out To Republican Governors
I read somewhere that the old pier with the Boardwalk in Ocean CIty, MD was pretty much destroyed. This looks like one big mess of a storm.
Ralph I put up the picture in the last post. Unbelievable picture.
Maybe that’s where I saw it? 🙂
Yes, I saw a picture of that too. I think I saw it at Weather Underground.
Sorry, pd. I didn’t see your comment before I posted mine.
It’s especially sad to see historic landmarks destroyed.
We nearly lost a historic light house during katrina … they just finally rebuilt it. It took a lot to get it back to where it looked. It just completely collapsed
CNN is doing a pretty good job of covering the various areas hit by Sandy. They aren’t just concentrating on New York. One problem is that this storm is so huge! We even have wind advisories here in Indiana although we are hundreds of miles away from Sandy.
Yes, it’s cold and windy here, no rain yet. It’s obviously a huge storm if the surf was that high in Kennebunkport and Gloucester hours ago. It’s amazing.
The Weather Channel is doing a good job too.
HLN also doing a good job.
A construction crane collapsed in Manhattan and is hanging by a thread from the top of the building. Photo at the link.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-29/nyc-fire-department-responding-to-crane-collapse-in-manhattan.html
West 57th St between 6th and 7th Ave, Carnegie Hall may be underneath that crane.
By the way, here is something some people don’t know. They never leave. And you can also go to their face book page and thank them.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/10/29/163875922/photo-despite-sandy-soldiers-stand-guard-at-tomb-of-the-unknown-soldier
NPR put up wrong picture and Guard sent them pictures from today.
“Back in 2011, during Irene, the Old Guard stood watch over the tomb. As Mark reminded us at that time, “there is a shelter the soldiers could use, but they have consistently declined to do so.”
Apparently part of the Atlantic City boardwalk has been destroyed. Here’s a story: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/oct/29/hurricane-sandy-damages-atlantic-city-boardwalk-fl/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS I checked for photos at the link in the story & couldn’t find any.
I just added a photo from Cape May to the post. I’ll look for boardwalk pictures.
Cape May has all those beautiful Victorian houses! I hope they can be saved.
There are cats on the beaches in Cape May too.
Oh, I wish you hadn’t told me that, Connie. The poor things. Cats are so much more important than houses. I have my little tortie snuggled up next to me and I am counting our blessings tonight.
I realize that I may sound unconcerned about people & their homes, but I’m not. Most have insurance, they’ve had warnings in critical areas to evacuate. Some can’t due to money and/or transportation problems, so they may be stuck & that’s unfair. However the critters don’t know what’s coming – it’s not something they’ve experienced before. With the beach cats at Cape May & Atlantic City, they are wild. They’ve been trapped & fixed & have caretakers who feed them. There was, I’m sure, no way to evacuate them. The shoreline videos I’ve seen on the Weather Channel & MSNBC makes me sick to my stomach.
Hurricane Sandy on Verge of New Jersey Landfall
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/29/us-storm-sandy-hurricane-idUSBRE89N16J20121029
One problem I’m having is that Sandy was my dad’s nickname. His name was Alexander.
Our little town in Union County, NJ, seems to be holding its own. We have wind gusts and rain and it is weirdly warm. My border collie went out in all of this – what a trooper! She hates the rain and thunder, so I anticipated a problem, but she did the potty run beautifully.
My large maple tree shed only a few branches and I hope that’s it – last year, with the ice/snow storm in October, it lost a couple of limbs.
Power is still on – we just had a microsecond outage, enough to make the microwave sound an alarm, which send my dog into hyper vigilance. She has a “thing” about that contraption! That, plus the washer and dryer. And coffee grinder.
Basement is still dry. My neighbor had her husband bring over steaming hot rice and beans, a perfect comfort food for stormy days like this!
I can’t complain! And I hope it stays this way during the evening and early morning…
Delphyne……Love those border collies. I have a Chihuahua that hates storms and fireworks, I bought her a Thundershirt and it works. It was a little pricey for my pocketbook, but it was worth the money.
Stay Safe!!!
Thanks, Mouse – Kylie has her very own Thundershirt that I bought a couple of years ago. It actually does help her anxiety. She’s epileptic and takes pheno, so I always am the hyper vigilant one when it comes to making sure she’s calm!
I love those little Chihuahua dogs – their eyes are so expressive. I have since the Yo quiero commercials! They tremble the Big Love they have!
Thanks for checking in, Delphyne. I’m glad you’re doing well so far.
Thanks, BB – I hope that your home in Boston is safe, dry and awaiting your return! Have a great visit with your mother!
Good to here from you Kathy, I thought your facebook post about Kylie was cute.
Politics of FEMA: Mitt Romney Suggested Less Federal Involvement, Paul Ryan Budget Scrutinized
I think what he really meant is that it is jeopardizing the future of our plutocrats.
The secret Muslim POTUS obviously goes out looking for disasters to declare! It’s all part of his grand plan to destroy America. It can’t possibly have anything to do with climate change.
Obama should be blasting out with an ad blitz on Romney’s Budget-Slashing of Emergency Services is Wrong for America. And all the clever variations the Dems can think of. Perfect storm, perfect opportunity.
Sharpton is talking about this now. He ran the Romney video about FEMA. Hell yeah – privatize FEMA & let people pay to be rescued. Then we can privatize the fire departments, the police & further privatize the military. Why not? And if you can’t pay, you don’t deserve to live – you’re nothing but parasites. But hey Romney voters, he’ll ban abortion & that’s what’s really important, right? Kill the already living but save those precious beans of potential life. Class A idiots – anyone who votes for Romney/Ryan.
We still have power here in Western MA but my anxiety level – plus this “effen” election! – is driving me to the Halloween candy bowl I set out for the trick or treaters who more than likely wlll go another year around here without banging on my door!
The winds are around 30- 35 mph and the rain is heavier at times more than others. You can feel it rocking the house.
They are telling us that this should subside after 8pm tonight but the winds are the most hazardous. My son in Brimfield lost power around 4pm and my son in Reading lost it sometime earlier today. I am just waiting on my turn.
From stuffing my face with Snickers and M and M’s I am about to go into a “sugar coma” if this thing lasts much longer.
NY and NY are really feeling the brunt where here we are feeling the outer fringes.
Pat……Maybe a little wine would help. Or a beer? or perhaps something a little stronger?
Vodka. It’s less likely to cause a post-Sandy hangover.
I’m about to wash it all down with a glass of Chardonnay that is chilling in my fridge!
I’m glad you’re OK, Pat. Thanks for checking in.
Pat it sounds like you bought the necessary staples – candy & wine. Hope you can get a good night’s sleep. Stay safe.
Something about chocolate, it clicks with just about everyone Pat.
The Weather Channel is reporting 1.67M power outages from Maryland upward. Only one hurricane has come this far up (150 miles inland). Our power was out for a week, but the storm occurred at the end of September and neighbors pooled food from their freezers, grilled it out in their front yards, and everybody ate a couple of suppers together. The power poles all laid across the roads. I remember thinking we looked like we had been bombed. Thankfully, we could eventually drive to the mall’s food court where we ate B,L, and S. I’ve never eaten at a food court since. The storm was a Category 4 when it hit Charleston and a 1 when it hit us. I really empathize with the 50M people in the sights of this storm as it’s 1,000 times worst than ours. I’ve learned since that there were 3,000 tornadoes, or more accurately, vortices, embedded in our hurricane at its beginning in the Caribbean.
Is it “politically correct” to comment that even those shots of the storm provided upthread that in some sense the beauty of nature can never be denied.
There is something magnificent about those shots that kind of reminds us that whatever power we think we have you cannot argue with nature under any circumstances.
Those shots of Gloucester, MA and Kennebunkport, ME are electrifying. Of course I can say this from a safe distance.
No, it is not politically incorrect, Pat – Nature, as I’ve heard, bats last. And she is very beautiful in all her expressions.
Stay safe and I hope your power stays on. You’ve had a time of it in the last few years with the weather!
Agree that the pics are beautiful.
Nature is always beautiful, even in a larger-than-us way.
Some of her actions are violent and destructive, and we’re in the way. But it’s so different from, say, the personal viciousness of a homo sapiens scumbag who rapes another creature.
Hi! I just saw that Battery park is flooded to the pier!
Tide height just crossed 10″ at The Battery – 3.4″ above flood stage. http://wny.cc/flood-tracker
I’m glad to see every one report in so we know how you are doing.
Hurricane Central @twc_hurricane
BREAKING: FDNY responding to report of a 4-story apartment building collapse in Chelsea, Manhattan. #Sandy #NYC
Erin Burnett is reporting from Battery Park now on CNN.
Hurricane Central @twc_hurricane
BREAKING: FDNY responding to report of a 4-story apartment building collapse in Chelsea, Manhattan. #Sandy #NYC
http://instagram.com/p/RYj-EsgbhB/
picture of callapse
Wow!
Reporting in from Westchester County NY…still holding on to power although there is a lot of flickering going on. Here are some photos.
http://www.lohud.com/viewart/20121029/NEWS02/310290065/4-35-p-m-Tappan-Zee-Bridge-closed-most-NYC-bridges-follow-7-263-000-NY-without-power
Wow, stay safe, the winds are changing direction now. Take care of yourself.
Great pics. Stay warm and dry madamab!!!
Westchester Co, NY! My husband’s from there, and still has a sis and b-i-l there.
Hope all are safe and prepared.
You all can see the winds turning around in NYC look at this:
Wind Map
The weather channel just said that Sandy is no longer hurricane it is now a superstorm.
Tru dat for tech correctness.
Water level at the Battery in #NYC has now surpassed the all time high set back in the 1821. Sandy is dead, but nor’easter lives on. 11.5
Geez…
15-20 foot waves on Lake Erie in Cleveland even before landfall in NJ. They are starting to predict snow for some counties in OH. Flood warnings are already posted. Wind gusts up to 70 mph overnight. Spoke to my parents in PA. Power outages in Pittsburgh from downed trees.
Yikes!
I saw Lake Huron is having 22 foot waves. They are surfing over in Chicago.
Weather Underground @wunderground
RT @EricFisherTWC: Half a million customers without power now in Southern New England. Over 2.2M total. #Sandy
Battery Park now 11.87 and rising
BREAKING: CON ED shutting down power in Lower Manhattan to protect equipment
Cars are floating down wall street
Weather Underground @wunderground
RT @twc_hurricane: Cars under water in #NYC at Ave. C and 14th St. Thx to JordanF05 for that photo: http://wxch.nl/YggIte #Sandy
Hurricane Central @twc_hurricane
Very damaging winds passing through south half of #NYC metro area. Gusts now to 79 mph at #JFK and 78 mph at #EWR Newark. #Sandy
The New York Times @nytimes
Lady Liberty goes dark http://nyti.ms/SX1SV5
Hurricane Sandy @HC_Sandy
#NYC | ALERT: Lower Manhattan is submerged #Sandy pic.twitter.com/Dyb7k9LM
Andrew Kaczynski @BuzzFeedAndrew
NWS says water levels at Battery Park are 1 ft over previous record of Hurricane Donna. Photo of Hurricane Donna flood. pic.twitter.com/XIjn1Lr7
Our old apartment in Hanover Square is in that Zone A, near the real old section of Manhattan. I have some friends up in Hoboken, right on the river and they are hoping the windows don’t break in. Fortunately they are up higher so flooding is not an issue. My friends in Connecticut are getting it bad too. Hope everyone is okay up there.
That’s one good reason to shut down the power. Many deaths during these superstorms are caused by electrocution and drowning. I hope, at the shores and in other areas, people have been warned and will take precautions.
Dare I hope those are mostly from scumbag banksters. Probably not; theirs would be locked in expensive garages.
That shut down is pretty normal
Have cousins over in Rockaway………….Zone A…………….
Here’s a piece at Salon on New Jersey, with photos of the boardwalk.
http://www.salon.com/2012/10/29/pictures_of_hurricane_sandy/
This is all so sad and distressing. Irene swept away whole towns…and now landmarks are being destroyed. Yet our politicians keep pushing us to drill, baby, drill…
Thanks for all the links to the photos……..here I see blue skies, and trees are full of yellow, red, and green trees………………looks like Delware and NJ is in the center of it, and taking the hardest hit. I just hope everybody is okay, especially friends here.
It’s been a beautiful sunny day here. 68 and dry.
same here…
Dak, I was gonna ask you about the Madonna Concert in New Orleans……….heard people walked out when she said vote for Obama……….
lighting hitting Bloomberg building
Wow, that is stunning to see.
Looks like the first Ghostbuster movie!
#BREAKING: Officials reporting first #Sandy-related death in #Flushing, #Queens. A 30-year-old man was found trapped under a tree.
NYPD is calling for boats to evacuate the 100th Precinct in Rockaway, #Queens. Building is surrounded by water
update on Breezy Point from @FollowBurnsy: Road is flooded. People being evacuated to the volunteer firehouses via kayak.
Notice how all the news is about NYC? Nothing happening anywhere else. /s
The Obama campaign release an ad to counter Romney’s ad that lies about the Chrysler plant that I wrote about this morning.
http://www.businessinsider.com/romney-lies-auto-chrysler-jobs-2012-10?0=politics
http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-ad-romney-lie-chrysler-auto-jobs-2012-10
It’ says “Mitt Romney Wrong then. Dishonest now”
Yes, BB it is all about NY, you were right
I love that Obama ad, very effective.
BB, you know nothing ever happens outside of NYC or DC /s
Wow, 23 states affected, 60 million people could be without power before it’s over, and something like 2.2 million people without power right now in 11 states.
look at this picture of 20th and C in manhattan!
I think’s that where Rockaway near……….have dawg cousins living there.
Battery Park at 12.93
RT @TxStormChasers: #FDNY Engine 206 trapped in Queens fire station, requesting swift water rescue team to rescue members.
Land fall 80 mph , 24 ft. seas
Shark’s probably coming to collect an overdue bill. /s
I didn’t check, did you have this yet?