10 hurricane survival tips for New York, D.C.
By MarketWatchCHICAGO (MarketWatch) — As Hurricane Irene barrels toward New York City and other large metropolitan areas such as Washington, D.C., Boston and Philadelphia, residents who have never faced this kind of natural disaster need to be prepared for the dangerous high winds and possible flooding that such a storm — even if not at hurricane strength — can bring.
“Irene is an extremely dangerous storm for an area that has no experience with hurricanes,” said meteorologist Jeff Masters, co-founder of Weather Underground Inc., an Ann Arbor, Mich.-based forecaster. “Even if the hurricane does not hit, the storm itself will be very damaging,” he said.
Irene takes aim at New York
Hurricane Irene gathered more strength on Thursday after battering the Bahamas, threatening to inflict a direct blow on the Outer Banks of North Carolina on its way to New York and New England.
Late Thursday, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said a decision would be made by Friday about whether to evacuate people in low-lying areas ahead of Hurricane Irene’s arrival. These areas include: Coney Island and Manhattan Beach in Brooklyn; Far Rockaway and Broad Channel in Queens; South Beach, Midland Beach, and other low-lying areas on Staten Island; and Battery Park City in Manhattan.
Base on current reports from the National Hurricane Center, it appears Irene’s impact on Washington D.C. will be at its height Saturday afternoon and evening and the worst of it could hit Philadelphia, New York and Boston later Sunday.
Winds can level old or weakened buildings, blow out windows, uproot trees, cars and air conditioners, tear down power lines and signs and scatter roof tiles. That in and of itself will be chaotic, but high winds aren’t always the worst culprits. It’s often the windborne debris — the sign, the tree limb, the roof tiles — that causes widespread damage to high rises and store fronts.
NOAA
“The biggest threat in an urban high-density area is the stuff that’s blowing around the wind,” said Paul Beers, who as chief executive of West Palm Beach, Fla.-based Glazing Consultants, which specializes in building exteriors, is an expert in hurricane damage.
“The biggest threat from flying debris is breaking windows,” he added. “Then you have a loss of integrity of the building and the hurricane is inside the building.” Windows blow out on one side of the building, creating intense internal pressure on the other side until they break out and eventually collapsing a roof.
“If you lose one side of the building, the other side will blow out, too, because of all that pressure,” Beers said.
Moreover, water damage is a bigger danger to people thanks to storm surge, which is an abnormal rise of ocean waters — also loaded with debris — pushed to the shores by the force of the winds.
In New York, where the seawalls surrounding Manhattan, for example, are only five feet high in places, widespread flooding could occur, overwhelming subways, tunnels and roadways with what amounts to sewer water. Masters said that Irene could inundate portions of the coast under 10 feet to 15 feet of water “to the highest storm surge depths ever recorded,” he said.
“The main damage I see is if people won’t evacuate from the coast and a big storm surge will come in and drown them,” Masters said. “Historically, drowning has been one of the No. 1 cause of death in hurricanes.”
In New York, Mayor Bloomberg told reporters that the city is prepared with extra crews to control flooding, close beaches if necessary and keep sewers free of litter.
“If the worst scenario is going to happen this weekend, we will activate other elements of our Coastal Storm Plan, including the possibility of evacuating of New Yorkers who live in low-lying areas that could be affected by such storm surges,” he said. The city has created a map of hurricane evacuation areas.
Govs. Andrew Cuomo of New York, Chris Christie of New Jersey and Bob McDonnell of Virginia already have declared states of emergency that will enable National Guard troops to spring to action for hurricane duty.
