Tompkins Square park is closed, a wise decision considering all the overhanging tree limbs. I would not be surprised to find many large branches downed overnight. I’m hoping no trees come down. I used the occasion of the empty park to grab many panoramic shots from the entrances. I’ll be using them in my TSP Tree Identification Project. Taking panoramic shots in the park is hard because of all the moving people usually there spoiling the pano and getting annoyed with me pointing my camera at them.
The streets were mostly empty. That’s a London Planetree in the background.
The head of the Hurricane Irene greeting committee. The Con Ed crew in the background is turning off the steam, that heats Stuyvesant Village etc., in preparation for Irene.
Did the light seem a little off the norm at sunset? No green sky or anything but…
Irene could easily knock out the power in NYC, at least on a neighborhood by neighborhood basis. In my Downtown Manhattan neighborhood, I imagine the Con Ed facility on 14th Street has adequate means to thwart the storm surge, but it is in the evacuation zone, and you wonder. Salty, conductive sea water does not play nicely with electrical circuits. Co Ed workers are the best, I have real respect for the tough dirty job they do, keeping the electrons flowing. They’ll get things fixed, but it may take a while. Cell service and land lines may be overwhelmed or damaged. And our internets, twitters and facebooks will likely evaporate for a bit.
Fill containers with drinking water, and fill the bathtub to use as wash water and for flushing. If you live above the 6th floor electric pumps fill the water tanks on your roof. Plus the storm surge may contaminate the drinking water.
You should have flashlights and batteries, and a battery powered radio.
Locate your nearest fire call box. They are land lines and will probably work. Report any smell of gas or fire.
If it gets windy, X masking tape over windows to help keep them from shattering.
Close your drapes and blinds to help protect you from flying glass.
If it gets really bad, an interior room with no windows or possibly your hallway may be the safest place.
Outside, be wary of stray current, you know, the kind that shocks dogs and people with the winter snow salting, again sea water is much more conductive than fresh water. And watch out for flying objects (tree branches, construction materials, flower pots, and broken glass, air conditioners).
Stay inside with a good book.
And relax, it usually isn’t as bad as the news makes out, but we should be prepared. New Yorkers react surprisingly well to emergencies. Help your neighbor if you can. It may turn into a party like the 2003 blackout.
I’m continuing my project to identify the trees of Tompkins Square Park. Coming up with a good numbering scheme for keeping track of individual trees has stymied me so far. It gets confusing, is it a shrub, should I give a number to a 3 inch diameter tree, should a corner tree be listed on 10th Street or Avenue B? But the map is coming along nicely. I’ve been reconciling measurements of the few details visible in Google Maps with my map based on the 1998 map from EVPC and my own crude measurements, pacing it off like a pirate. I’ve been adding details like benches and tables. My favorite innovation is making the tree icons proportional to trunk diameter.
I’m pretty sure it is a linden, species identification, anyone?
Japanese pagodatree (Sophora japonica) also known as Chinese Scholar. I’m fairly sure of the identification, can anyone confirm.
Residents in Zone A (orange) face the highest risk of flooding from a hurricane’s storm surge. Zone A includes all low-lying coastal areas and other areas that could experience storm surge in ANY hurricane that makes landfall close to New York City.
Residents in Zone B (Yellow) may experience storm surge flooding from a MODERATE (Category 2 or higher) hurricane.
Residents in Zone C (Green) may experience storm surge flooding from a MAJOR hurricane (Category 3 & 4) making landfall just south of New York City. A major hurricane is unlikely in New York City, but not impossible.
I felt my apartment swaying back and forth slightly, just subtly enough to make me wonder if it was coming from the construction eternally happening on Houston Street. But there was no noise. And confusing me was the lack of reaction from people on the street. The shaking lasted about 10-15 seconds but it never felt I was in danger, so I went to my roof to see what I could see. By the time I got there the people, in the building under construction to become a Union Market on Houston Street and Avenue A, had wisely evacuated.
Cell phone service here was clogged for a half hour. Nuclear plants, near epicenter were automatically shut down, something to keep an eye on.
Update: the power company officials say no release to environment, no damage to plant or dam and back-up diesel is running.
I was walking uptown on Centre Street and happened on this protest outside Manhattan Criminal Court, just when the protesters decided to leave their free-speech pens and take it briefly to the streets.
