Quick note: I won’t be posting daily about Hurricane Sandy going forward.
Here’s the latest from The WSJ, The NYT, and Bloomberg.
For ongoing updates, check out my Hurricane Sandy NYC Twitter list, which I’m embedding here:
Tweets from @newley/hurricane-sandy-nyc
Normal Newley.com posts will resume shortly, though I’ll likely touch on the hurricane again at some point.
Embedded above: Live coverage from The Weather Channel.
Here’s an update as of noon today (Tuesday):
The Wall Street Journal reports:
Millions of people along the U.S. East Coast remained without power Tuesday, as Superstorm Sandy brought powerful winds, rains, floods and snow to the mid-Atlantic states and Northeast.
The mega-storm’s center plowed through Pennsylvania early Tuesday after carving a harrowing path of destruction overnight, killing at least 17 people in seven states and cutting power to more than 6 million homes.
The New York Times says:
As Hurricane Sandy churned inland as a downgraded storm, residents up and down the battered mid-Atlantic region woke on Tuesday to lingering waters, darkened homes and the daunting task of cleaning up from once-in-a-generation storm surges and their devastating effects.
Power remained out for roughly six million people, including a large swath of Manhattan. Early risers stepped out into debris-littered streets that remained mostly deserted as dawn shed light on the extent of the damage. Bridges remained closed, and seven subway tunnels under the East River were flooded. Other mass transit service, including commuter rails, was also still suspended.
The AP reports:
Hurricane Sandy grounded well over 10,000 flights across the Northeast and the globe, and it could be days before some passengers can get where they’re going.
According to the flight-tracking service FlightAware, more than 13,500 flights had been canceled for Monday and Tuesday, almost all related to the storm. By early Tuesday morning, more than 500 flights scheduled for Wednesday also were canceled.
Major carriers such as American Airlines, United and Delta cancelled all flights into and out of three area airports in New York, the nation’s busiest airspace. About one-quarter of all U.S. flights travel to or from New York airports each day. So cancellations here can dramatically impact travel in other cities.
Bloomberg says:
New York City officials began assessing damage after superstorm Sandy killed 10 people, sparked a fire that razed 80 homes in a Queens, flooded tunnels of the biggest U.S. transit system and left 750,000 customers without power, including the lower third of Manhattan.
And:
Sandy, which weakened as it passed over the coast, is among the worst storms in New York history, rivaling the blizzards of 1888 and 1947. It was the worst disaster in 108-year history of the subway system and exceeded transit officials’ worst-case scenario, said Joseph Lhota, chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
All classes are cancelled today (Tues.). Check the Columbia University Web site for updates.
Late last night, after the hurricane has passed, I took a walk around part of the Eastern portion of the Columbia University campus.
I saw some downed tree branches around Morningside Park, and above is a photo of a fallen tree I spotted near St. John’s Cathedral, on Amsterdam Avenue.
We have not experienced any disruptions in electricity or other services in this part of town, as far as I know.
For coverage of the Northern Manhattan area, see Northattan.org, a site run by J-School students.
As ever, you can follow me on Twitter for updates and check out my Hurricane Sandy NYC Twitter list.
In addition, you can consult my previous Hurricane Sandy posts for more info.
Note: Go to the home page or click the Hurricane Sandy tag for more recent posts.
Here’s the latest as of about 10:30 p.m. tonight (Monday):
Here in upper Manhattan near the Columbia University campus, we still have power, though the lights are flickering periodically. Many other parts of New York City, however, are in the dark.
The New York Times reports:
Hurricane Sandy battered the mid-Atlantic region on Monday, its powerful gusts and storm surges causing once-in-a-generation flooding in coastal communities, knocking down trees and power lines and leaving hundreds of thousands of people — including a large swath of Manhattan — in the rain-soaked dark.
The AP says:
Much of New York was plunged into darkness Monday by a superstorm that overflowed the city’s historic waterfront, flooded the financial district and subway tunnels and cut power to nearly a million people.
The city had shut its mass transit system, schools, the stock exchange and Broadway and ordered hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers to leave home to get out of the way of the superstorm Sandy as it zeroed in on the nation’s largest city.
Above is a recent still photo from the NYT‘s Hurricane Sandy Webcam, located at the Times‘s building in midtown. You can see a portion of the city has lost power.
And above is a screen grab of Times‘s home page a few minutes ago (to give you a sense of the events’ significance).
Here’s an AP photo of Ground Zero (via BuzzfeedAndrew).
And here’s the view of midtown from downtown Manhattan (via @nicksummers on Instagram.)
Stay tuned. Reminder: I’m on Twitter here.
Note: Go to the home page or click the Hurricane Sandy tag for more recent posts.
Note: I’m not sure if power and Web access will continue to last here in upper Manhattan, but I’ll keep posting and Tweeting (@newley) as long as I can.
I can hear strong winds outside my building and the lights have been flickering.
Here’s the latest as of about 8:30 p.m. tonight (Monday):
Hurricane Sandy is battering NYC.
The NYT says:
Hurricane Sandy slammed into the New York region on Monday, its powerful gusts and storm surges causing once-in-a-generation flooding in coastal communities along the way, knocking down trees and power lines and leaving more than 100,000 people in the rain-soaked dark.
And:
With one mighty gust of wind, the storm on Monday announced itself at 2:30 p.m. at one of Manhattan’s most prestigious addresses.
A crane at 157 West 57th Street swayed up and up and then snapped, leaving tons of metal dangling precariously over 1,000 feet above the ground, with no evident way to secure it with the storm bearing down.
Above is a pic, via the NYT, of the crane.
Via @kristengwynne: “FDR at Houston st right now.”
Via @doorsixteen: “7PM. Plymouth St & lower park areas flooded, water now breaching carousel. #dumbo #brooklyn #sandy.”
Again, I’m maintaining a Hurricane Sandy NYC Twitter list. It has 20 members, and I’ll be updating it in the days ahead.
Note: Go to the home page or click the Hurricane Sandy tag for more recent posts.
Above: New York Governor Cuomo at a press conference this morning.
A quick update as of 1:45 p.m. today (Monday):
Hurricane Sandy is getting stronger and should make landfall late tonight (Monday).
The New York Times reports:
Hurricane Sandy churned through the Atlantic Ocean on Monday en route to what forecasters agreed would be a devastating landfall that is expected to paralyze life for millions of people in more than a half-dozen states in the Northeast, with widespread power failures, a halt in transportation systems and extensive evacuations.
The Wall Street Journal says:
Hurricane Sandy strengthened again late Monday morning, packing 90-mile-an-hour winds, and was expected to make landfall near the New Jersey-Delaware border Monday night, unleashing life-threatening storm surges along the Eastern Seaboard.
Here’s what Broadway near Columbia University looked like at about 1 p.m. today. It was windy and there was a light rain, and there weren’t many cars on the street.
The WSJ has a hurricane tracker map, seen above.
As I noted in my previous post, I’m maintaining a Hurricane Sandy NYC Twitter list. It has 16 members, and I’ll be updating it in the days ahead.
Reminder: For updates, you can follow me on Twitter: @newley.
Note: Go to the home page or click the Hurricane Sandy tag for more recent posts.
Update, Oct. 29: edited the title of this post to correct the date.
Here’s the latest as of 11:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 28. (You can find previous posts via the Hurricane Sandy tag.):
The New York Times has a good interactive feature (pictured above) showing NYC’s hurricane evacuation zones.
Here’s a NASA image, above, showing the hurricane from space.
This Weather Underground tracking map, above, shows the hurricane’s projected path over the coming days.
Google.org has a map showing evacuation centers, possible storm surges, Red Cross emergency shelters, and more.
Reminder: Here’s my Hurricane Sandy NYC Twitter list, which has 13 feeds and counting. I’ll be adding to the list in the days ahead.
And as always, for updates, you can follow me on Twitter: @newley.
Note: Go to the home page or click the Hurricane Sandy tag for more recent posts.
Here’s a picture I snapped in a drug store near Columbia University yesterday (Sat.) in the early evening. You can see that folks have been buying lots of water. Flashlights and batteries were also going fast. (And beer, too!)
Here’s some detailed info from the WSJ on what folks in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut can expect:
Manhattan: Rain beginning Sunday evening, peaking Monday evening and continuing through Thursday. Winds peaking between 45 and 50 mph, with gusts to 70 mph between Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning — up to 90 mph on the higher floors of skyscrapers. Storm surge between 5 and 8 feet in “Zone A,” especially in Battery Park and along the East Side. Storm surge may inundate subways and other critical infrastructure. Overview: Those living above the 10th floor in skyscrapers may want to find shelter in lower floors. Winds increase with height in a hurricane and could be significantly stronger than on ground level. Be cautious about sleeping near a window on Monday night. Do not walk outside on Monday evening, as there could be significant amounts of airborne debris flying around. Rain totals 4-8 inches.
Above is a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) map of Hurricane Sandy seen from space.
For perspective, here’s an Atlantic story worth checking out: “Why Sandy Has Meteorologists Scared in 4 Images.”
I mentioned, in my previous post, some Twitter feeds to follow.
I’ve included them and added some others to this Hurricane Sandy NYC Twitter list. I’ll be adding to the list in the days ahead.
And as always, for updates, you can follow me on Twitter: @newley.
Note: Go to the home page or click the Hurricane Sandy tag for more recent posts.
Updated Sat. at 7:45 p.m.
Here are some resources for following Hurricane Sandy as it approaches New York City.
(Additional locations will also be affected by the hurricane and the accompanying “Frankenstorm,” of course. But I’ll be focusing on the metropolitan area since I’m here in uptown NYC.)
WNYC.org has a helpful map, above, that shows NYC evacuation zones. (You can also access the map directly via this link.)
The Times has an interactive map showing the storm’s potential path.
The Associated Press has also put together a good interactive map (featured at the top of this post).
Some local and federal government Web sites worth bookmarking:
The Weather Channel has suggestions for a disaster supply kit.
And WNYC.org has suggestions for an “urban survival kit.”
Some Twitter accounts and hashtags you might want to follow:
Hashtags:
Note: I’ll be posting more developments as they arise.
In the meantime, you can follow me on Twitter: @newley.