What's your weather?

[apl68]

The loss of life from the remnants of the storm has been greater than in the hurricane's land fall.  I don't think we've ever seen that before.

[Langue_doc]

The city, rather the people who run the city don't seem to have learned from the aftermath of Irene or Sandy. Just recently the subways and roads were flooded from the remains of Elsa in July https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/08/nyregion/flooding-subways-nyc.html, and Henri in August https://abc7ny.com/nyc-wettest-hour-hurricane-henri-storm-damage-flooding/10969038/, https://gothamist.com/news/threat-flooding-remains-after-henri-drops-historic-rainfall-nyc resulting in significant saturation of the ground. The city was aware of the threat of flooding even before Henri https://gothamist.com/news/nycs-outdated-flood-maps-leave-thousands-risk-disaster-bills, so it should have come as no surprise that the subways and roads were flooded by the remains of Ida passing through. The flood advisory for Ida came out on Monday, which gave the city enough time to think about shutting down the subway and asking people to go home by noon as was the case with the preparations for Sandy.

The map that shows the high-risk flood zones in Coney Island (Gothamist article) seems to have been ignored by the city as despite the entire island and most of the shorelines in Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island being fully submerged during Sandy, high rises have been popping up along these areas suggesting that the developers are deciding on policies regarding buildings in flood-prone areas. One of the highrises on the boardwalk has been advertising on the local TV stations https://www.brooklynpaper.com/ocean-drive-a-look-inside-coney-islands-first-luxury-apartment-complex/

There were far more deaths from Ida than from Sandy. The flooding from Sandy though was from the tidal surge which retreated by the following morning, leaving basements, first floors, and cars flooded, and power outages that lasted over a week or more in many areas.

If only the city and state would take notice and do something instead of building bigger and taller buildings in flood zones.

[mamselle]

Just read this and was thinking likewise, but also, "Why were people getting on the trains, then?"

   https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/02/us/ida-train-stranded-ny-nj/index.html

City transport managers, etc., need to have some forethought, agreed.

But then, so do the patrons; they might figure that if the transport is running it must be safe, but why would you go below ground when flooding is an almost guaranteed possibility?

M.

[clean]

but why would you go below ground when flooding is an almost guaranteed possibility?

because People Are Stupid!

You can quote me.

[Langue_doc]

but why would you go below ground when flooding is an almost guaranteed possibility?

because People Are Stupid!

You can quote me.

People are not stupid, but merely trying to get home/work/school based on the information provided by the MTA (google MTA service status) and the absence of any signs in the subway stations or tapes blocking off the entrances. Most people live in one borough and have to get to work in another borough very often having to make two or more transfers between subways or between a combination of subways and buses. If you don't show up for work, there are repercussions including not getting a paycheck or being let go. I've had students who lived in one borough, worked in another borough, and were enrolled in school in a third borough. There are also people trying to get to their evening classes and night jobs and/or pick up their children from daycare. These are desperate people who cannot afford to take cabs or miss work. Those who are at their jobs have to stay there unless their employer decides to close or the city decides that businesses should close for the day. Commuting in the city is long and arduous as can be seen in the subway map on the MTA website.

[apl68]

Apparently some of these tragedies resulted from the extreme pressure on housing in New York causing landlords and tenants to take the risk of treating flood-prone basements as apartments, despite laws against doing so.

New Orleans is supposed to have power restored by the middle of the coming week.  Some customers in outlying areas will have a longer wait.

Apparently over 800 residents of a chain of nursing homes in Louisiana were evacuated to a "shelter" that turned out to be a minimally-equipped warehouse owned by the owner of the chain.  It quickly turned into a horror show of neglect.  Frail residents were lying on the floor, they weren't kept clean, the power and air kept going out.  At least four died before the authorities realized what was happening and evacuated them.  The chain responsible for this atrocity has been written up on violations by state inspectors continually for sixteen years, with nothing apparently ever done about it.

[mamselle]

but why would you go below ground when flooding is an almost guaranteed possibility?

because People Are Stupid!

You can quote me.

People are not stupid, but merely trying to get home/work/school based on the information provided by the MTA (google MTA service status) and the absence of any signs in the subway stations or tapes blocking off the entrances. Most people live in one borough and have to get to work in another borough very often having to make two or more transfers between subways or between a combination of subways and buses. If you don't show up for work, there are repercussions including not getting a paycheck or being let go. I've had students who lived in one borough, worked in another borough, and were enrolled in school in a third borough. There are also people trying to get to their evening classes and night jobs and/or pick up their children from daycare. These are desperate people who cannot afford to take cabs or miss work. Those who are at their jobs have to stay there unless their employer decides to close or the city decides that businesses should close for the day. Commuting in the city is long and arduous as can be seen in the subway map on the MTA website.

A. @apl68: That's so frustrating and sad. RIP to those affected by horrendous decisions they had no control of.

B.  @Langue_doc, (and I realize you weren't directly responding to me alone) I actually do understand the constraints of time, place and cosmopolitan distance , very well...my system and set-up are very similar.

But it's from just that perspective that I'm perplexed. I wouldn't wait on signs and signals from MBTA folks to decide if it's safe to get on a subway (and they're sometimes better than you describe, but sometimes not), I'd walk across two or three towns and/or long bridges (and have) to get to my destination, or figure out other options beforehand, like finding a place to stay (friends, hang out in a library or hotel lobby, or whatever, where I am, for as long as possible.

I'm not meaning to be insensitive, and I realize weather stuff comes up quickly and unexpectedly (I moved here in The Blizzard of 1978, after all!). But part of the toolkit for sane living in such places is a healthy does of self-protective cynicism that leads one to question situations and make second- and 3rd-tier backup plans in case the authorities once again get it wrong, or don't make timely announcements, or have deeper levels of triage than I could guess at,  by which they have to make decisions and allocate resources that have little to do with my needs.

So, my question comes from a place of incredulity based on knowledge, not lack of awareness or empathy.

Been there, done that, have the wet waders to prove it....

M.

[Parasaurolophus]

Rain. It's felt like autumn for days now.

[kaysixteen]

Louisiana has '3rd world country' written all over it, often.

[ab_grp]

Our weather is supposed to be in the 90s and sunny for the foreseeable future, but I saw that Eastern PA/NY/NJ may get more heavy rains, flooding, and possible tornadoes.  Hope everyone stays safe out there.

[clean]

90something.

An X in the gulf (From the nhc.noaa.gov.  The last 2 Xs got names and then made their way to the LA and FL coasts.  Who will THIS weeks storm hit?

(I dont need a new roof, got one after the last hurricane came through, but I COULD use a new fence!  So a tropical storm would be ok!  We also havent really had much rain since May, so the grass would be glad to see some!  (as Im too cheap to pay the water bill (because they also charge for sewer even if it gets applied to the yard!!)


Another Big X is off Africa , but I dont worry about those until they get closer to FL or Cuba!

[Langue_doc]

It's raining, and I can hear thunder, which is surprising as the forecast this morning didn't call for rain until Thursday. More thunder now.

[mamselle]

We had that, too....it was weird.

I went out on the porch about 11 PM and thought there must be a traffic light flashing intermittently--then realized it was very-high-up lightening, with thunder--but no rain.

I have friends in Houston; am hoping they ride out the incoming storm safely.

M.

[apl68]

We have chance of rain in the forecast for the next week (Remnants of that storm now hitting the Gulf coast).  We could use some rain.  It's now looking like the storm's track may shift enough for much of our rain not to materialize.  It's very overcast and rainy looking, though.  And very humid.

[mamselle]

My Houston friends said they had 45 min. of rain, then it veered off away from them.

Sounded like it was heading east and petering out, but one never knows.

M.