Hear Irene Scream
Didn’t they already use the name Irene in 2005? I thought many more years had to go by before they reuse a name. Oh well, anyway, Miss. Hurricane Irene is on a path of natural destruction with major cities like Baltimore, Boston, Philadelphia and NYC directly in her projected track. The pictures and videos streaming in from the Bahamas, southern Florida and other tropical areas are a sight to behold. Irene may be a typical hurricane for these areas, but to know this behemoth is trucking north with the potential to become hit as a Category 2 storm is alarming.
There are 65 million people on the east coast, myself included. Irene is currently hovering over the Atlantic between Florida and Georgia, regaining strength. According to the NY Times Hurricane Tracker, NYC and Philadelphia are no longer directly in her projected path, but are still in the hurricane storm zone and possible hurricane paths. Even if the storm veers to the East, there will be rain and possible flooding to the areas currently listed as hurricane warning zones. AKA, the entire East coast will be getting rain sometime this weekend into Monday. Some five to ten inches! Flooding is expected due to already soaked ground on the East coast.
As for NYC, I have been following NY Times’ Hurricane Tracker and deciphering the Hurricane Zones PDF. The PDF color codes areas of the city into danger zones with a list of closest evacuation facilities. Areas along the water (obviously) will get hit the hardest, and low lying pockets will undoubtedly flood. That’s why I am bailing to my family’s house in the Philadelphia suburbs. Who knows what could happen to the streets and I can’t have my car ruined or devalued.
Some 300 events have been cancelled or postponed in NYC, along with the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial service in D.C. New Jersey and New York are in states of emergency and voluntary evacuation orders have been going out since Thursday. The subways in NYC will be shut down to avoid dangerous flooding situations, a good call I believe. Friday’s AM New York newspaper front-page reads: “Stay Away Irene!” as if we have any choice.
This storm is going to be epic, as my mother says. That’s a word she does not use often or lightly. I will be covering my travels and experiences through the storm with as much intent as I can, reporting here on Technorati and on CNN’s iReport service.
Follow Technorati