What else are they going to talk about? News in this day and age is sensationalism. Reporting that NYC is being shut down is sensational. It's movie quality. It gets views.
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Hurricane Irene
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What else are they going to talk about? News in this day and age is sensationalism. Reporting that NYC is being shut down is sensational. It's movie quality. It gets views.
Houston? You're in Houston? It's really easy to judge the strength and impact of a storm from 1,000 miles away.
The media did their job and the "non-event" it was is proof. Earlier in the week, when the focus on the storm began, Irene had a good chance of becoming a Cat 4. That's when preparations need to be made for an 800 mile wide storm. Millions eventually lost power and it's in the national media too much? There is record flooding. All told, there will probably be billions in damage. Just because Manhattan didn't become the Lower 9th Ward doesn't make the story any less important.
It was heavy rain and wind when it got to us, but I must admit this storm was more of a pain in the arse than I expected. We lost a couple of trees in our backyard, lots of huge branches littered our driveway and the road, and one of the nearby streets was shut down because a giant tree fell over. I think it got a few cars in the fall, too.
Really not looking forward to all the damned yard cleanup.
But at least we're all fine, no house damage, etc.
Really not looking forward to all the damned yard cleanup.
But at least we're all fine, no house damage, etc.
Went to sleep around 2 am here, it was blowing some and raining, just a typical thunderstorm here.
Woke up around 6, then on the hour. Finally out of bed at 9 or so. Never got any worse or I slept through it I guess.
Woke up around 6, then on the hour. Finally out of bed at 9 or so. Never got any worse or I slept through it I guess.
One woman was out in her car while the storm was right there. She's dead. I guess she didn't have a TV.
Some teenagers were out in a canoe. They had to be rescued, endangering the lives of the public servants who saved them. Then they got their 15 seconds of fame on the news. The media did not serve the public well by broadcasting even one image of any of those kids for even half a second. What they should tell us about these scofflaws is how much they were fined.
Some teenagers were out in a canoe. They had to be rescued, endangering the lives of the public servants who saved them. Then they got their 15 seconds of fame on the news. The media did not serve the public well by broadcasting even one image of any of those kids for even half a second. What they should tell us about these scofflaws is how much they were fined.
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Heres a video of the damage at East Carolina University. Classes have been canceled for today and tomorrow.
Hurricane Irene Damage at ECU
Hurricane Irene Damage at ECU
Finally got power restored about a half hour ago. We lost power SUnday at 2am (quite early) in many parts of Long Island. Of course, I just got back from my moms house where I recharged all my electronicals and lugged 15 lbs. of ice home. Lots of trees down all over Long Island but it could have been much worse.
It seemed as if it went right around us. There are some branches down, no major flooding, not much rain either
The pictures I am seeing look very similar to those of the 2009/10 winter ice storm, of course add leaves subtract ice.
If anyone needs help, I have a truck cleaning up I an free Wednesday afternoon. Drop me a pm
The pictures I am seeing look very similar to those of the 2009/10 winter ice storm, of course add leaves subtract ice.
If anyone needs help, I have a truck cleaning up I an free Wednesday afternoon. Drop me a pm
The entire NYC subway shutting down is not sensational. Its historic and newsworthy. People needed to know so that they didn't go out thinking that they could use mass transit.
locally yes but it did not need to be repeated god knows how many times on the national level.
Some towns in CT are 100% without power, homes were washed into the sea. So to call this storm over hyped is just plain stupid. Went about 30 hours here without power.
Just because NYC didn't get a direct hit doesn't mean this wasn't a big storm. The storm surge alone did plenty of damage.
Just because NYC didn't get a direct hit doesn't mean this wasn't a big storm. The storm surge alone did plenty of damage.
Rodimus is right. Had this storm been heading for say, the Gulf states instead of NYC, the news coverage wouldn't have been nearly as widespread. The media just isn't as interested when stuff happens in "flyover states". Also, not to sound crass, but I don't have a lot of sympathy when the last hurricane to hit my home state left it looking like this. (Hint: It happened 6 years ago today, and this damn sure isn't New Orleans)
Edit: Here is a really good, but big, pic from Wikipedia
Edit: Here is a really good, but big, pic from Wikipedia
Attachments
Media coverage was largely inline with previous storms in terms of damage caused: http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/29/how-irene-lived-up-to-the-hype/?hp
Potential losses totalling $14 - $26 billion isn't pocket change.
This was extremely rare weather up herehigh winds and flooding are not something we usually deal with. Case in point: we had nearly 10 feet of snow this past winter. It got old, but I only missed one day of work due to snow. I couldn't help but notice that the south was paralyzed and in a state of emergency with 1-3 inches of snow. My college had 26 inches of snow overnight and didn't cancel classes (I went!). Different places face different challenges...
How big was the coverage from Ike on the national level which did more damage?
I was way to close to be a good judge on it. Plus I was reading and following Houston news at the time plus Houston being shutdown for over a week did effect where I worked.
I was also in Houston during Ike, and I can say I know we got a lot of coverage in NY, becuase my friends and family kept in touch with me through text and IM the entire 48 hours I was without power. They were actaully the ones giving me updates on how much damage and how many were without power. And they started asking me about it days before it came. So, it was a big deal nationally I would venture...especially coming fairly soon after Katrina.
Also, isn't this the first hurricane that has hit land in a few years? That could have something to do with the advanced coverage as well.
That doesn't make you sound crass, it makes you sound utterly without compassion. Soo...the only way you can feel any sympathy for another person dealing with a natural disaster is if it:
a) directly affects you
b) is worse than anything you've ever experienced
c) all of the above
How ridiculous. I'm sorry the hurricane coverage annoyed you, but there are actually people still without power, dealing with quite a mess. If it bothers you that much, don't watch the news.
I will never understand the "competition" for who gets screwed the most by natural disasters. You can have that trophy all day, every day. It doesn't mean that other people's troubles aren't worth feeling compassion for or worth mentioning.
The media doesn't care what is currently happened in Connecticut or Vermont because they are "flyover states" as you so put it.
Another take on the "over-hyped" coverage:
The mantra of many elected officials and forecasters was "Plan for the worst, and hope for the best". That's a very prudent approach with something that is very unpredictable. Forecasters say they've figured out timing much better than years ago, but have not made much progress on predicting the intensity levels as a storm progresses.
So, what if they're off in the other direction? That is, if the storm turns out to be worse than the models predict. Then what would the "Monday morning quarterbacks" be saying?
What would you ask of forecasters if you were charged with the safety of millions of people? I'd ask for the worst case scenario within the realm of reality based on past data and present measurements. That's what you should plan for, just in case. There's no time to adjust. The preparations have to be made days in advance.
So some prepared for the worst, hoped or prayed for the best, and got something in between. (The best would be the storm got lost in the Bermuda Triangle and was never heard from again.) Far better than not preparing at all and losing your life, I'd say. Maybe some disagree...
The mantra of many elected officials and forecasters was "Plan for the worst, and hope for the best". That's a very prudent approach with something that is very unpredictable. Forecasters say they've figured out timing much better than years ago, but have not made much progress on predicting the intensity levels as a storm progresses.
So, what if they're off in the other direction? That is, if the storm turns out to be worse than the models predict. Then what would the "Monday morning quarterbacks" be saying?
What would you ask of forecasters if you were charged with the safety of millions of people? I'd ask for the worst case scenario within the realm of reality based on past data and present measurements. That's what you should plan for, just in case. There's no time to adjust. The preparations have to be made days in advance.
So some prepared for the worst, hoped or prayed for the best, and got something in between. (The best would be the storm got lost in the Bermuda Triangle and was never heard from again.) Far better than not preparing at all and losing your life, I'd say. Maybe some disagree...
I just left Connecticut today from the resort/casino where I was working. The resort got their power back on Sunday night or Monday morning, but all of the area around it were still without power today. In fact, from Foxwoods to the interstate, not a single traffic light was working, which meant no one around there had power. I saw several families pulled over on the side of the road collecting water from a stream or something. It was sad. CP&L outage map still shows large portions of the state without power.
Another friend posted some pics on Facebook with a before/after shot of the valley in Middleburgh, NY, which got some heavy flooding. It was kind of shocking.
This storm didn't bring the kind of widespread damage that Katrina did, but it did bring the flooding. The bad part is that many people do not have separate flood insurance, and most homeowners insurance does not cover flooding (I mean why would it? That would be silly!). So there are going to be a lot of people devastated by this.
Another friend posted some pics on Facebook with a before/after shot of the valley in Middleburgh, NY, which got some heavy flooding. It was kind of shocking.
This storm didn't bring the kind of widespread damage that Katrina did, but it did bring the flooding. The bad part is that many people do not have separate flood insurance, and most homeowners insurance does not cover flooding (I mean why would it? That would be silly!
). So there are going to be a lot of people devastated by this.The southeast portion of the state got hit the hardest power wise, the shoreline communities have been 100% dark for about a week now. Those numbers are starting to come down now but it is currently at 234,902. Even up near Hartford a lot of areas are still dark 4 days later.
How much generator power does Foxwoods have? Or did they shut down the whole gaming floor?
How much generator power does Foxwoods have? Or did they shut down the whole gaming floor?
Oh, this was ridiculous beyond belief and gave Foxwoods quite the black eye from a lot of people.
The power first went out at about 11:00am on Sunday morning, after the main storm had passed. The generators (there were two of them for the section we were in) kicked in right away, so power was back up within about 10 seconds. But the generators were not working correctly. I measured the voltage at 79 volts, instead of the 120 volts it should be from a standard outlet. There were also lots of flashing lights around the place, presumably from the low voltage. At about 2pm, one generator finally bit it, and all power was lost for certain portions. What portions? All of the guest rooms and hallways, and some event spaces (where I was working...we worked by flashlight for about two hours before finally giving up).
All restaurants were closed except very limited service at the buffet and Dunkin' Donuts.
But the slot machine areas were lit up! All of the gaming floors had full power (although they closed them), but the guest rooms and most restaurants and public spaces had nothing. They finally ordered an evacuation of the hotel at about 6:00pm on Sunday. They had security going door to door telling everyone they had 15 minutes to get out, but offering little assistance in the process. I had to go up and meet my wife on the 7th floor and carry all of our bags down the 8-9 flights of stairs to the lobby. There were people in wheelchairs being carried down, and all sorts of crazy stuff. Luckily, we found a hotel in Mystic that still had power, and went there for the night.
I guess to really answer your question, Foxwoods has enough generator power to power the entire resort, minus some air conditioning. But those generators don't necessarily work!