Frankenstorm

[wayneL]

Wayne, it will be the first of the month by the time the "witch of November" comes stealin to the great lake they call Gitchigumi...

CanOz

A great artist and one of my very favourite songs.

 

[Knobby22]

It's only a category 1 hurricane isn't it?
Unless the Americans rate them backward to us, isn't this the lowest rating?

 

[moXJO]

It's only a category 1 hurricane isn't it?
Unless the Americans rate them backward to us, isn't this the lowest rating?

Yes but a category 5 media event.

 

[Calliope]

Sandy's massive size.



http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/li...the-frankenstorm/story-e6frf7jo-1226505582311

 

[McLovin]

Is it the Gulf Stream that allows hurricanes to occur in such high lattitudes in the North Atlantic? New York is as far North as Tasmania is South.

 

[CanOz]

Is it the Gulf Stream that allows hurricanes to occur in such high lattitudes in the North Atlantic? New York is as far North as Tasmania is South.

We had a typhoon here a few months ago that made it all the way to Korea. Must be similar latitude.

CanOz

 

[burglar]

It's only a category 1 hurricane isn't it?
Unless the Americans rate them backward to us, isn't this the lowest rating?

It is no longer a hurricane!
Downgraded to a superstorm.

The category is about ferocity.

As Calliope says, this one is about size.
Also relevant is the angle of landfall.

Wall Street Traders are not expected to cyc;e to work, so they have the day off!
:

 

[basilio]

It's also about the slowness of the system which means very strong winds and heavy rain will continue for up to 5 days. That will create all sorts of havoc for flood systems, weakened trees and buildings that may be unable to cope with continuous pounding.

And it coincides with a full moon so the storm surge will come on top of king tides..

It is also going to hit the mostly densely populated areas of US with the most expensive infrastructure.

 

[moXJO]

It's also about the slowness of the system which means very strong winds and heavy rain will continue for up to 5 days. That will create all sorts of havoc for flood systems, weakened trees and buildings that may be unable to cope with continuous pounding.

And it coincides with a full moon so the storm surge will come on top of king tides..

It is also going to hit the mostly densely populated areas of US with the most expensive infrastructure.

So it equates to a Melbourne sun shower.

 

[burglar]

It's also about the slowness of the system which means very strong winds and heavy rain will continue for up to 5 days. That will create all sorts of havoc for flood systems, weakened trees and buildings that may be unable to cope with continuous pounding.

And it coincides with a full moon so the storm surge will come on top of king tides..

It is also going to hit the mostly densely populated areas of US with the most expensive infrastructure.

http://www.komonews.com/weather/blogs/scott/What-makes-superstorm-Sandy-so-unusual--176113171.html

" ... predictions in some areas of 12 inches of rain, 2 feet of snow and sustained 40- to 50 mph winds."



http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/liveblog/wp/2012/10/29/live-blog-hurricane-sandy-news/

"... the nuclear power plants on the East Coast have prepared, particularly in the wake of Japan’s Fukushima meltdown, and whether they have sufficient back-up power to cool the fuel rods in an extended outage. Some say they don’t. In case you needed something else to worry about."

 

[Knobby22]

From Mish's blog:

Sandy is classified as a Hurricane 1 status, a low-grade hurricane. However, don't let that fool you in terms of impact. It's not the absolute magnitude of the hurricane, but rather the magnitude vs. what the infrastructure can handle that matters.

Barometric pressure is 27.76, the lowest pressure recorded for a storm in the Northeast. Sandy is unprecedented in size as well. The hurricane is likely to reach shore with a full moon high tide raising storm surges several more feet.
Read more at http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com.au/#qkpF9jpJJvTGfWIc.99

 

[moXJO]

From Mish's blog:

Sandy is classified as a Hurricane 1 status, a low-grade hurricane. However, don't let that fool you in terms of impact. It's not the absolute magnitude of the hurricane, but rather the magnitude vs. what the infrastructure can handle that matters.

Barometric pressure is 27.76, the lowest pressure recorded for a storm in the Northeast. Sandy is unprecedented in size as well. The hurricane is likely to reach shore with a full moon high tide raising storm surges several more feet.
Read more at http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com.au/#qkpF9jpJJvTGfWIc.99

It's more an issue with drainage with the tides already high. Had the same thing happen before and the town just flooded out due to it being high tide on top of a heavy rainfall.

 

[gav]

Breaking News: Apple Maps says Hurricane Sandy will hit California by midnight! :

 

[basilio]

The big deal at the moment for New York is the flooded subway system. Clearly salt water and miles and miles of electrical wiring and contacts are a nightmare.

New Youk can't function without an operating subway system. There is already concern about how long any pump and repair operation could take and if in fact it can be successful.

Columbia Univeristy Professor Klaus Jacob has worked with the MTA to model what would happen if you couple sea level rises – the FTA says to expect four feet by the end of this century – with intense storms like Irene. In forty minutes, Jacob says, all the East River Tunnels would be underwater. Jacob says he took those results to the MTA, and asked, if that happened, how long would it take to restore the flooded subway to a degree of functionality?

“And there was a big silence in the room because the system is so old. Many of the items that would be damaged by the intrusion of the saltwater into the system could not recover quickly. You have to take them apart. You have to clean them from salt, dry them, reassemble them, test them and cross your fingers that they work.”

In a best-case scenario, Jacob calculated that it would take 29 days to get the subway working again. But in the meantime, a halted subway would almost halt the city’s economy, which, he says produces $4 billion a day in economic activity.

http://transportationnation.org/201...say-subways-in-jeopardy-over-flooding-threat/

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/loca...own-Tunnel-MTA-Hurricane-Sandy-176359011.html

 

[basilio]

I'm wondering if the Presidential election next Tuesday will have to be postponed ? I think there will be a minimum of 3-5 more days of rain and floods across the East Coast with long term power outages.

Hundreds of thousands of people are in emergency shelters which will most likely be schools. If the US is like Australia I imagine the schools would be the voting centres for the election and that they would need to be available at least a few days before the election for setting up booths ect.

Going back to my previous post regarding the flooding of the New York subway system.. I can't see any way on earth New York will be functioning within a week. How do you contact an election in those circumstances ?

Anyone have any ideas on this ?

 

[basilio]

The story on power cuts suggests at least a week and probably 10 days of no power as companies wait for the storms to pass, flood waters to drop and then have to clean up saltwater flooded substations and equipment.

Strengthens the case for postponing the election which in any event will be extremely close.

Super Storm’s Record U.S. Flooding Lands Blackout Blow: Energy

Tuesday, 30 Oct 2012 06:35 AM



Record tides from a wintry super storm combined with hours of pounding wind and rain to deal an unprecedented blow to the U.S Northeast’s power grid, flooding substations and shutting New York City’s financial district.

By nightfall, Consolidated Edison Inc., New York City’s utility, had killed electricity in parts of downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn as seawater encroached on crucial power equipment, warning more cuts may be coming. Crews in Connecticut threw up a dike around an electrical substation serving downtown Stamford and stood ready to shut down four others should floodwaters rise by the forecast 11 feet.

“The last time we saw this threat was never,” Connecticut Governor Dan Malloy said at a press conference yesterday, warning the worst seawater flooding in 70 years could have tides lapping at the base of at least one inland dam.

As of 8 p.m. in New York yesterday, the storm had knocked out power to some 3.6 million homes and businesses, according to the U.S. Energy Department. That figure may increase overnight.

Power blackouts that may eventually affect as many as 10 million people in the region for as long as 10 days left homes in the dark, closed the stock market, and disrupted operations at refineries, pipelines and power plants. Damaged power lines, substations and other infrastructure will contribute to the $20 billion in total storm costs estimated by Eqecat Inc., a risk- management company in Oakland, California.

http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/ALBERTA-ALLTOP-AMCOMNRG-ASBNX/2012/10/30/id/461993

 

[Julia]

Not to mention the human misery of several days without power in freezing weather.
Just awful for so many.

 

[basilio]

God its ugly across the East Coast....

There are still a few days left of severe winds and floods so that is going to have impacts in the states further away from New Jersey, New York etc. I think their problems will probably be lost in the big picture but won't be any less severe.

Its also going to interesting to see how the insurance payouts work. Apparently most people don't have flood insurance so all those homes swept by storm surges and rising rivers will have to be restored by homeowners with their own cash - or whatever is left of it.

The flooding of the New York subways with saltwater is a catastrophe. Most New Yorkers don't have cars so if this system is down for a long period there will enormous suffering.

Many homeowners who suffered losses because of flooding from Hurricane Sandy are likely to find themselves out of luck. Standard homeowners policies don't cover flooding damage, and the vast majority of homeowners don't have flood insurance.

http://www.weather.com/news/weather-hurricanes/sandy-flood-insurance-rare-northeast-20121030

 

[moXJO]

America has a massive amount of manpower at its disposal and some very lateral thinkers. These things tend to get cleaned up fairly quickly. I use to work for a guy that chased storms for repair works and it's amazing how quickly a city can go from looking like a disaster zone to back to normal.