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So, the Governor has declared a state of emergency in New York state. He has also sent out a blast email, which I will copy below with emergency preparedness tips.
New Yorkers should make sure they have a storm emergency kit ready and include items such as non-perishable food, water, cash, filled prescriptions, a battery-powered radio, first aid kit, supplies for any pets, flashlights and extra batteries. The Governor also encourages New Yorkers to check in with neighbors, especially the elderly or disabled, who might need assistance to ensure that their needs are met if emergency instructions are issued. Additional tips for New Yorkers include:
- Know how to contact all family members at all times. Identify an out-of-town friend or family member to be the “emergency family contact.” Then make certain all family members have that number. Designate a family emergency meeting place where the family can meet in case you can’t go home.
- Pay particular attention to relatives with special needs, small children and pets. Know where to relocate pets during a storm because many shelters are not able to accept pets. Shelters often only accept “service animals” that assist people with disabilities.
- Prepare an emergency phone list of people and organizations that may need to be called. Include children’s schools, doctors, child/senior care providers, and insurance agents.
- Follow the news and emergency broadcasts of local radio and television stations that will provide up-to-date official information during a storm emergency, including recommendations to evacuate specific areas.
- Find out what emergency plans are in place in your community and how you will be notified in the event of an emergency.
- Know the hurricane risks in your area, and learn the storm surge history and elevation of your area.
- Store important documents such as insurance policies, medical records, bank account numbers, and social security cards in waterproof containers. Also have cash (in small bills), a checkbook, and credit/ATM cards readily available.
Phoenix Women has been advocating boarding up your windows with plywood. What additional measures are you taking?
38 Comments
Thanks, Cynthia, might I also mention charging up cellphones, making sure you have a manual can opener, and filling jugs with drinking water?
After living through several of these in South Florida over the years, I also recommend stopping by an ATM for some cash. Good luck, and stay safe!
Good Morning Pups!
One other thing I’ve always done before a big storm is to fill up the bathtub with water to use to flush the toilet. I have also filled up garbage cans outside for the same purpose. If you are on “City Water”, this is not as critical, but if you have a well as your water source when the power goes out the toilet goes with it. That can be problematic
Be safe!
Subway going to shut down it seems:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/29/us/east-coast-braces-for-severe-storm-surge.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
We also used to ID who in the neighborhood had gas stoves rather than electric so neighbors could team up.
I also have spare glasses, and the spouse has extra hearing aid batteries in our kit.
Good idea!
The only prep I did was to remove stuff from the deck of my boat, and lash everything down and put chafe gear on the security line. The boat’s on a mooring in Northport. The gear is good for more than 80mph but sustained is another matter.
We live in an apartment on the 5th floor and I expect the usual loss of power. Let’s see how quickly the services are restored.
After being through numerous hurricanes in Fl.
Stay indoors and away from widows.
Be prepared for an extended time without power.
Avoid driving until the roads a clear.
Do not drive through standing water.
Have enough food and water to last at least 2 weeks.
No refrigeration so canned and non perishable food is a must.
Plenty of flashlights and batteries and battery powered radios etc.
Just for starters.
Don’t hold your breath.
Is anyone still in touch with Ecahn? Sounds like she would be in harm’s way, but hard for me to tell. Good luck to all of you in the area.
I filled up the space in my freezer with water jugs and also bags of water – obviously to help keep the temp low if the power goes out.
Flashlights at the ready and even an emergency candle with lighter.
I better try to find the little propane bottles that go with the little camping stove, just in case.
All chargeable stuff is charged
Fill bath tub too.
People in apartments will be especially vulnerable even if they have gas cooking as the gas lines could get ruptured and you would be without even gas too cook. And using a gas camp stove in an apartment could be dangerous. If you have a balcony, you could cook there.
Also the water could get contaminated if the NYC underground gets flooded. A strong possibility with this storm. Lower Manhattan from I78 south would likely be untenable.
Beware of rock slides in Westchester County.
Keep more than one propane tank for your grill and make sure they are filled.
Put a piece of sod in the garage or on a porch for the dog to use during the storm.
Now that Sandy has left Florida, the weather is absolutely perfect, may those of you in the NE be as fortunate.
Boarding up windows is fine if you don’t mind putting in the work to do it right, that is to say, making plywood covers to go over the window recesses, with some way of keeping them in place against high winds that doesn’t involve driving nails into your siding. And you’re going to do that work to mitigate a very low prob event if it’s this storm you’re worried about. Freak local circumstances aside, sub-hurricane force winds are not going to be picking up loose objects heavy enough to drive through your windows.
Sure, if you have the right solution pre-made (it’s too late for this storm), put them up. You went to the trouble to construct or contract the things, might as well insure against even freak occurrences. And by all means, do what you can to prevent freak occurrences by taking in all objects from around your house that are even approximtely of the wrong weight, light enough for winds to pick up, but heavy enough to smash a window. Encourage your neighbors to do the same, if only by your example. Tape windows, especially in any rooms in which people may be riding out the storm, as a low-cost (as opposed to boarding) way to prevent injury from flying glass.
Make sure you have all prescriptions filled. Be advised that nearly all retail outlets work on “Just in time” delivery and keep very little stock on hand. So with comm and transpo out, would run out very quickly.
Oh yeah, don’t forget to fill up the car. A extra five gallon can of gas isn’t a bad idea either.
X2
A must read from Dr. Jeff Masters at weatherunderground.
Very impressive visual satellite of Sandy.
It now has a good looking core center and is reforming it’s eyewall.
that reminds me, a weatherguy last night suggested keeping your car charger close at hand for the phone, can always recharge phone in the car (after the storm passes).
such a pretty picture
so fluffy and white…
It’s starting to look ominous here, but I know it’s coming. Imagine if this came along without warning.
Oh and if you do have problems, just go home and call 211
We’ve had problems with city water, too, so filling the bathtub is a good idea and does not cost very much.
Sigh.
I have been meaning forever to buy a radio and light sources (lanterns, flashlights) that you can operate on batteries or by hand crank and re-charge electrically.
My batteries usually die before I need them, but keeping them in the freezer does prolong their lives.
Here in Cleveland they have issued a High wind advisory, lake shore flood watch and flood watch for low lying areas through Tuesday.
http://forecast.weather.gov/showsigwx.php?warnzone=OHZ011&warncounty=OHC035&firewxzone=OHZ011&local_place1=&product1=Lakeshore+Flood+Watch
Here’s my list of must-haves. It’s geared toward southern (hot) weather so some things might not be appropriate.
Water, water, water. All you can get. There is no such thing as too much water. Fill your bathtubs and any other large containers. Fill ziploc baggies and stuff into the nooks and crannies of your freezer and refrigerator. It will help keep other items colder longer. Turn the temp down as low as you can on refrig/freezer before the storm.
Turn the icemaker on high and start storing in ziplocs.
Don’t count on water staying on if you are connected to a city water supply. I’ve lived on city water all my life and can’t count how many times the water has gone off. That said, the power companies work to get power restored to water plants asap. However, after Katrina I had no water for 16 days…desperate days for sure.
Get a cooler for the most used items. You don’t want to open the fridge more than once a day.
One of those small camping burners that sit atop a quart size propane bottle… you can get them almost anywhere for about 20$. Super for heating up water for morning coffee and anything you can cook in one pot. Even if you have a big grill, get this for quick heat-ups. Handiest thing ever!
If your freezer is well stocked, cook your good meat and veggies on the grill first before dipping into the canned goods.
Non-homogenized milk…comes in little quart paper containers on the baking aisle. Nobody can tell it’s not the real-deal from the dairy cooler.
Frozen fruit is a nice treat and can be stuffed into nooks in your freezer to get it full.
Juice boxes for the kids…they won’t whine too much that it’s not cold if it’s in a nifty container. Stick an extra loaf of bread in the freezer.
INSTANT COFFEE….for the above mentioned burner.
In addition to flashlights and battery lamps, I always keep an old-fashioned hurricane lamp around with plenty of oil. It has the advantage of not needing batteries and the oil will keep forever. A wind-up radio. One that has extra attachments for charging different cell phones is nice.
Cash. There will be no ‘plastic’ transactions.
Keep all your supplies in one location…even some changes of clothing. Otherwise everybody is going to use up your flashlight power hunting down things in the dark.
Taping windows? I don’t think it does much good and is a chore to get off later. Not saying, I haven’t done it on occasion. Stay in an interior room away from those windows. Boarding up? Hmmm. This is hard to say. This storm is supposed to be of much longer duration than a ‘normal’ hurricane. However the winds should only be Cat 1 but I don’t know what effect the long duration will have. The other thing is, I expect it’s too late. It’s very time-consuming to start from scratch on this and your remaining time may be better spent elsewhere. Help your neighbor bring in any outdoor items…those are the things that will want to fly through YOUR windows. Put your car in the garage right up against the door. That will give the door a little more support. Close and lock the door…and all other windows and doors in your house. You do not want the wind to find a way into your house..especially through the garage. That’s when roofs come off. Anything you do, needs to be done today, yesterday would have been better. The weather will get really nasty hours and hours before the storm actually comes ashore. If you live in a multi-storey house, stay on the ground floor. Don’t be tempted to go upstairs to ‘peek’ at the storm. This is the same as in the movies when the heroine goes into a dark cellar with a dying flashlight….nothing good is going to happen.
Lastly, if you are near water, just get out. It will be too late once your recognize the danger. If you are feeling fearful, unprepared or anxious go to a shelter or other more secure place. These things last a long time, are filled with unaccountable noises and during the bad ones there will come a point when you feel you have landed in a Sci-Fi weather disaster movie and your imagination can make some amazing leaps. Do not be alone. Get somebody to come to your house or go to theirs. This is also true after the storm. People do crazy things when they are desperate so be aware at all times. Know your neighbors and pay attention if you see strangers.
Dr Masters blog at wunderground.com is great and my personal fav is the forum on storm2k.org
Of course I’m not an expert by any means, but just a thought that perhaps filling the bathtub isn’t a good idea if structures are being threatened by this – that is, a bathtub is often, for folks who don’t have basements, (and in flooding a basement may be out of the question too) the one place you can get into and cover with a quilt or mattress for protection – just in case this thing has tornadoes of some sort going along with – and of course, I don’t know that it will this late in the season but because of the extreme connections, not just the one storm but three, it’s worth consideration I think. If you have other containers for water, by all means use those.
From cmaukonen’s excellent link to Dr. Jeff Masters:
the storm may be able to build a nearly complete eyewall by Monday morning. By Monday afternoon, though, Sandy will be moving over cool 25°C waters, which should slow down this intensification process. However, the trough of low pressure that will be pulling Sandy to the northwest towards landfall on Monday will strengthen the storm by injecting “baroclinic” energy–the energy one can derive from the atmosphere when warm and cold air masses lie in close proximity to each other. Sandy should have sustained winds at hurricane force, 75 – 80 mph, at landfall. Sandy’s central pressure is expected to drop from its current 951 mb to 945 – 950 mb at landfall Monday night. A pressure this low is extremely rare ; according to wunderground weather historian Christopher C. Burt, the lowest pressure ever measured anywhere in the U.S. north of Cape Hatteras, NC, is 946 mb (27.94″) measured at the Bellport Coast Guard Station on Long Island, NY on September 21, 1938 during the great “Long Island Express” hurricane.
I went to Weather Underground and found a couple local weather stations to follow, I wanted to track the atmospheric pressure – and rainfall totals
I was looking at what wikipedia has to say about that “Long Island Express” hurricane, and, Elliot, it has much to do with what those weatherbrains guys were saying Friday night, something I don’t think we’ve looked at. That is, although the l938 hurricane was a much stronger one to begin with, some of the conditions are very similar. That one had fooled the meteorologists, who expected it to track northwest, because of a system forcing it to hug the coast – but also, the element described by the word “express” – it picked up speed to be travelling at 70mph as it reached the cooler waters that should have lessened its intensity. That would be the thing to watch I think, and they hinted at that in your video – “a sharp turn” are I think the words they used. When the 1938 one picked up speed like that, it didn’t matter that the hurricane itself was trying to decrease in intensity because the rotational spin winds were increased by the forward motion.
I’d like to hear if that could happen, because it will leave very little time to prepare if it does.
Sorry, I meant to say above that the meteorologists expected the 1938 storm to track northeast, not northwest.
I really don’t know. Sounds like all the models seem to agree on what’s going to happen with Sandy but since something like this has never happened before, it’s possible the models will be wrong. But so far they’ve predicted what has come to pass with this storm.
HuffPo has a pretty detailed description also.
I recommend having one of these:
Eton Weather Radio and flashlight and cell phone charger with solar power and hand crank:
http://www.amazon.com/FR160B-Microlink-Self-Powered-Weather-Flashlight/dp/B001QTXKB0/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1351449038&sr=8-2&keywords=eton+weather+radio+crank
For about $30. It packs a lot into a small package.
google Sandy crisis map
What are those peach colored clouds in the middle of the country?
having all those phone numbers & radio & TV stations wont do much good if phone service & the grid are out…
I think it’s reflectivity, shows precip
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weather_radar#Reflectivity_.28in_decibel_or_dBZ.29