Hurricane Irene

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General information

• Projected to hit NYC as a Category 1 hurricane Sunday morning.
• Track the hurricane, along with other data via Google's Crisis Response Map. Also see the Weather Channel's live tracker here.

  

  Weather.com's Hurricane Tracker

• Con Edison Storm Center - power outages map.

  

  ConEd's Power Map

• Subway, bus, and rail information for the MTA (site is in limited capacity to handle increased volume - often done to prevent the site from crashing, as nyc.gov learned a day ago).

  

  MTA's reduced site showing all service suspended (began Sat noon)

• NYC.gov - again, running in reduced mode.

My Situation

• 8/27/11 16:24 - Normal. Moved stuff around, packed bags with clothing. Dad bought pack of water other day. Flashlights. Covered stuff with bags and moved some stuff away from windows.  Parents were taping a big "X" across windows; upon researching this on the internet, I told them it was "useless." Cars parked in driveway away from trees. Bored. 
• 8/27/11 23:00 - Cable TV and internet returns after almost more than an hour out.  Apparently due to several reported power outages in area. Going to sleep soon.
  
• 8/28/11 04:10 - Received an automated message from NotifyNYC, an emergency notification system set up a few years back, that "The NWS has issued a Tornado Warning for BK and QN. Immediately go indoors to the lowest possible floor for shelter. Stay away from windows." I was outright scared for the next half hour or so and every time I heard the wind howl loudly, I opened my eyes and stayed alert in case I did have to run downstairs. I eventually fell back asleep.
• 8/28/11 10:48 - Woke up intermittently throughout the night. Yes, I was afraid from time to time whenever I heard some noise or the relatively high winds.  Irene was downgraded to a tropical storm and passed NYC by the time I woke up (an hour ago). Leaves and small branches strewn throughout the street. Luckily, no flooding in my house. Backyard was flooded but waters are receding. I won the bet I made with my parents that the hurricane would not be as bad as was predicted, and in fact it was downgraded! Suck on that, 24-hour media hype.
  

  

  ConEd power map showing aftermath of hurricane

  MTA pictures of the authority in action yesterday; click on "Newer": Flickr - MTAPhotos' Photostream - IMG00225-20110827-0734
  My favorite photos: the one with the aquadam that LIRR employed to prevent water from flowing into the underwater tunnels into Penn Station; in a rare instance, an empty Grand Central Terminal, and the good planning by the MTA in preventing rainwater from entering the subway tunnels before and after.
• 8/29/11 00:22 - Found a collection of some pretty shocking user-submitted photos of the hurricane on The New York Times.
• 9/1/11 - Local blogger ScoutingNY went shopping around in the late hours Saturday and made unscientific, but satirical remarks, on what NYers bought.
  

Post 210 (Dated Today, see 200th post for reason)