Hurricane Sandy Threatens To Slam Northeast U.S. Monday-Tuesday 29th-30th

Deep Easterly

Low filling rapidly now as it moves further inland. Up to 970 hPa (at 0900 UTC)



Doppler radar is showing widespread light snow over parts of Ohio, West Virgina and that general area.

Nabber

Su Campu wrote: »

But of the deaths, the bigger toll in the Caribbean will not be remembered. That's the way things are unfortunately.

This hurricane is nothing special in this regard

Thrill

As far as I'm aware, the U.S. now has the second highest number of fatalities from countries hit by this storm. Haiti being the highest.

Spindle

Nabber wrote: »

This hurricane is nothing special in this regard

The storm may have passed but it isn't over yet, there seems to be a trickle of reports like the one below, of incidents that happened in the night. This was an area with trailer parks as well. So I imagine in poorer areas there could be some horror stories to come out.

Levee Fails

Deep Easterly

Thrill wrote: »

As far as I'm aware, the U.S. now has the second highest number of fatalities from countries hit by this storm. Haiti being the highest.

The point that was being made was that the storm (and subsequent deaths) only became major news when it began to threaten the US. The huge death count in the Caribbean from the same storm only really got a passing mention by the mainstream media.

Thrill

Deep Easterly wrote: »

The point that was being made was that the storm (and subsequent deaths) only became major news when it began to threaten the US. The huge death count in the Caribbean from the same storm only really got a passing mention by the mainstream media.

The point I was answering was this one...

But of the deaths, the bigger toll in the Caribbean will not be remembered

The Caribbean is made up of a number of separate countries, yet their combined death toll is being measured against that of the U.S.

As for the media, NYC is home to most of the worlds media organizations . No big surprise that there's going to be a bigger media footprint given this fact.

MJohnston

Deep Easterly wrote: »

The point that was being made was that the storm (and subsequent deaths) only became major news when it began to threaten the US. The huge death count in the Caribbean from the same storm only really got a passing mention by the mainstream media.

The majority of this mainstream media is based in the US and you have to understand the difference in the type of reporting that happened in the lead up to Sandy.

Basically it started off as pure 'reporting' when affecting Caribbean nations - hurricanes happen a lot there and deaths are very common, which is sad, but it is the nature of life in that part of the world. Once the threat to the US became more apparent, the media gradually switched into what I would dub 'FEMA' mode, with less post-reporting, more prediction, and more live broadcasting. At this point, the media becomes almost like a warning system for potentially affected residents (of which there were hundreds of millions in the US) and as they are US media, they are unlikely to ignore this near-obligation.

But then I disagree with the inherent premise of your argument: I don't think the Caribbean deaths weren't big news because they "didn't happen here" I think they weren't big news because they simply aren't big news - as I said, this happens a lot in that part of the world, tragic though it might be. For reference, look at the reporting of the Japanese Tsunami - it was pretty much just as widespread as Sandy.

tl:dr; if you want to grumble about the media, it's not geographical bias you should complain about it, it is familiarity breeding apathy.

[-0-]

Spindle wrote: »

Sorry for continuing the OT conversation but:

To be fair the BBC are one media outlet that did report on Sandy and it impacts in the before the US. They are still the best for impartial reporting of the facts without to much hype, but then they don't need much private funding from advertising.

The media in the USA and outlets like Sky/Daily Mail etc are pretty poor at reporting straight up facts and will always be this way as they package up a product to sell what people want.

Thankfully with the internet, you can now read independent outlets and make up your own mind.

Sky is owned by the same guy who owns Fox News, and should be treated as such.

Sephiroth_dude

Were time square/central park badly hit?

SnowDrifts

A scene from West Virginia

https://twitter.com/HulaCherry/status/263271391581859840/photo/1/large

torrential1

Total hype... This event is being dramatised and hyped beyond belief by the media.. the disappointment is palpable... No major flooding, no major death toll... its a strong storm that hit a populated area.. And when causes of death of those who died is examined it will be secondary things like a candle burning their house down or a heart attack etc. My brother is in New York... he said it was wet and breezy with some flooding in low lying areas.... he went out for breakfast this morning in Manhatten and there is no evidence apart from leaves that it was windy. the low levels of activity on here tell me most people agree that this thing was hyped and didnt deliver what, lets all be honest here, the massive catastrophe we all secretly hoped for.

ian_m

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKDNWVyDSvs

:pac:

CRM Ireland

torrential1 wrote: »

Total hype... This event is being dramatised and hyped beyond belief by the media.. the disappointment is palpable... No major flooding, no major death toll... its a strong storm that hit a populated area.. And when causes of death of those who died is examined it will be secondary things like a candle burning their house down or a heart attack etc. My brother is in New York... he said it was wet and breezy with some flooding in low lying areas.... he went out for breakfast this morning in Manhatten and there is no evidence apart from leaves that it was windy. the low levels of activity on here tell me most people agree that this thing was hyped and didnt deliver what, lets all be honest here, the massive catastrophe we all secretly hoped for.

I didnt secretly want to see serious damage, I was scanning tv report after tv report hoing for bridges to be blown over, 20 ft waves rushing through the streets, cars being tossed like leaves, fire trucks flipping through the air...

I did see some transformers explode. A scabby badly maintained building front fall off because it was slightly windier than normal and the subway system taking on a bit of water.

The biggest and most dramatic thing about this, is the absolute lack of anything interesting going on. Insurance companies must be waking up laughing to themselves this morning.

TURRICAN

torrential1 wrote: »

Total hype... This event is being dramatised and hyped beyond belief by the media.. the disappointment is palpable... No major flooding, no major death toll... its a strong storm that hit a populated area.. And when causes of death of those who died is examined it will be secondary things like a candle burning their house down or a heart attack etc. My brother is in New York... he said it was wet and breezy with some flooding in low lying areas.... he went out for breakfast this morning in Manhatten and there is no evidence apart from leaves that it was windy. the low levels of activity on here tell me most people agree that this thing was hyped and didnt deliver what, lets all be honest here, the massive catastrophe we all secretly hoped for.

Speak for yourself on the last one!

Nice to see YOUR honesty though.

bnt

MJohnston wrote: »

tl:dr; if you want to grumble about the media, it's not geographical bias you should complain about it, it is familiarity breeding apathy.

Sad to say, we all know by now how fragile life is in Haiti since the earthquake, and so it's just not a surprise that the people there are more vulnerable and the fatalities are higher. (Doesn't make it right, of course.)

torrential1

TURRICAN wrote: »

Speak for yourself on the last one!

Nice to see YOUR honesty though.

Yes you are right to point out the last bit of my post... of course no one wants death but I just wanted something massive... terrible I know but I am so disappointed!! I stayed up all night ( I off work this week) watching news reports and going online and it began to hit me around 6am our time that this was not going to be the once in a lifetime weather event.... You know what? The snowfalls of winter 2010 here were more dramatic to follow!!

Storm 10

My brother is in New York... he said it was wet and breezy with some flooding in low lying areas.... he went out for breakfast this morning in Manhatten and there is no evidence apart from leaves that it was windy. the low levels of activity on here tell me most people agree that this thing was hyped and didnt deliver what, lets all be honest here, the massive catastrophe we all secretly hoped for.

I think your brother is going around New York with his eyes closed
Sad really when all you want to see is destruction, tell that to the relatives of the 17 dead. 19 houses burnt to the ground in Queens because the fire service could not make it through the floods. :mad:

kstand

I think the relatively small loss of life here is remarkable and down to the forward planning of the authorities in getting people out and warning them in advance - clearly they had their home work done.

Sierra Oscar

torrential1 wrote: »

You know what? The snowfalls of winter 2010 here were more dramatic to follow!!

To be fair, I wouldnt have expected this thread to get a huge following as compared to weather event discussions that will actually impact on Ireland.

It was a very severe storm. There are millions without power, and it could take ten days for full power to be restored. Large swathes of land has been flooded, and Manhattan is effectively shut down at the moment. We have seen the New York Stock Exchange closed for two consecutive days due to the unprecedented weather, the first time that has happened since the 1800's. The entirety of the Metro system has experienced damage due to flooding, and they are saying it could take weeks - not days - before it is fully operational again. The main airports also remain severely disrupted.

I don't know what exactly you were expecting (did you think Manhattan would be flattened or something?!) but the damage associated with this storm is immense.

MJohnston

Sierra Oscar wrote: »

To be fair, I wouldnt have expected this thread to get a huge following as compared to weather event discussions that will actually impact on Ireland.

It was a very severe storm. There are millions without power, and it could take ten days for full power to be restored. Large swathes of land has been flooded, and Manhattan is effectively shut down at the moment. We have seen the New York Stock Exchange closed for two consecutive days due to the unprecedented weather, the first time that has happened since the 1800's. The entirety of the Metro system has experienced damage due to flooding, and they are saying it could take weeks - not days - before it is fully operational again. The main airports also remain severely disrupted.

I don't know what exactly you were experiencing (did you think Manhattan would be flattened or something?!) but the damage associated with this storm is immense.

Indeed, I think someone has been watching too many Hollywood blockbusters, this was extremely....exciting for want of a better word from a number of perspectives.

Why is the internet full of people always wanting to be contrarians?

the_syco

torrential1 wrote: »

My brother is in New York... he said it was wet and breezy with some flooding in low lying areas.... he went out for breakfast this morning in Manhatten and there is no evidence apart from leaves that it was windy.

NYC only got hit by a few side winds, not by the main force of it...

CRM Ireland wrote: »

20 ft waves rushing through the streets, cars being tossed like leaves, fire trucks flipping through the air...

It has happened, in Jersey. Where Sandy is at. According to a conference about 30 minutes ago, 24 small freight rail cars were lifted off the tracks and thrown onto a road nearby.

torrential1 wrote: »

The snowfalls of winter 2010 here were more dramatic to follow!!

You expect people to stand in front of the storm to film cars being thrown about for the fun of it? Erm, no.

Sierra Oscar wrote: »

There are millions without power

Seems there are twice the number of home without power in Jersey compared to Irene.

=-=

Has it hit the cold front yet?

Deep Easterly

Thrill wrote: »

The point I was answering was this one...

The Caribbean is made up of a number of separate countries, yet their combined death toll is being measured against that of the U.S.

As for the media, NYC is home to most of the worlds media organizations . No big surprise that there's going to be a bigger media footprint given this fact.

Yes, the Caribbean is made up of a number of smaller countries but that really isn't the point. More people died in the Caribbean from the Sandy than in the US; the storm was also stronger (cat 2) but as others (and you) have acknowledged, the impact of the storm on the US was very much hyped because of the huge amount of media coverage it received.

One thing that bugged me slightly was that Sandy was classed as being a 'superstorm' as it neared the US coastline, but I wonder was it? it had a wide wind field, yes, but a lot of north Atlantic depressions do. My hunch (most probably wrong) is that the storm only became 'super' because of the hype surrounding it. In reality, the storm was a lot more 'super' as it passed over the Caribbean.

MJohnston

Deep Easterly wrote: »

One thing that bugged me slightly was that Sandy was classed as being a 'superstorm' as it neared the US coastline, but I wonder was it? it had a wide wind field, yes, but a lot of north Atlantic depressions do. My hunch (most probably wrong) is that the storm only became 'super' because of the hype surrounding it. In reality, the storm was a lot more 'super' as it passed over the Caribbean.

Well officially it was just classed as "Post-Tropical Cyclone Sandy" but Weather Channel said last night they were calling it Superstorm because of its interaction with the Nor'easter causing such widespread effects. It's obviously slightly dumbed down, but I think I can accept it because it seems like a different type of storm than we normally see.

sebastianlieken

I like how people are denying the damage this hurricane has caused. you people silly!

I'm uploading pics to photobucket, just from my block on 101 and central park west. (well, two blocks really), but still check them out!

Big Nasty

sebastianlieken wrote: »

I like how people are denying the damage this hurricane has caused. you people silly!

I'm uploading pics to photobucket, just from my block on 101 and central park west. (well, two blocks really), but still check them out!

Pics or GTFO!

Spindle

Deep Easterly wrote: »

Yes, the Caribbean is made up of a number of smaller countries but that really isn't the point. More people died in the Caribbean from the Sandy than in the US; the storm was also stronger (cat 2) but as others (and you) have acknowledged, the impact of the storm on the US was very much hyped because of the huge amount of media coverage it received.

One thing that bugged me slightly was that Sandy was classed as being a 'superstorm' as it neared the US coastline, but I wonder was it? it had a wide wind field, yes, but a lot of north Atlantic depressions do. My hunch (most probably wrong) is that the storm only became 'super' because of the hype surrounding it. In reality, the storm was a lot more 'super' as it passed over the Caribbean.

I think in terms of winds it was not a 'superstorm' what made this different was the storm tide that came with it. With such a wide wind field coupled with very low pressure for the area and the unusual track combining to create the highest recorded tides for a lot of heavily populated areas.

I think 'superstorm' is a media term not a scientific one. I hope anyway.

I think the models did really well in this event, they were being rubbished when they came up with this solution last week, but they proved to be correct on that front, there well be a lot of thesis's written about this one.

sebastianlieken

and worst of all...

Su Campu

Storm 10 wrote: »

I think your brother is going around New York with his eyes closed
Sad really when all you want to see is destruction, tell that to the relatives of the 17 dead. 19 houses burnt to the ground in Queens because the fire service could not make it through the floods. :mad:

See, there's my point illustrated. The Caribbean souls have been forgotten.....

[-0-]

People claiming this is over hyped are idiots. This will end up costing more than Katrina as it will cost over 10 billion per day to the economy and won't be sorted out for a while. My friend's apartments are destroyed and if they heard some of the tripe being spouted here they'd smack the crap out of you for being such an idiot.

CRM Ireland

I think "The Day After Tomorrow" has ruined every storm for me. Unless the carnage is on a similar scale, Im always going to be underwhelmed.