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The city unveiled its $30 hurricane evacuation plan ($30 mil sounds a little chintzy to us, for some reason), and Mayor Bloomberg said that the city will force people evacuate if "there is an imminent danger to their lives." In other words, we're not going to have a Katrina style mess. The city went through how different categories of storms could affect residents, with a Category 4 storm necessitating the evacuation of 3+ million people (with 34,000 city staffers working for 9 days!). And don't worry - public transport will be free in case of one of these emergencies.
A Cat 3 storm could, as the NY Times puts it, "hit the New York area yet, flood waters could reach as far inland as central Brooklyn or to the northeast corner of Central Park." There will be 509 shelters and 65 evacuation centers around the city, using the "solar system" concept - 5-10 shelters flow to the evacuation centers. The plan, which has taken nine months (it was first mentioned last September), is getting praise, but we want to know about the hurricane plan testing!
So, what city wants you to do:
- Go to the Office of Emergency Management website and find out where your evacuation center is and develop a plan for you and your family
- Prepare a Go Bag (it's been almost five years since September 11 and we don't know anyone who has...but there's no time like the present!)
- Prepare an emergency kit (helpful for any situation, not just disasters)
Read the OEM's 2006 hurricane brochure (PDF).
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I don't want to sound gloomy, but how can you say that just because the city plans to force people to leave, we won't have a Katrina style mess? I do agree that, in the event of a cat. 3 hurricane hitting NYC, we won't have as big of a mess as New Orleans, but I don't believe that Bloomberg promising to force 3 million people to evacuate is going to do much to help. How much experience does this city have in evacuating millions of people at a moment's notice? With just a few hundred thousand people evacuating the New Orleans area, a car ride that would normally take about an hour and a half can easily take as long as 4-6 hours. If millions of New Yorkers are forced to evacuate, we'll be faced with total gridlock. I can't imagine free mass transit being that much help. Is everyone who is at risk and without a car supposed to catch a train at Penn Station and Grand Central? So he's going to force us all to leave... that's great... I'd love to know how he's going to implement that plan effectively. If we were faced with more than just flooding, if the city was getting a direct hit by a cat. 3 or higher and was going to experience severe hurricane winds, I can't imagine millions of people cramming into shelters being that effective of a plan either. A mandatory evacuation is not an easy decision to make. It would cripple the city, so it will take guts to issue it in time for people to get out of the city safely. Does Bloomberg have the guts? I just don't think it makes sense to speak so lightly about the situation... Bloomberg says he's going to make us all leave, so clearly we won't have any problems like those other people did.
I have a go-bag ready, but it's for when the dead rise and eat the living, not for hurricanes. It can work just as well, though.
http://www.gothamist.com/archives/2005/11/20/escape_from_new.php
Ahhhhh, you mean zombies.
Just what is the best zombie killer is the ultimate question.
In all seriousness, you really can't believe public transportation can be relied upon in a Katrina like emergency. Has the mayor seen the subways when there's an inch of rain?
You need to think locally when it comes to being prepared. Get together with some neighbors and make a plan. Hopefully these are neighbors you can stand being around for long periods of time.
Assign tasks for each person, set up a meet up and go to the agreed upon vacation home in the mountains of PA or NY. The vacation home should also be prepared for the influx of additional guests.
I was in New Orleans during the Katrina evacuation, both helping friends and family get to safety and then mapping 9-11 calls in the state EOC. A few years later, at a National Conference on Evacuation, I saw someone from NYC EOC give a presentation on their evacuation plans. This woman was pretty clueless and the plans had a couple of important flaws. As one example, she discussed using the subways to evacuate people, but she did not know when the storm surge would inundate the tunnels. Sounds like a plan to drown thousands to me.
If you guys ever get hit by a major hurricane, YOU WILL HAVE A KATRINA LIKE DISASTER.
If this country is to be more safe, everyone, including Jen Chung, needs to get over the "Only in New Orleans" mentality.
We had one of the world's most advanced evacuation plans. We drilled the plan and had practice rounds. We knew when our major evacuation routes become inundated from the storm surge. We executed the plan almost perfectly. And, we still had a catastrophe.