Mayor Bloomberg Updates New Yorkers on City’s Response to Hurricane Sandy. (Photo Credit: Kristen Artz/Mayor's Office)
Departing the OEM. (Jen Carlson/Gothamist)
This morning Mayor Bloomberg, Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Senator Chuck Schumer, and a blazer-less Ray Kelly held a press conference at the Office of Emergency Management in Brooklyn. Again, the mayor stressed that Zone A residents should be leaving their homes immediately if they haven't already (by this evening it will be too late, and those people will be safer not leaving at all). He also had some tips on what to do while you're stuck inside:
“Broadway is closed tonight. If you wanted to go out, it’s probably... restaurants want the business and movie theaters and everybody else, but just remember it is dangerous out there and it may be a good time to just stay hunkered in to your home and have a sandwich out of the fridge and sit back and watch television."
He added that you'll want to "remain in your homes while this storm is in progress. If you live in buildings served by elevators, avoid using them during the storm. Stay away from picture windows or lobbies where glass could be shattered by wind-borne objects. Most of the glass is able to stand up to the gusts, but if something is blown into them then they could easily shatter." A few other notes from the conference worth pointing out:
- Currently Hurricane Sandy is on track to make landfall just south of Atlantic City this evening—"that keeps New York City well within the danger zone of this storm."
- We are under a coastal flood warning through 3 p.m. on Tuesday and high-wind warning through 6 p.m. on Tuesday.
- Hurricane-force winds "extend some 175 miles in every direction of the center. The storm may strengthen as it meets the cold front approaching from the northwest, and that’s when it changes from a tropical storm to a nor’easter, which has very big implications for those areas to the west of us and to the north of us."
- A high wind warning is currently in effect—"the heaviest winds will occur this afternoon, this evening. Sustained winds of 40 to 55 miles an hour with gusts of 70 to 80 are what’s forecast at the moment."
- There will be another high tide tonight, just after 8 p.m.—"a much bigger one, and tomorrow another one"—because of this water levels are "expected to remain at higher-than-normal levels for the next 24 hours."
Flooding has already been occurring in the Battery, the FDR, and the Rockaways. Bloomberg said they "expect surge levels of 6 to 11 feet. A surge of 9 to 10 feet is possible along Coney Island and the Rockaways. And a surge of 11 to 12 feet may occur at the Battery Monday evening." He also pointed out that, as of this afternoon “You can look outside and say, ‘Oh, this is not bad.’ That’s correct, but it is going to be."
