We knew it was coming. What we didn't know was that it would be so damn inconvenient. The brunt of the dump that Frances took on us landed right at commute time yesterday and by now, even if you weren't in the middle of it all, you've heard about it over and over. Subways slowed, rerouted, suspended, and stuck due to the fact that the pumps the MTA is looking to replace, haven't been yet. Busses were jammed with people that couldn't take the train. Planes delayed and cancelled. Cabs... well you might have been better off playing MegaMillions. Streets and sewers flooded, buildings on the verge of collapse. The media is having a ball.
That seems to be a thing in this fine city. When there is any sort of weather event, it's all the media can talk about. With lines like "Storm of the Century" they flood (no pun intended, really) our homes with repetitive information and facts making every detail sound liek it's the end of the world. Sure the rain is significant in this case but we're just making the point that the media can go a little overboard with this stuff. Our favorite quote about the flooding came from New York City Transit.
"What you're looking at is a large amount of water in a short amount of time," said Charles Seaton, a spokesman for New York City Transit.
No shit sherlock. 3 inches of rain in 2 hours. The total official amount in Central Park was 3.76 inches, about an inch shy of the record though Laguardia and JFK both set records for the day's rainfall. So we're wet and it will continue today with some periods of heavy precip in localized areas and maybe some thunder to mix it up a little. Basically, "it's gonna rain again, you might get dumped on". The good news is it shouldn't be as bad today and tomorrow, we can 86 this mess and get on with talk about the next bad news...
Ivan is getting worse and the National Weather Service issued a statement saying
IVAN IS AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS CATEGORY 4 HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON HURRICANE SCALE. REPORTS FROM AN AIR FORCE RESERVE HURRICANE HUNTER AIRCRAFT INDICATE THAT MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS HAVE INCREASED TO 145 MPH...235 KM/HR...WITH HIGHER GUSTS. ADDITIONAL STRENGTHENING IS EXPECTED DURING THE NEXT 24 HOURS.
Looking at the 5 day tracking map shows that Day 5 computer models have it hovering just off the southwest coast of Florida. What's worse is that Jamaica is currently standing directly in its scheduled meeting at 2pm on Friday. Suddenly, a little rain and interuption of our commute doesn't seem so bad now does it?
If you need a break from this, head on over to Bluejake.com and see the wonderful weather Gothamist's own Jake was experiencing as documented by some wonderful photos during his honeymoon in Hawaii. Mmmmm.... Hawaii......
A little overlap with the Gothamist main page was inevitable. Read more about the subway flooding and more about the rest of the day's troubles.
