Then-Hurricane Irene, photographed by NASA astronaut Ron Garan from aboard the International Space Station, Aug. 27. (Photo via TwitPic)
Tracks
Floodwaters caused by Hurricane Irene seen here inundating a covered bridge in Quechee, Vermont.
(via @BrianStelter)
NJ Transit to offer extremely limited train service, modified weekday service on buses, and weekend service on light rail.
MTA has begun restoring limited bus service in Manhattan and the Bronx, to be followed by Queens and Brooklyn; conditions on Staten Island preventing MTA from doing same there.
The City of New York has officially lifted its evacuation order for Zone A and the Rockaways.
Hurricane Irene, by the numbers, to date (UPDATE 2):
- Confirmed death toll at nine;
- Storm makes landfall in New York City near Coney Island, winds at 65MPH; gaining speed at 18MPH on a north north-east heading;
- More than half a million people in New Jersey are without power;
- Newsday (no link) reports more than 283,000 customers on Long Island without power — about a quarter of the Island;
- 250,000 Connecticut residents are without power;
- Jersey-bound tube of the Holland Tunnel closed due to flooding;
- CNN reporting both Hudson and East Rivers (the latter being an estuary of the Long Island Sound) have both begun to “overflow” their banks in some parts of Lower Manhattan; CBS Radio News reporting Con Ed may soon decide to shut power down in lower Manhattan;
- Overall, more than two million people have been warned or ordered to evacuate from the path of the storm.
Radio news reporting that one of the Holland Tunnel’s tubes has been closed due to flooding. The Holland runs between New Jersey and lower Manhattan I’m sure it’s not as bad as it sounds, but yikes.
Amazing words from a local radio meteorologist: “We should see sunshine after lunch today.”
My Irene news coverage contribution: minor flooding in Rockland County, with Irene’s downpours quickly coalescing into fast-moving street streams.
Coney Island, Sunday morning.
Clouds loomed over the New York City skyline as Hurricane Irene approached. (Photo: Karly Domb Sadof / AP via the New York Times)
Houses in Coney Island posted signs. Many of the residents chose not to leave. (Photo: Robert Stolarik / The New York Times)
FEW YORK CITY A man crossed an empty Times Square late on Saturday. (Photo: Chelsea Matiash / AP via the New York Times)
A little before 6 a.m. Sunday, Hurricane Irene became the third classified hurricane to make landfall in New Jersey, touching down in Atlantic County near Little Egg Inlet….
Here’s a closer look at the two that did made landfall:
The Vagabond Hurricane, 1903: The storm was named as such by The Atlantic City Press — don’t forget the naming system hasn’t always been around. It touched down with 80 mph winds on Sept. 16 and actually crossed over much of the state, tracking northwest to Trenton.
The Norfolk and Long Island Hurricane, 1821: The storm makes landfall on Sept. 3, near Cape May, bringing with it a huge storm surge on the Delaware Bay side of town, near where the Cape May-Lewis Ferry now operates. In a 2005 Star-Ledger article, state climatologist David Robinson of Rutgers University, quoting other experts, said the storm most likely made landfall with Category-3 wind speeds.
