Whitechapel - Hurricane Sandy

Hurricane Sandy

taphead — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 07:36:03 -0700

So, Sandy is going to hit the US east coast soon, and things are likely to get messy.

Stay safe, friends.

Hurricane Sandy

taphead — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 07:52:04 -0700

Oh, and do chime in to let us know how things are going, yeah? We are Whitechapel, we give a damn.

Hurricane Sandy

dorkmuffin — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 07:54:49 -0700

The entire New York public transit system has been shut down since last night and we're supposed to get major flooding. Not sure what my power situation is going to be (I live in evacuation zone B which isn't supposed to flood except in cases of category 2 or higher hurricanes, but I do live nearish A which DID get evacuated) but a lot of the power lines in New York are underground and thus more susceptible to flooding.

Here's hoping my windows don't get blown in.

Hurricane Sandy

Alan Tyson — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 07:59:24 -0700

It's been gusting and raining mildly but steadily ever since about nine o'clock last night, just west of D.C. The federal government has shut down, as have most of the gov't contractors in the area. The weather certainly looks and feels like a genuine cyclonic storm, but I'm still somewhat suspicious that this thing will be as bad as people say it's supposed to be. I'm expecting another Irene, personally.

Still, I've been peeking out the window now and then. Just in case.

It's been very odd, not hearing the sound of landing jetliners every half an hour. I live a stone's throw from Dulles, and I've come to sort of love hearing and seeing big old Boeings and Airbusses coming and going. Not today, of course. Dulles is probably closed up tighter than a chastity belt.

Hurricane Sandy

Flabyo — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 08:05:49 -0700

Nice piece on the Guardian with a visualisation of every recorded hurricane since 1851

Do click the link in the article for the really hi-res version to see it properly.

And stay safe folks, it's hard for those of us stuck in Europe to really get a feel for just how massive the storms you get out there, but it does look like a nasty one.

Hurricane Sandy

manglr — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 08:07:52 -0700

Vermont would prefer to skip another Irene, the first was catastrophic enough.

Boston public transit is shutting down this afternoon. Some evac orders for low lying areas in North and south shore. Still, we appear to be pretty well on the outer edges of this thing thus far...still I can't imagine that the next couple of tidal cycles are going to be good for anyone.

Hurricane Sandy

oldhat — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 08:49:32 -0700

Getting mixed reports here, but have been told that we get hit late tonight, with winds reaching up to 100km, floods and other bad storm stuff. Red Cross issued a warning and told everyone to get supplies ready for three days.

Hurricane Sandy

flecky — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 08:53:00 -0700

Not much to say, but I hope that everyone who is affected takes the best of care.

Hurricane Sandy

Alan Tyson — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 09:21:55 -0700

Was scrubbing out the tub last night so that, in the event of plumbing going out, we could just fill up the tub with the last of the water in the pipes and use our Brita filter for drinking water. That was a strange moment, when I realized what I was actually doing.

Hurricane Sandy

oldhat — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 09:24:04 -0700

Hurricane Sandy

dorkmuffin — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 09:31:49 -0700

@Oldhat, the manfriend and I contemplated going to our local Winchester ahahhaa.

Hurricane Sandy

dorkmuffin — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 09:51:16 -0700

Greenpoint waterfront:

Red Hook waterfront:

IT BEGINS.

Hurricane Sandy

Ben Gwalchmai — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 10:14:53 -0700

SHIIIIIIiiiiiiIIT

Godspeed, Whitechapellers. Stay warm.

Hurricane Sandy

Argos — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 10:56:27 -0700

Jesus, so that's a lot of water. Stay safe, guys!

Hurricane Sandy

StefanJ — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 11:49:25 -0700

I just wanted to say:

Sandy is a weird name for a monster storm. The name "Sandy" makes me think of friendly Airedale dogs, or maybe a nice guy in accounting who puts out cookies in the break room.

Hurricane Sandy

dorkmuffin — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 11:58:00 -0700

Hurricane Sandy

oldhat — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 12:01:01 -0700

A reminder that if anyone needs to find a shelter, here's where you can find one.

Hurricane Sandy

oldhat — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 12:13:14 -0700

Damn it, people...

Hurricane Sandy

Magnulus — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 12:38:31 -0700

Keep yourselves secret. Keep yourselves safe!

Hurricane Sandy

nelzbub — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 12:44:54 -0700

"And behold I saw a pale horse"...

Hurricane Sandy

Finagle — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 13:11:01 -0700

Spotty outages in Massachusetts so far. Hard to say yet whether it is better or worse than predicted.

Hurricane Sandy

Magnulus — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 13:18:56 -0700

The pale horse-man of the apocalypse!! :D

Hurricane Sandy

dorkmuffin — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 13:22:06 -0700

No outage for me yet. Con Edison is potentially going to shut down power systems ahead of the storm surge though. PRRRROBABLY not me. But we'll see what happens later this evening.

Hurricane Sandy

oldhat — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 13:22:14 -0700

Hurricane Sandy

Frowardd — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 13:33:57 -0700

northeasters, please stay safe, and make every effort to be in a costume if killed.

Hurricane Sandy

steevo — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 13:47:49 -0700

Hunkered down. Tonight's Main Event: Jameson vs. Sandy.

Hurricane Sandy

Foamhead — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 14:12:38 -0700

#RomneyStormTips

Hurricane Sandy

Bankara — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 14:52:19 -0700

Just came back inside from the Hudson river waterfront downtown, water is lapping right up to the edge of the bulkheads. Got to see some clown jump in the river for a swim, sadly no horse mask involved. Winds have just started picking up and it is starting to get dark. Aaaaannnd my lights just flickered.
Jamesons and scented candles seem like a good option for my night with Sandy.

Hurricane Sandy

dorkmuffin — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 14:53:48 -0700

The sewage treatment plants at Newtown Creek are flooding too. So the already polluted water of Newtown creek that is flooding up now includes human excrement. Oil, heavy metals, and human excrement.

Nummy.

Hurricane Sandy

Foamhead — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 15:11:26 -0700

Don't know if this is legit or not but if it is...shit.

Atlantic City

Hurricane Sandy

Flabyo — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 15:24:35 -0700

From what they've shown on the BBC News so far, Atlantic City has been smacked hard yes.

They're currently doing the incredibly dumb thing of having to have the damn reporters out on the street to do their piece to camera, I guess just to prove that they're really there. It's telling that it's not any of the BBC's normal New York people, wouldn't surprise me if it was an optimisitc runner hoping for a big break.

Hurricane Sandy

steevo — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 16:10:57 -0700

Scented were all they had left... I swear!

Hurricane Sandy

Foamhead — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 16:47:08 -0700

Hurricane Sandy

StefanJ — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 16:54:15 -0700

Waiting on word from my sister and brother, who live on Long Island.

Photo of a shark swimming through a flooded suburban yard in New Jersey.

Hurricane Sandy

Greasemonkey — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 17:15:37 -0700

^^Fake, sadly. I've seen this picture before.

Hurricane Sandy

Greasemonkey — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 17:19:56 -0700

My wife just called from downtown. Storm winds are picking up speed, and someone's already been killed by flying debris.

Hurricane Sandy

Greasemonkey — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 17:57:31 -0700

Looks like Washington's going to be right in the eye of the storm

Hurricane Sandy

taphead — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 19:07:06 -0700

And now a ConEd plant went up in Manhattan:

Sheeeesh.

Hurricane Sandy

Purple Wyrm — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 20:58:20 -0700

Stay safe people!

And while you're staying safe, you can contemplate if Sandy is god's punishment for evul-muslum-obummer's policies towards Israel.

Hurricane Sandy

taphead — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 21:12:59 -0700

It's really fucking eerie seeing places I've been to, and especially the more mundane spots like that photo from Red Hook, totally flooded.

Hurricane Sandy

StefanJ — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 21:28:38 -0700

Bummed to hear that the shark is a fake.

If that World Net Daily site had the Blipvert-like ability to make regular readers' heads explode, the average IQ of the human race would rise dramatically.

Hurricane Sandy

dorkmuffin — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 21:49:34 -0700

Safe. No internet but yes power. On the manfriend's phone. Apparently large amts of Manhattan are w/out power.

Hurricane Sandy

allana — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 22:12:06 -0700

Aaand debris has killed someone in Toronto.
Not happy, folks; not happy being in the wrong place at the wrong time waiting on text messages from my loved ones.
Stay safe, kids.

Hurricane Sandy

Purple Wyrm — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 22:45:10 -0700

Lower Manhattan after that transformer explosion

Hurricane Sandy

oldhat — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 22:46:55 -0700

Safe. Lots of blackouts going on, crazy wind and am pretty sure that's a part of my neighbour's shed in my backyard.

Hurricane Sandy

allana — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 23:01:43 -0700

Huge fire on Queen Street, a block from my boyfriend's place.
Aaaaaah I am not good at thiiiiis

Hurricane Sandy

roadscum — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 23:08:29 -0700

Just got home after the Monday night shift to find all this going on. Glad i'm not mixed up in it, wish you lot weren't either.

Good luck people, keep your heads down, i hope you all get through it OK.

Hurricane Sandy

Jehrot — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 00:07:29 -0700

Stay safe, folks.

Hurricane Sandy

Greasemonkey — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 00:22:09 -0700

All's well here uptown. These old brick tenements are solid as rocks.

Hurricane Sandy

Purple Wyrm — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 00:53:24 -0700

In addition to trashing the land, Sandy has also taken out the replica Bounty - one crew member is confirmed dead with the captain still missing.

Hurricane Sandy

Foamhead — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 00:56:57 -0700

Hurricane Sandy

Flabyo — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 02:14:00 -0700

To help you identify the fakes, here's a Mashable link of the most common fake photos doing the rounds. (well, some aren't actually fake, they're just not of THIS hurricane)

Hurricane Sandy

Flabyo — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 02:36:22 -0700

These ones however, are genuine.

Hurricane Sandy

Kay Orchison — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 04:08:41 -0700

This one is also genuine. I took it myself, just a few minutes ago.

Disclaimer: I was in Australia at the time.

Hurricane Sandy

Purple Wyrm — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 04:19:42 -0700

@ Kay Orchison

So not only has New York been hit by a hurricane, some kind of giant rat has emerged from the sewers as well? Fuck.

Hurricane Sandy

Kay Orchison — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 06:11:49 -0700

Uh, I think it's a chameleon actually. It's complicated. Suffice to say that my wife was having a Cloverfield moment.

Hurricane Sandy

Foamhead — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 06:42:26 -0700

Just struck me...I've slept through the last 5 hours so I may not be 100% up to date...has anyone linked this to the "Mayan" "end of the world" "predictions" yet? Particularly with giant rat-chameleons appearing.

Hurricane Sandy

oldhat — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 08:00:06 -0700

Allana, the fire apparently had nothing to do with the storm.

Hurricane Sandy

steevo — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 10:58:21 -0700

So...everyone ok? I know a ton of people don't have power. We lost ours for a while last night, but when I woke up this morning, all the lights were on. Lots of trees down, lots of coastal flooding, though there wasn't nearly as much rain in NJ as I thought we were supposed to get. We barely got an inch here, if that.

Check in East Coast Chapelers.

Hurricane Sandy

joe.distort — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 11:13:32 -0700

just got a text from my mom that the whole family (spread throughout NJ) is safe, but that a cousins sousin or some shit that ive never met 'basically has the Raritan River flowing throw her house'

crazy

Hurricane Sandy

Magnulus — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 11:30:06 -0700

Those photos of Manhattan are so eery. It's something I never expected to see. The city that never sleeps is knocked out.

Hurricane Sandy

dorkmuffin — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 11:43:58 -0700

We're okay. Internet restored, never lost power. Just took a walk around the neighborhood and there are a TON of people walking around.

Hurricane Sandy

taphead — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 12:04:36 -0700

That's awesome, dork. From what I've seen Brooklyn fortunately didn't get hit that hard beyond Red Hook and Dumbo.

Any idea if Bankara is okay? I think he's located somewhere on lower Manhattan...

As an aside, It's been awesome seeing restaurants and people offering hot showers to people without water, on Facebook.

Hurricane Sandy

oldhat — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 12:23:26 -0700

Tried texting Bankara, but no word yet.

EDIT: Just got a response.

"Hey! Yeah, we have no power but we're totally fine. Camped out in a hotel lobby in times square leeching power for devices and checking in with folks."

Hurricane Sandy

taphead — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 12:30:45 -0700

That's good to hear.

Hurricane Sandy

dorkmuffin — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 12:31:55 -0700

Yeah, I mean, our neighborhood got flooded. Not right where we are but we're close to waterfront. I'm actually astonished that we didn't lose power.

Hurricane Sandy

Alan Tyson — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 15:25:25 -0700

Glad to hear everyone on the chapel seems to have come through this alright. Really, really glad, actually.

Hurricane Sandy

Purple Wyrm — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 15:36:14 -0700

Seconded.

Hurricane Sandy

taphead — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 16:03:25 -0700

Yeah, most definitely.

Hurricane Sandy

Andre Navarro — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 17:18:50 -0700

Very relieved everyone seems to be alright.

Hurricane Sandy

Greasemonkey — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 17:31:10 -0700

There's a huge fucking lake behind our building that wasn't there yesterday, the ground is littered with fallen branches, and the wooden playhouse in the kids' playground got uprooted and flattened the fence. Other than that everything's fine.

Hurricane Sandy

RenThing — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 10:31:35 -0700

Douchebag behind "comfortablysmug" twitter handle, responsible for posting lies about Sandy, fired from his campaign manager role for, big surprise, being a lying douche.

Hurricane Sandy

Miranda's Eyes — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 08:47:52 -0700

Also relieved to hear various Chapelers made it safely through Sandy.

Hurricane Sandy

flecky — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 09:45:05 -0700

I, too, am glad that people seem to have gotten through it.

Hurricane Sandy

Don Garvey — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 12:33:34 -0700

Could have been a lot worse for us (southern New Jersey, maybe 10 miles from the Delaware River on the Pennsylvania side). Many of my friends are still without power but no one is hurt.

Hurricane Sandy

StefanJ — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 12:54:52 -0700

Well then.

"Bloomberg Backs Obama, Citing Climate Change"

I imagine that the Tea Party's thriving New York City branch will have something to say about that!

Hurricane Sandy

William Joseph Dunn — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 15:08:25 -0700

"Ex-FEMA director Michael Brown criticizes Obama for reacting too quickly to storm"

If there was ever a person who needed to be force fed a giant bowl of shut the fuck up...

Hurricane Sandy

Argos — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 15:17:15 -0700

((hugs)) to everyone and glad you all came out okay!!! <3

Hurricane Sandy

StefanJ — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 15:40:32 -0700

I talked with my sister this morning, the one family member whose house didn't lose power. Her neighborhood in Westchester . . . well, some places have power, others, not. She's offered some friends ice and a chance to recharge gadgets, but others who could use those favors can't be reached by car because of fallen trees.

Power out over great swathes of Long Island, where my brother and other sister live.

Gas rationing in New Jersey, where my aunt and cousins live.

It's an awful, awful mess.

Hurricane Sandy

dorkmuffin — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 15:43:50 -0700

Yeah, NYC is running out of gas.

Hurricane Sandy

KeeperofManyNames — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 17:01:25 -0700

Meanwhile, in This Country Scares The Shit Out Of Me news, here's a video of Romney supporters responding to climate change:

Yikes.

On the bright side, it looks like the nuclear reactors on the East Coast survived the hurricane intact. I saw people bandying about the possibility of a Fukushima type event here, but it looks like we dodged that bullet.

Hurricane Sandy

Foamhead — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 02:34:32 -0700

@ Keeper: The jingoistic equivalent of putting your fingers in your ears and yelling "La-La-La-La-La-Laaaa. Not listening!" Somebody should link that clip to every reference of Samuel Johnson's remarks about fake patriotism and scoundrels because I'll be buggered if I can think of a more perfect example.

Hurricane Sandy hitting NYC: 2 days into 2 minutes
(pay attention about a minute in.)

Hurricane Sandy

Osmosis — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 14:08:18 -0700

It's like someone pressed pause, then he just ploughs right on ....

Hurricane Sandy

Argos — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 14:29:31 -0700

The way he smiles as the crowd chants USA is the creepiest shit I've seen in a while.

Hurricane Sandy

derfla3101980 — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 10:28:53 -0700

I live on Long Island and Sandy fucked shit up here!
This is the typical scenery I see out near me

There are random backyard furniture people didn't secure very well all over the streets.

People are going crazy go nuts with the gas shortage. Allot of people still do not have any power, heat, or water.

Ocean Parkway, about 20 minutes away from my house. The beaches are gone. 2 of 3 lanes have collapsed into the ocean on both sides. The dunes are all gone.

All of my friends and family that live by the shore got hit the worst with the flooding. Most lost their homes to it

People are going to need some help. I'm trying to put together some charity events to help local families.

Here is a link to The American Red Cross if you would like to help.

Hurricane Sandy

Rachæl Tyrell — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 16:59:18 -0700

My 'hood in Ridgewood came out totally unscathed. I did take a trek into Manhattan on Thursday to experience the blackout and visit the fella's family. We walked over the Williamsburg Bridge and then visited some bartenders I knew working at candlelit bars.

Going over the Williamsburg Bridge, where there was a constant and steady stream of people on bicycle and on foot The first half was lit from the Brooklyn side, but at the halfway mark, the bridge went dark like all of south Manhattan. Here's the view looking back towards the light as I plunged into blackout:

Walking down towards Manhattan:

Down in the Lower EAst Side somewhere around Ave D and 4th Street:

In a community garden (aka vacant lot turned into public space by locals) we came across a group of young people with a bonfire in a garbage can. This young woman was sitting on a tree that was uprooted from the storm as she rolled a blunt by the fire.

All in all it was a crazy experience. Also, it's further cemented my resolve to get my old camera fitted with infrared capabilities.

As much as the subway system is still crippled, I'm thankful that I live somewhere that I am not dependent on a car and have to be facing these gas shortages.

Hurricane Sandy

StefanJ — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 18:45:41 -0700

Thanks for the photos, Derfla. I have lots of friends and family on LI . . . mostly closer to the north shore, but one college buddy and his GF live in Massapequa. They're about 1/4 mile south of the Southern State. Last I heard they had an intact house and a generator.

November is the month I do my annual charity splurge. This year, the usual places got a token donation, and the Red Cross got $1,000.

Hurricane Sandy

Foamhead — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 02:19:13 -0800

New Yorkers Celebrate in the Streets After Getting Power Back

Hurricane Sandy

allana — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 14:52:48 -0800

Rachael, that first one is great.

May I politely request MOAR DEVASTATION PICTURES! A friend has been uploading similar stuff on Tumblr, all candlelit hipster bars and gasoline lineups and shit.

Because, I mean, am I the only one kinda secretly hoping for a Gibsonesque Bridge situation there, where people just start building shanties and eating mysterious home-grown meats and stuff? (Too soon? I'm pretty confident in the human will to persevere, so I'm kinda just hoping it comes out as interestingly as possible.)

Hurricane Sandy

dorkmuffin — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 16:43:06 -0800

Hurricane Sandy

StefanJ — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 18:09:24 -0800

@dorkmuffin: Wow, is that the boat that blocked Metro North? My sister uses that to get to the city when her job calls for it.

NYC and NJ are in for an incredible clean-up job. I hope they build in house-free buffer space along the waterfront. They can stick walking parks and stuff there.

Hurricane Sandy

dorkmuffin — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 18:15:49 -0800

@StefanJ, yep! 40ish foot yacht. There was MAJOR damage done to the rail systems though here. I don't have trains in my neighborhood STILL, and a ton of the New Jersey transit stuff is not gonna be up for a while.

Hurricane Sandy

dorkmuffin — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 18:26:31 -0800

@Allana: MOAR DEVASTATION???

HOW ABOUT MOAR!

If you can get access to a NYTimes login, this has a shit ton.

Buzzfeed.

More Buzzfeed, this time just Staten Island.

There's a start, anyway.

Hurricane Sandy

dorkmuffin — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 18:54:40 -0800

Also, the NYC marathon was supposed to happen today, but was canceled for obvious reasons. A number of runners showed up to run anyway, running laps in Prospect Park and Central Park soliciting donations for the Red Cross, or even running supplies ou to Staten Island.

New York is alright.

Hurricane Sandy

Foamhead — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 07:39:56 -0800

NOAA to American public: No, we are not going to just nuke the storms

During each hurricane season, there always appear suggestions that one should simply use nuclear weapons to try and destroy the storms. Apart from the fact that this might not even alter the storm, this approach neglects the problem that the released radioactive fallout would fairly quickly move with the tradewinds to affect land areas and cause devastating environmental problems. Needless to say, this is not a good idea.