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Superstorm Sandy's victims brace for new storm
Updated at 5:35 p.m. ET
NEW YORK A new storm was expected to hit the New York-New Jersey region that's still shivering and cleaning up after last week's Superstorm Sandy, bringing the threat of 55 mph gusts and more beach erosion, flooding and rain by Wednesday.
New Yorkers helping neighbors after Sandy
Cold weather a new problem for Sandy victims
Temperatures dipped toward freezing early Monday, and tens of thousands of people without power along the ravaged Atlantic coastline faced the growing certainly that they would have to find somewhere else to stay. Especially hard-hit were the thousands in public housing, who often have no place to go and barricade themselves in darkened apartments for the 12 hours of night.
"Nights are the worst because you feel like you're outside when you're inside," said Genice Josey, a Far Rockaway resident who sleeps under three blankets and wears long johns under her pajamas. "You shiver yourself to sleep."
David Bernard, chief meteorologist for CBS' Miami station WFOR-TV, reports that between Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning the storm will begin to gather strength off the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
The storm is currently projected to eventually pass within 50 to 100 miles of the wounded New Jersey coastline on Wednesday. The storm is expected to bring winds of up to 55 mph, coastal flooding, up to 2 inches of rain along the shore, and several inches of snow to Pennsylvania and New York.
One of the biggest fears was that the storm could bring renewed flooding to parts of the shore where Sandy wiped out natural beach defenses and protective dunes.
"It's going to impact many areas that were devastated by Sandy," said Bruce Terry, the lead forecaster for the National Weather Service. "It will not be good."
The weather will likely deteriorate across the Northeast during the day Wednesday. Even inland areas like Washington, D.C., could see a heavy, wet snow Wednesday evening before changing over to rain. The bad weather could last until Thursday night and possibly even Friday night.
As more than a million students joined the morning rush hour Monday for the first time since the storm, commuters continued to wait - and sometimes sleep - in their cars in long lines for gas. Other commuters packed the limited-service Long Island trains so tightly that some people couldn't get on.
"We're a gallon away from turning into a Third World country," New York commuter Scott Sire said Monday.
Obama on Sandy: We will put "120 percent" toward recovery
Romney on Hurricane Sandy: "We are going through trauma"
And with the presidential election on Tuesday, New York City's mayor was asked if the city would be ready for it. "I have absolutely no idea," Michael Bloomberg said.
The new storm worried residents of the large swaths of the region that were returning to something resembling normal.
"Prepare for more outages," said National Weather Service meteorologist Joe Pollina. "Stay indoors. Stock up again."
Sandy left more than 100 people dead in 10 states. Half a million people in New York state remained without power, and more than 800,000 were without power in New Jersey a week after the storm.
To help victims of Sandy, donations to the American Red Cross can be made by visiting Red Cross disaster relief, or you can text REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation.
With temperatures sinking into the 30s overnight, New York City officials handed out blankets and urged victims to go to overnight shelters or daytime warming centers.
But government leaders in the densely developed area around the largest U.S. city began to wonder where to find housing for the tens of thousands whose homes could be uninhabitable for weeks or months.
Bloomberg said 30,000 to 40,000 New Yorkers may need to be relocated - a monumental task in a city where housing is scarce and expensive - though he said that number will probably drop to 20,000 within a couple of weeks as power is restored in more places.
On the Road: Children of the storm
"We're not going to let anybody go sleeping in the streets. ... But it's a challenge, and we're working on it," Bloomberg said.
One option is setting up Federal Emergency Management Agency trailer camps of the kind that existed after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005, said George W. Contreras, associate director of the emergency and disaster management program at Metropolitan College of New York.
Contreras speculated that large encampments might be set up at a stadium, in a park or in some other open space in the city - something he couldn't recall being done in New York ever before.
"The amount of actual units the city might have in buildings is probably very limited, so I think people will be in FEMA shelters for a while," he said.
Sandy's devastation on Staten Island
Good Samaritans bring relief to Staten Island
In a powerless and heavily flooded Staten Island neighborhood, Sara Zavala sleeps under two blankets and layers of clothing. She has a propane heater but turns it on for only a couple of hours in the morning.
"When I woke up, I was like, 'It's freezing.' And I thought, 'This can't go on too much longer,'" she said Sunday.
Sue Chadwick, who left her Long Island, N.Y., house ahead of the storm, said Sunday night she and others were told to leave their Extended Stay America hotel rooms in Melville that she had booked through the end of next week - to make room for other storm victims.
Chadwick's own house remained uninhabitable. She found her way to Vermont to stay with family.
"It's not like I'm there on business and could catch the next plane out," she said. "There are people in worse shape, but I just feel like when people are in these dire circumstances, you don't want to make it worse."
The phone rang unanswered at the hotel Sunday night.
Nearly 1 million homes and businesses were still without power in New Jersey, and about 650,000 in New York City, its northern suburbs and Long Island.
Ernest Paniccioli, 65 and with prostate cancer, felt desperation setting in Monday in his cold, dark house in Jersey City. He'd been without power for a week, run out of food because everything in his freezer spoiled and couldn't leave because he couldn't get gas. He didn't want to go to a shelter because he worried that his wife and daughter wouldn't be safe.
"I've never asked the government for a pack of chewing gum in my life," he said. "And now I'm stranded here and nobody cares. It's like, 'Oh, too bad.'"
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Mary C - New Jersey
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvTIphPnDM8
"An early-season Nor'easter will form off the coast of South Carolina on Tuesday evening. Once over the warm waters off the coast, the low will intensify, spreading heavy rains of 1 - 2" over coastal North Carolina on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. The storm will accelerate to the north-northeast on Wednesday and pull in cold air from Canada, and intensify into a medium-strength Nor'easter with a central pressure near 984 mb by Wednesday evening. While the exact track of the storm still has considerable uncertainty, the models are pretty unified on the timing and strength of this storm. A 12-hour period of strong winds of 40 - 45 mph will likely affect portions of the coast from Maryland to Massachusetts. A more westerly track, as currently predicted by our top model, the European ECMWF model, would likely result in the storm's strongest winds affecting the New Jersey coast. A storm surge of 2 - 4 feet would likely hit the New Jersey coast, and a storm surge of 3 - 5 feet would likely impact the western end of Long Island Sound. These surges would be accompanied by high, battering waves, capable of causing moderate to locally severe erosion along the coastal areas pounded by Hurricane Sandy last week. Fortunately, the high tides this week will be some of the lowest of the month, since we are midway between when the new moon and full moon occur. A more easterly track for the storm, as predicted by the GFS model, would put the Nor'easter's strongest winds along eastern Long Island and coastal Massachusetts, resulting in lower storm surges for New Jersey and New York City. Accompanying the storm will be a swath of 2 - 3" of rain, with the heaviest rains falling over Eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The storm isn't going to tap into a large reservoir of cold, Arctic air, which will limit its intensity and snowfall amounts. Snow is not expected in coastal area, but the Nor'easter has the potential to bring more than a foot of snow to mountain areas of New England."
I wasn't able to access many of the sites I usually use when commenting on these storms so I had to reference Dr. Masters who does a pretty good job doping out where these storms will go and what they will do when they get there.
It looks particularly bad for the Jersey Shore and eastern Long Island.
I'm not seeing the reality of the situation being reported by the national media, which is that large areas of NJ and NY are basically uninhabitable now and will be for a longtime. Power is off, roads are impassible, sanitation is becoming a big problem, hundreds of thousands are homeless. If you are one of these people what are your options:
1. Move-in with a neighbor;
2. Leave the area and live as close as possible;
3. Leave the area permanently as Katrina victims did.
What about jobs, income, schools, etc.? Waiting for FEMA to provide temporary housing is going to be a long and drawn out process, i.e. See Gulf Coast's experiences for much fewer people.
Residential and commercial builders in the area will be anxious to help put things back together. However, this will take years.
For thousands, there are only bad options. I lived thru Katrina. You have my sympathy.
Up until the decade of the year 2000 the US averaged about one or two major hurricanes every ten years.
Then in the year 2000 it jumped to 6 hurricanes in that decade alone
1893 Cyclone 1,000-2,000 1893 Sea Islands Hurricane Georgia, South Carolina
1893 Cyclone 2,000 1893 Cheniere Caminada Hurricane Louisiana
1900 Cyclone 6,000-12,000 Galveston Hurricane of 1900 Texas
1919 Cyclone 600 1919 Florida Keys Hurricane Florida, Texas
1928 Cyclone 3,000 $800,000,000
(2005) 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane Leeward Islands, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, and Florida
1935 Cyclone 423 Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 Florida
1938 Cyclone 600 Great New England Hurricane
1969 Cyclone 256 Hurricane Camille Mississippi, Alabama and Virginia
1989 Cyclone 49 $7,000,000,000
(1989) Hurricane Hugo Caribbean and Eastern North America.
1992 Cyclone 23 $25,000,000,000 Hurricane Andrew Florida and Louisiana
2001 Cyclone 41 $5,500,000,000 Tropical Storm Allison Texas, Louisiana, Pennsylvania
2004 Cyclone 10 $15,000,000,000 Hurricane Charley Florida
2004 Cyclone 49 $9,000,000,000 Hurricane Frances Florida
2004 Cyclone 124 $19,000,000,000
(2005) Hurricane Ivan Texas, Florida, East Coast
2005 Cyclone 120 $10,000,000,000
(2005) Hurricane Rita Louisiana
2005 Cyclone 1,836 $84,000,000,000
(2006) Hurricane Katrina Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama
=
Notice how many hurricanes devastated the US in just the paste decade compared to all the other decades
major hurricanes
1893 Cyclone 1,000-2,000 1893 Sea Islands Hurricane Georgia, South Carolina
1893 Cyclone 2,000 1893 Cheniere Caminada Hurricane Louisiana
1900 Cyclone 6,000-12,000 Galveston Hurricane of 1900 Texas
1919 Cyclone 600 1919 Florida Keys Hurricane Florida, Texas
1928 Cyclone 3,000 $800,000,000
(2005) 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane Leeward Islands, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, and Florida
1935 Cyclone 423 Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 Florida
1938 Cyclone 600 Great New England Hurricane
1969 Cyclone 256 Hurricane Camille Mississippi, Alabama and Virginia
1989 Cyclone 49 $7,000,000,000
(1989) Hurricane Hugo Caribbean and Eastern North America.
1992 Cyclone 23 $25,000,000,000 Hurricane Andrew Florida and Louisiana
2001 Cyclone 41 $5,500,000,000 Tropical Storm Allison Texas, Louisiana, Pennsylvania
2004 Cyclone 10 $15,000,000,000 Hurricane Charley Florida
2004 Cyclone 49 $9,000,000,000 Hurricane Frances Florida
2004 Cyclone 124 $19,000,000,000
(2005) Hurricane Ivan Texas, Florida, East Coast
2005 Cyclone 120 $10,000,000,000
(2005) Hurricane Rita Louisiana
2005 Cyclone 1,836 $84,000,000,000
(2006) Hurricane Katrina Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama
There is definitely something abnormal about the last decade.
Could it be that China and India are now producing more CO2 than even the US? China and India are notorious for producing electricity by burning coal. China and India account for than 60 percent of the world's coal-fired power plants